Welcome back to the craft room and today’s Flashback Friday Mini Album post. There was a time when all I made were mini albums. They are so much fun to create, and there are so many different variations on the same idea. Today’s adorable little mini album is from June of 2013. This book is put together with inspiration from three different crafters. The page design is from Ginger at My Sisters Scrapper. I found a different way to craft the cover from Suzy at the Creative Cafe Girl. And I used the Stack the Deck binding system from Laura at Laura Denison Designs. Let’s get right to the project shall we?
Mini Album
This cute little mini album is the result of my endless hours on Pinterest! The pages follow a video tutorial from Ginger at mysisitersscrapper while the binding idea on the spine is from a video by Suzy at creativecafegirl.
When making my pages, I changed the dimensions just a bit from the original. Using an 8 ½” x 11” sheet of cardstock I cut six (6) sheets down to 8 ½” x 10”. The score lines were as follows: On the 10” side score the sheet in half at 5”. Turn the sheet over and on the 8 ½” side score at 2 ½”. After pre-folding each sheet, I then cut a decorative edge with my Martha Stewart edge punch. This adds a fun look to the top of each pocket. The pages are bound with Laura Denison’s Stack the Deck system.
The Spine
One of the reasons it took so long to complete this book was I wanted to figure out how to add the paper to the spine and not have it crack. I tried a new technique that I found on Pinterest by Suzy at creativecafegirl. Rather than using just a piece of cardstock to connect the covers and spine of the books, she used a piece of sticky back canvas attached to the cardstock to create the binding. My stash of stuff only had regular canvas, so I glued some to my cardstock with Gel Medium.
As you can see in my example below, I cut the canvas larger than needed before attaching my cardstock. When it was dry, I cut it the desired size. I also colored the canvas where it would show between the cover and spine, although I just used some black craft paint. What I did neglect to do was run the finished cardstock through my Cuttlebug to emboss the cardstock. I’ll do that next time!
Creating the spine this way means that, for me, I had to pre-wrap my chipboard covers for a finished edge. Because I use thinner chipboard, I always glue two pieces together. So, leaving these edges exposed was not an option. Here is a close-up of the inside of the front cover. In the photo below, you can see that each piece of chipboard is individually wrapped. You may also be able to see the painted canvas in the gap between the cover and spine.
The Cover
The pages and tags are decorated with the Paper Studio’s Bella Bohemia paper pack. Even as beautiful as this paper is, I did ink the edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink. The finished book measures 6 ¾” x 5 ¼” x 2”. Let’s get on with the show!
I tried my hand at adding something to the front covers, which for me, seems to be very difficult to do! The flower was made using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and Pure Luxury 80 lb. layering weight card stock in Ivory. The greenery was made with a spellbinders die and scraps of green cardstock from my stash.
The Pages
As you can see, there are a TON of tags in this book, 22 in all! That should give anyone plenty of room to document the important times in their lives. There are a total of 6 large tags that slide into the top of each page and measure 4” wide x 5 ½” tall. Eight of the pages have tags that measure 3 ½” wide by 5” tall and four of the pages hold two tags each that measure 3” wide by 5” tall.
Thank you so much for joining me for today’s Flashback Friday Mini Album post. This little book packs a lot of punch in such a small space! With the black pages, a white gel pen would be perfect for your journaling. Shall we also talk about this paper?? I wish I would have purchased more than one of these pads. It has a lovely antique look to it and some of the pages had a sublet texture to them as well.
Over the years I have made so many mini albums. Some of them I have gifted and some I have held onto. Most of the time I remember who I gave them to, but I just don’t recall with this album. Whoever it was given to, I hope they are enjoying it as much as I enjoyed making it. In the comments below, let me know if you ever forget who you made something for, or if this is just my brains way of saying “You’re getting old!” If you would like to check out some of the other mini albums I have created check out this category here: Mini Album/Folios. Until then, have a wonderful weekend and I will see you back in the craft room again soon!
PIN THIS POST FOR LATER!
