Mini Album Fun

I have to admit I am not big into mini albums. When I saw this one on Brenda Rose's blog it peaked my interest. Nothing is more exciting to me then making something that looks a lot more difficult then it really is.

Are you ready to make one of your own? Follow along with my picture tutorial......

 You will need a base color card stock. Cut 2 - 6x6 pieces for your front and back panel, 3 - 6x12 pieces for your binding (Mountain, W, Mountain) score at 3, 6 & 9 inches and 2- 2 x 5 1/2 pieces for the binding.

 Next step is selecting patterned paper. I used two different patterns. 2 for out side front and back cover and 2 for the inside front and back cover. You will cut them at 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches.

 Select 2 more card stock colors. Cut 5 pieces at 4x6 inches (this will be the top) and 5 at 2 x 6 inches (This will be the bottom).

 Take the 2 - 6x12 inch pieces we talked about in step one and score at 3, 6 & 9 inches. 

 Take the hinge pieces ( 2 x 5 1/2) we spoke about earlier and score in half. 

 Crease your folds using the bone folder and you should have pieces that look like this.

 Form your pieces in the shape of M, W, M and attach the two inside panels making one long accordion piece of card stock. This will serve as the base.

 Now take  your front and back panels you cut and adhere one side of the hinge to the panel.

 Once you have the hinge attached it should look like the above. Next you want to adhere the front and back panel using the hinge to the ends of the accordion binding.

 Take your patterned pieces you cut for the front a panel and adhere it. Don't add the back panel just yet. We will cover in a different step. 

 Do the same for the inside from and back panels. 

 Now that you have the front panel on go ahead adhere apiece of ribbon across the back panel. You are now ready to add the back panel.

 You should have the back panel adhered with the piece of ribbon secured and hidden behind the panel.

 In step three you cut two different colored pieces of card stock. Get them ready. 

 Adhere the larger 4 x6 pieces of card stock on the front side of the binding panels as show above. You can get a better look below.

 Take the smaller 2 x 6 inch pieces of card stock and adhere the the bottom portion using the back side of the binding. This will allow for the mates to go in opposite directions as you see above.

 I decided to decorate some of my panels with patterned paper. I used 3 different patterns and cut them at  1 3/4 x 2 3/4, 1 3/4 x 5 3/4 and 2 3/4 x 3 3/4.

 You can see how I started to add the pieces to the panels to jazz them up a bit. 

 Below are the pages as they came together. I kept it fairly simple however I could add more pics and embellishments at a later date if I wanted too. 

 I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. This would be great to make for Valentines Day for that special someone in your life!! Happy Crafting!! ~ Shalana