Colorful Book-Bound Mini Album Tutorial

Hey friends!  Adrianne here with you today to share with you how to make a book-bound mini album for giving as a gift or to keep small photos or mementos for yourself.  The stitched binding is as pretty as it is functional, and it makes up a surprisingly sturdy little book.

I used a few of the Darice dies and my Sizzix Big Shot to create this project, and had sheets and shapes in no time!  In fact, I think it took me longer to finally settle on a color scheme than it did to actually make this mini album.

Supplies needed to make your own book-bound mini album:

• Sizzix Big Shot With Extended Platform & Standard Cutting Pads.
• Darice Square Die Set.
• Darice Book Shapes Die Set.
• Darice Dandelion Die.
• Darice Wavy Edge Circle Die Set.
• Darice Interlocking Circles Embossing Folder.
• Core’dinations Pastel Papers.
• Sew Easy Paper Piercer Tool.
• Sew Easy Piercing Mat.
• Sew Easy Floss & Needle.
• Heavy-duty Paper Piercing Tool or Punch.
• Glue Dots.
• Flat-backed Adhesive Pearls.
• Scoring Board & Bone Folder (optional).

I used the 4″ dies from the Darice square and book shape sets, but the beauty of this mini album project is that the sizes match up nicely so you can choose to make it in several sizes.  If you’re new to die-cutting, get ready to get hooked!  All you need to do to create fast, precise shapes with the Sizzix Big Shot is to lay your dies on top of your paper, sandwich it between two cutting pads, and place it on top of the extended platform (use tab #2 for metal dies).  Roll it through to die cut your shapes.  For this design I die-cut the following:

• 3 Book tabs in gray, green, and yellow (one will be used on the bound edge)
• 2 covers in teal
• 9 pages in white
• 2 small wavy circles in green and yellow
• 3 extra-small wavy circles in green and yellow
• 1 dandelion in gray

You may of course feel free to vary the number of pages, add to or omit the tabs inside, and embellish in other ways!

The gray book tab served as my binding, so I pierced it with the piercing tool to create an even row of holes.  Then, I scored the edge to fold it over the pages, and cover the raw edges.

Next, assemble your album.  Position the pierced line of holes about 1/8 inch from the edge, and use it as your guide to punch all the way through all of the layers.  You can use a simple piercing tool for this on the piercing mat – or, I took a shortcut and used my 1/16″ Crop-a-dile Power Punch.  For even stitching, it’s important to use holes that line up evenly.

At this point, I decided at the last minute that I wanted to add some texture, so I brought out one of my favorite embossing folders to emboss the front cover.  You can make changes like this anytime up until you finally stitch all the layers together to bind it.

At which point, you just sew them together!  I sewed down, alternating holes, and then when I reached the bottom, stitched back upward, and tied my ends together.

Finally, I used glue dots and flat-backed self adhesive pearls to add my floral embellishments to the front, and the pages are ready to fill with anything you like!  Use this mini album as a photo album, a journal, or a group note to someone special, where each person can write a sentiment on their own page.

This mini album a great way to make anyone feel special with a handmade gift, and it makes up in just 20-30 minutes!

Thanks for joining me today!

Adrianne

Adrianne is a writer, artist, designer, wife, and mom of 2 kids. She blogs at happyhourprojects.com where the theme is tutorials and recipes that can be made in an hour or less. Her favorite projects are jewelry-making, paper crafts, and recycled crafts. She participates annually in ArtPrize, an international art competition, and she’s the author of the book DIY T-Shirt Crafts: 50 Ways to Recycle a T-Shirt (August 2015).