Oh Boy!

I love making mini albums. Which is a little funny to me, because when I first started paper crafting 10 + years ago all I wanted to do was make cards. I loved stamping, and that's all I needed at the time.  I had no desire to branch out into scrapbooking and home decor things. It just seemed like a lot of work. Oh how things have changed! About 4 years ago, I decided to make a mini album of my oldest son's 1st year of life milestones for my sister, parents, in-laws, and grandparents for Christmas (if you're counting, that was 4 mini albums...a pretty ambitious task for a 1st time mini album maker). This one project became my gateway into scrapbooking, mini album making, and home decor item making. A lot of work? Yeah, sometimes. A lot of fun? Always! Being able to preserve the best moments of life was so much fun that I jumped into scrapbooking and haven't regretted it a day since. 

I've come a long way since that first mini album. Instead of buying albums to decorate, I now often make my own. I love being able to customize sizes and shapes. I joke around with my crafty friends that I can make a mini album out of anything: cardboard, paper, journaling tags, name badge holders, envelopes...well you get the picture. For today's album, I had the idea in my head that I wanted to make a mini album that had the look of a book edge. I played around with a few things and came up with this mini album:

Here's a picture of the binding:

To create the cover for this book you'll need a nice strong card stock base. My finished book size is 5" x 7" so I'll be giving directions for that size book, but it's easy to adjust if you'd like a different size.

Take your card stock and cut 1 - 5" x 8 1/2" piece of card stock and 1 - 5" x 6 3/4" piece of card stock.

Score the 5" x 8 1/2" piece of card stock at 7" and 7 1/4" . This will leave you with a 5" x 7" section, a 5" x 1/4"  section between score lines (this will be your spine), and a 5" x 1 1/4" section. 

 Use a strong adhesive like Scor-Tape to attach the 5" x 6 3/4" piece of card stock to the 1 1/4" section from the piece that you just scored. You'll want to attach the 5" x 6 3/4" piece of card stock 1/4" from the spine (1/4" + 6 3/4" = 7"). Not butting this piece directly up to the spine will make it easier for your book to open and close smoothly.

Now you have the cover of your book completely finished. To add pages to your book:

Cut any patterned paper that you like to 5" x 7 1/4". Score the patterned paper at 7". Use a strong adhesive along the 1/4" section of patterned paper and attach it to the inside of the 1/4" spine of your book. Add as many pages as you need to create your mini album.

Then all you need to do is add photos, decorate, and enjoy!

Because my boys seem to change and grow right before my eyes, I made this album about the things that they like to do right now at this point in time. I've done a few mini albums with this theme over the years, and it's really fun to look back to see what's changed and what has stayed the same. 
  

Supplies
Paper and Stickers: Echo Park A Boy's Life Collection Kit

Card Stock: Stamp School Berrylicious
Accessories: Twine, Pebbles Ink Candy Dots, Craftworkcards Candi Dots,