Mini Albums

I am posting a mid week special today based on mini albums that I have created using my Cameo Silhouette as an implement for designing and cutting them out.  But first, let's start at the beginning and explain how this came about.  

I had been looking into the world of mini albums as I offered to make one for a friend to give to his wife as a 40th wedding anniversary gift.  The idea being that he could fill it with treasured memories of their journey through life together.  

I had made one once before and had thought I would do the same design but realised I hadn't a clue how I had made it.  A little help was needed so I started looking through different pinned mini albums on Pinterest.  I realised there are so many different ways to make albums that I could be amused for months trying these all out!

Below was my first creation, made last year some time.  It has pockets and tags and a photo fitted between a folded piece of cardstock which makes a nice frame for the image.

 My search lead me to this design that was blogged about on Kirsten's website.  I particularly liked the fact that she had a very clear instructions and a great diagram to follow.

The design looked simple enough as it was made from one piece of A4 card but I thought, what if I wanted to make more than one, shouldn't I try and make this design in my Cameo Silhouette?  So this is where I began drawing out the design using my Cameo Silhouette software.  My first version needed a slight moderation to the design but after a tweak here and there, I was happy with it.  It is a very cute size but only large enough for passport photos.  However, since I took the time to create it in the Cameo Silhouette, I now can replicate it a wee bit quicker when I want to make up another!

I then wanted to try another design and came across this blog by Miss Fancy Pants.  I think this design was more like the one I had originally created.  Again though it would have made a similar size album so I got to thinking about how I could make my album slightly bigger.

I took the concept of Miss Fancy Pant's album and designed mine to have slightly larger pages.  I started with a sheet of cardstock measuring 12"x12" and cut it down to exactly 30cm square.  This gave me the possibility of dividing it up into 12 panels instead of 16 by dividing the 30cm by 3 giving me 10cm by 7.5 cm panels.  I marked out where my vertical folds needed to be then I folded the sheet in half and then into quarters so I had 4 panels to concertina fold.  

Next I needed two horizontal cuts.  On the first horizontal line I cut across the first 3 panels only, leaving the 4th panel intact.  Then I worked on the second horizontal line, this time from right to left.  Again, only cutting as far as the end of the 3rd panel leaving the 4th panel intact. Then came the concertina folds to create the book.    I have since created this design in my software which didn't take very long at all.

I followed Miss Fancy Pant's idea on making the cover.  I used some mountboard and cut this just over half a centimeter larger than the concertina card on all 4 sides. 

Next I covered the mountboard with cardstock.  There is a trick to successfully covering the board as some folds simply don't work well but I found a way that left my corners nice and square.  First I cut my cardstock an inch large then the mountboard to give a generous overhang.  Then I stuck the mountboard in the centre of the cardstock.  When dried, I creased the card around all four sides of the board.  Then folded the bottom edge over followed by the one to its left or right.  I made a pencilled cutting mark at the point where the card crosses over each other and drew a diagonal line down to the bottom point of the corner of the mountboard.  This became my cutting line that is visible on the outside.  I cut away the excess then folded it back for a second whilst I marked where to cut away the excess on the inside that isn't visible.  Trimming this off got rid of the bulk and made a nice neat corner when glued down.  Repeat this by turning your work around and starting again on the bottom piece and the remaining side panel.  

I then positioned some ribbon on the insides of the two panels.  There is no need to adhere this past the point that the album will be stuck down.  Doing so makes it looks unsightly as I have learned!  Red liner tape is very strong and is a good choice of glue for this bit of the project.  When deciding on the length of your ribbon ensure you leave plenty of ribbon to tie the bow on your album. 

Now I was ready to glue the album cover and pages together.  The warning here is you need to ensure you leave enough room for these panels to not obstruct each other when the album is opened out flat.  Do one side first.  I used Collall glue as it forgiving and so you can ensure you have everything nicely lined up before the glue goes off.    I put my album directly in the centre of the cover and waited for it to dry.  Then I turned my attention to the other panel and glued this in place.  

After this all that was left is decorating the inside of the album and sticking in printed photos.  


I have decorated my book using papers from Heartfelt creations.  I just so happened to have some paper that had panels that worked with the album.