Handmade mini-albums

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

I've recently seen these at twopeas and they are really great. I am putting together the 8x8 CM glory albums, one each for MIL and mom- a year of photos of the kids. But I love the idea of putting together little mini albums for my brother and wife, sil and husband, etc.

How do you make them? I have to travel 1.5 hours to scrapbooking workshops and they don't offer one of these classes as of yet. I've actually never even attended their classes, but am planning to attend a couple in September/October. Does anyone know of an on-line tutorial for these mini-albums or are they simple enough to describe.

There is a purple mini-album located in the card section of two pea's, if you need to see what I'm talking about.

 

[BevS97]

Do you mean these ones?

they were made by our very own Janice! but since I was at the same class, I will try and explain.

The class we took was taught by Shimelle Laine, and she has said she will put up instructions on her website http://www.scraptastic.co.uk/ but they aren't there yet.

You need 1 sheet of colored cardstock, 2 pieces of coordinating patterned paper, and 1 sheet of white/neutral cardstock for the pages.
Also some ribbon, and nailheads or brads for embellishment.

Take the colored cardstock and cut it in half, so you have a piece 6x12. Fold it in half so you have a card 6x6. Keep the other half for later.

Next take the 1st piece of patterned paper (which will be in the middle), and tear the edge.
Shimelle did a nice demo on how to tear, but I'll assume you can tear.

Line up the torn edge on the card, and fold it round to the back, then tear the back as well. stick this onto the card.

Do the same for the next piece of patterned paper.
She had us do the first tear so the white edge was showing, and then the 2nd piece was without the white edge, but that's just up to you.

when you have both pieces of patterned paper stuck down, then you put some ribbon or fibers down the edge of the 2nd tear (nearest the spine), and attach them using nailheads, or brads.

use the other half of the original piece of cardstock to line the cover of the book, so you hide the back of the brads, and also you can tuck the ends of the ribbon or fibers in.

take your white cardstock and cut it in half (6x12), then trim 1/2 in off each side, so it's 5.5 x11.5. Fold these 2 sheets in half, this will give you 8 pages. You can use more card for more pages.

Put the pages inside the book, and use something sharp to punch 2 holes in the spine through the pages and the cover. I used my exacto knife to make a small cut. Other people punched a hole using their microtip scissors.

Then thread the ribbon through the two holes and tie in a nice big bow.

since the pages are slightly less than 6x6 you will need to trim your photo's a little to fit.

Bev

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

Yes, Yes! LOL, those were the exact albums I was looking at! She did such a nice job, and certainly inspired me.

Your directions sound easy enough. I am going to buy some things tonight and try my hand at these mini albums this weekend. I think they would make lovely little gifts. And I also have an up and coming baby shower to attend. I could probably make one of these, and just include it with a purchased gift.

When and IF I get these made, I'll have to snap some photos and share. I really need to take some pictures of my layouts too, though they are nothing as ellaborate as the ones you guys do. I am going to attend some classes on embellishments, etc. over the next two months. I have to travel a bit, but it will be worth it since no one in this area works with embellishments.

Thanks so much, Bev, for the directions, and Janice, for the inspiration!

 

[Janice]

Oh! Never in a million years would I have thought something I did would inspire someone else! I am delighted that you like the mini books/albums My~Rumbly~Tumbly - I only followed Shimelle's excellent class instructions - and they really are very simple to make.

In fact, I made even smaller ones for an online friend for her two children last week, I used up scraps of cardstock and paper, and used Mickey Nail Heads and put little stickers of Mickey and friends on the corner of the pages - they turned out really cute, about 4" x 4" and the children really loved having their own Disney Books.

It would be great to see what you make - would you scan them when you've finished?

Excellent instructions Bev - thank you

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

Okay, I should have been working on pages for the August challenge, but instead I spent my morning making a mini-album! Actually, it didn't take long at all and the directions were VERY good! (thank you). It was okay as a first album. Definitively not one I would give as a gift, but practice makes perfect and I felt I did a good job considering I was reading the instructions and not seeing it first hand. I tend to be a bit anal about having things centered appropriately, etc. There wasn't an even amount of space between the brads, which I can easily perfect the next time around. The thing that bothered me the most was getting the front cover and the inside cover (the second part of the split 12x12 sheet) to join properly. The brads and ribbon in the middle seemed to leave a small bulge in the card which prevented the two pieces of paper to come together all the way around. Do you guys understand what I am saying? The book looks good when you are looking at it face down, but when you stand it up, you can see where not all the paper is meeting. Hmmmm, do I outline the entire edge of the whole surface with tape?

