MINI ALBUM SERIES #1
Hello, all my bloggy friends, and welcome to my new MINI ALBUM SERIES #1!
I just ADORE mini albums! They are quick and easy to make. Finishing them so quickly gives me such a sense of accomplishment and instant gratification.
A while back (2009?) a very good friend of mine, MARY from CARDZTV, did a mini series on mini albums. WOW! I loved it! Recently I bought a book all about mini albums – I'll stick in the photo of it here:
I thought it would be fun to create my own MINI ALBUM SERIES with some ideas I've used in the past and some brand new ideas explained in this book.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I WANT YOU IMPRINT ON YOUR BRAIN IS THAT YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE EVERY GADGET AND GIZMO TO MAKE MINIS. ALL YOU NEED IS BASIC SUPPLIES AND OFTEN THINGS YOU CAN RECYCLE. OF COURSE YOUR IMAGINATION IS KEY HERE.
For today, I'm going to start off with an old favorite I learned from MARY. You can watch her video by CLICKING HERE.
First thing you need to do is save those TOILET PAPER ROLLS! Every brand has a slightly different size roll, so be sure and use the rolls from the same package to make your measuring life a whole lot easier. My rolls are from Charmin Ultra Strong Mega Rolls, and that's the measurements I'll be giving you here. (Didn't know we were going to get this personal, huh?)
Decide how many “pages” you want your mini to have, and that's the number of rolls you'll need. Next you'll need to flatten your rolls. Mary runs her rolls through her Cuddlebug which I think is an excellent idea. However, I don't have a Cuddlebug. Not to fear if you don't either! You can either try using a rolling pin to flatten them or just do what I do. I get a strong straight-edge like a metal ruler or ink pen, or a bone folder. I push them down with my fingers and run the straight-edge along the fold to give it a GOOD crease.
Measure your rolls' width and height. My rolls measured 4 1/4” wide and one flattened side was 2 1/8” high. So I cut CARDSTOCK at 4 1/4” x 7 1/2”.
Run adhesive along all the edges of the back of your paper. Start adhering about 1/3" down your roll and wrap the rest of the cardstock paper around your roll. Make sure you press it down so the adhesive is good and STUCK! You can use Tacky Glue, Red Tape, or your ATG Gun. If you don't have any of these adhesives, just find some adhesive you do have that is pretty strong and premanent. Elmer's Glue is probably NOT your best choice, but if that's all you got – hey – try it! Don't stop now.
You can see in the photo below where I wrapped the paper around and it stops around that one girl's waistline. Don't worry about being able to see where the paper wraps around. you can cover that up easy with decorations. It's best NOT to start your paper on the fold line. By wrapping it around and overlapping a little like this, it's less likely your paper will fray up and come unglued with lots of handling of your mini and turning the pages, etc.
You can see in the photo below where I wrapped the paper around and it stops around that one girl's waistline. Don't worry about being able to see where the paper wraps around. you can cover that up easy with decorations. It's best NOT to start your paper on the fold line. By wrapping it around and overlapping a little like this, it's less likely your paper will fray up and come unglued with lots of handling of your mini and turning the pages, etc.
On one end where the opening to your roll is, you'll want to punch 1 or 2 holes there. If you have a BIND IT ALL or CINCH – you can opt to use that. I don't have either one of those. You can use a hole punch or Cropadile to punch the holes.
For extra durability, you can set eyelets in the holes. I've made these before without the eyelets, so it's not required or anything.
Use ribbon or binding rings to hold all the pages together. I used 1” binding rings I got from Office Depot about a year ago. I think I got a bucket of 100 for like $5 or something like that. They were bought in Alaska and everything cost more there, so I'm sure they are cheaper than that in the lower 48.
The other opened end of your toilet paper rolls are PERFECT for slipping in TAGS with pictures or messages on them. I used Cricut Cartridge TAGS, BAGS, BOXES, AND MORE to cut my tags from page 91 cut @ 4 1/4” along with the shadow. If you don't have that cart, or a Cricut, just cut some rectangles and angle the top two corners – voila! You have a custom, hand-made tag! It's fun to slip ribbon at the top of the tag, but not necessary.
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| Front |
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| Back |
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| Ribbon stapled on |
Now all that is left is your imagination for decorating your mini. Buttons, ribbon, charms from broken bracelets (okay, so it wasn't broken until I took it apart), jewelry pins (yep), rhinestones (hey - I got these FREE in candy I won!), flowers (okay, so I bought the flowers), lace (clearance bin), ribbon (2 for $1 at Michael's), stickers ($1 bin).... whatever you have laying around works great! You can even disassemble an old flower arrangement in your attic and steal the flowers off of it. (Yes, guilty here.)
All papers from DCWV THE VINTAGE COLLAGE STACK
I would love to see the TOILET PAPER ROLL album you make! Please link your album below. There is no prize, just fun sharing our projects with everyone and seeing what ideas YOU came up with.
Until next time...
Save your empty cereal boxes, pop tart boxes, soda boxes, etc.... They just might come in handy with our next mini!
