Tuesday Tutorial: Mini Album Binding Technique

Hello Doodlebug fans! It's Tuesday and that means we have a new tutorial for you! For today I (Monique) thought it would be fun to create a mini album from scratch, using both the cards and envelopes from a package of Create-A-Card.

Here's what we will be using for the base of the mini, the embellishments will follow later on: one package of "Create-A-Card" A2 polka dot assortment and 1 sheet of crushed velvet cardstock.

And here are the instructions:

1. Cut a strip of your crushed velvet cardstock measuring 4.5" x 12" and score two folds in the middle of the strip (= the spine of your album). I scored the lines approx. 0.5 cm left and right of the 6" written on the top of my score board. Because the crushed velvet cardstock is rather heavy I used my ruler to make sure the scoring bone stayed in it's "lane".

2. Next fold an accordion, using a scrap of cardstock (whatever you have lying around) the same width of your album, to hold the envelopes. Score 7 folds (3 up, 4 down) to hold 4 envelopes. I folded a few more and then trimmed off the excess.

3. Choose 4 envelopes and trim off the flap.

4. Add a bit of adhesive to the bottom of the back of the envelope and place in accordion.

5. Use your sewing machine to adhere the envelope for "real". Now it will never come loose!

6. Do this for all 4 envelopes:

front:

back:

7. Now it should look like this:

8. Next adhere these envelopes to the cover, again using the sewing machine (can you tell I love my sewing machine?). First place the cover open on the table, take the pile of envelopes and adhere the back of your last envelope to the inside of the cover using adhesive. Fold your mini closed and sew everything together! Make sure you don't make your stitches too small otherwise your cardstock will break. If I would do it again, I would use a bigger stitch, but luckily this held too.

9. Next we'll create the inserts of the envelopes. Choose 4 cards and trim off the back (we won't be needing these any more).

10. Insert the 4 fronts in the envelopes and then it will look like this:

The base of your mini is now finished and you can start embellishing!

Here's a collage of what I did. For the entire album I used papers from the new "Haunted Manor" collection ... not very spooky at all, right? If you use the back side of these papers they are perfect for non-Halloween projects!

For more detailed photos, please visit my blog CREATING {NON}SENSE.

This is it! Thanks for visiting Doodlebug's blog today and hope you'll have a happy scrappy day!!

Supplies: Patterned Paper "Haunted Manor", Crushed Velvet Cardstock, Create-A-Card A2 polka dot assortment, Cute Cuts from Colorwheel and Haunted Manor, Doodle-Pops "Flutter", Hampton Art/Doodlebug Stamp "Sweet Backgrounds", Stamping Ink "ColorBox/Doodlebug Bubblegum",  Alphabet Stickers "Hopscotch" (on the cover) and lots of Teensy Type, Fancy Frills and two different ribbons. Other supplies: pages torn from an old book and a tag.

Hugs,
Monique