Mini Album

Before we get to today's project - MemoryWorks will be hosting a blog hop next week.  Check back here as I post details for you.  I am unable to participate due to previous commitments but will be ensuring you can get there from here :)

Today I will share a 30 minute project that is great for gift giving.  I had this adorable tin from Maya Road left after using the product inside which I couldn't bear to throw out.  So I started looking at it as a project in the making and discovered it held 4x6 photos very nicely and if you rounded the corners they fit even better.  I loved the sentiment 'for the journey of a lifetime' on the lower right side so used some alcohol ink (Latte & Caramel) and a Qtip to make it stand out.

We aren't dealing with a huge amount of depth to this box so choose your favorite photos only.  I managed to fit 11 - it must be an odd number whatever you come up with.  I then picked from scraps of paper I had around - 3 designs of at least 6 inchs for my project which I cut into 3x5 pieces.  I also kept the scraps to use together on the page or to help secure the end ribbon.  Two sheets of co-ordinating cardstock - one light and one dark were cut into 4x6 pieces and the corners rounded. I chose a ribbon that fit my theme and had enough for 2 pieces that were 10 inches longer than my total cardstock length (11x4 = 44 therefore I needed 2 pieces of 54 inch ribbon).  I selected on edge punch and only a handful of embellishments - keeping the numbers of techniques and embellishments down helped make things come together quickly.

I then wanted to 'finish' the edge of the ribbon and used two techniques to do that.  Below is what I had when I used a ribbon line adhesive - it did not allow the ribbon to lay as flat and neat as I wanted so I switched to my ATG gun and just ran some tape on the ribbon then did a double fold.  Glue dots would have worked but I didn't have any so made do...  You can finish all 4 ends or just the two what will be visible on the back of the first page.

If you have a large mat with a grid great.  Lay down one 4x6 cardstock piece to find where you want your ribbon to attach.  I used the inside of inside of the 2 inch mark and taped top and bottom tucking the excess under the mat until I needed it. 

I then laid the cards face down on the ribbon and ran adhevise on the card using the ribbon as my guide.  Flipped it over and attached the first page at the top of the ribbon.  I continued on alternating dark and light cardstock until the end.  I left 2 'hash' marks between each card so there was room for the folds to occurr without interfering with the one next to it.

When I got to the last one I put a several lines of adhesive running both ways as this is what will hold your album to the bottom of the case. 

To make a 'frame' around the central point of my cover image I took my exacto knife and scraped a rectangle on the window then went over it with the alcohol inks - Latte and Caramal again.  It's a bit hard to see in this shot but you can see it best in my lap...  I put 2 small rub-ons in the bottom corners and was done.

Here is the 11 pages fully extended. 

Here is a close up view of the first 3 pages.

Here is the finish album tied up with a bow using the same ribbon I used in the album.  The ribbon looks cute but also holds the album closed.  Easy peasy and a great way to use up left overs too good to toss out.  Look around to see what you have that can be repurposed.