Oh, and I tried to scan this morning, but apparently I need to re-install my software. Some glitch of sorts. And I believe I let my friend borrow it who has the same scanner and has misplaced her software.

 

[Janice]

Hi Tammy

Yes.............I understand exactly what you mean about the front and inside cover not 'sitting' right - I am a bit like you and like things just so, and centred etc. etc.

On the cream/gold coloured book that you saw, I used the fine ribbon, so that didn't produce any bulk to sort out, and I just took my time and really made sure that the backs of the nail heads were as flat as flat could be. Then I did go overboard with the amount of sticky tape that I used. I started off using my sticky dots, which was fine for putting the outside paper on, but to stick the inside cover on, I used double sided tape and went completely round each edge, and down either side of where it was going to fold so that I could get a firm fixing on both the front and back. (Hope this is making sense!)

The purple book I made was for my little niece as a getwell gift, and instead of using Card for the pages, I used just ordinary paper as I thought she would use it as a book rather than stick photo's in. This made it a lot easier to handle, I have to say.

The cream/gold one, I am giving to my daughter's best friend who is getting married next may - her colour scheme for her wedding is Cream/Gold and I am gathering some photo's together of both girls as they were groing up to do a 'mini' layout on each page. I'll scan the original photo's in and reproduce them small enough to fit the pages.

I hope you manage to produce a book that you are really pleased with as they are a lovely Gift - and to keep too! LOL

Hope you get the chance to scan yours too - I would love to see it.

HTH

 

[BevS97]

I think after we had stuck the inside cover on, some people trimmed all the edges on the paper trimmer to get the sides even.

I also thought it might look better if the outside cover was very slightly larger than the inside piece, just a few mm, then you can center the 2nd piece on the inside and there would be a small border all the way around, but I haven't tried that - it just occured to me when I was trying to trim the edges and my paper trimmer was complaining at the bulk.

Hope that helps,

Bev


PS - i gave mine to my grandma yesterday, and apparantly she was really pleased with it. (I didn't see her, my mum and dad delivered it). I put lots of pictures of my dd in it, so she can use it as a brag book.

 

[My~Rumbly~Tumbly]

That is the same idea I had, a brag book of sorts. I used to give out copies of photos to EVERYONE in my family, but we just can't afford to do that anymore, especially since I've taken on this new hobby. So I felt that it would be nice to at least once a year, stick a few of my favorite pictures inside each album.

A couple of things working against me...

I used a wide ribbon, a couple of inches wide. And I used regular crafting brads because the AC Moore craft store that I went to did not carry the ones being used in scrapbooks. I'm not sure that they really made that big of a difference. It seems they just have longer legs, which lay flat anyway. Our LSS (which is not so local, lol) is just starting to get into the embellished stuff. Last time I was there, they said they'd ordered some stuff, but it wasn't in yet. The AC Moore just barely got in eyelets, tools, wires, fibers, etc. I would say that this area is a little behind. I did find a ss that does work with all these things and has classes, but it's a ways away and they have night-time classes, which means for a long ride home alone at night. I think I have a friend convinced to go with me.

Bev, I LIKE the idea of making the inside cover a little smaller than the outside cover. I am definitively going to do that! It would solve the problem of getting those edges to stick together perfectly. Even the little gap because the biggest nuisance. And I also had to use my paper trimmer to do just what you described.

Janice, what kind of double sided tape are you using? I use the CM tape runner, is that similiar to what you are using. I also have the sticky dots, which I used in a few different spots.

 

[Janice]

Hi Tammy

The double sided tape I used is made by Sellotape - and comes on a plastic dispenser. It really, really sticky - so you have to be sure when applying it that you have the right place because there is no way you could move anything once it is stuck fast.

The actual tape is about 1/2" wide. I feel sure you would be able to purchase this in the USA. The only thing I am not sure about is if it is Acid Free - but that isnt such a big issue for me - I dont know how you would feel about it.

I found a picture of what I use - here:

If I can help with anymore info - just give me a shout

 

[yummy72]

I wanted to thank all of you for posting the pictures and directions for these. I made two this afternoon for a baby shower gift! My friend is expecting TWINS, a boy and a girl, and I used darling pink and blue toile prints (by Anna Griffin) and also the Jolee's baby stickers to decorate the covers. One pink and one blue! They turned out great. Normally I don't "follow instructions" very well, I usually learn better when someone "shows me" but I had no trouble at all!

Thanks a bunch ladies!
Candi