Tuesday, November 18, 2014

12 Days of Christmas Mini Activity Album

I love Christmas.  I love the giving, the conversation, the good will and everything that goes with it.  As a mother of two, I have decided I want my children to know that Christmas is more than parties and gifts.  That is why this year I have created a place to record and encourage my kids to give this year.  

This album has 24 Christmas activities for our family to celebrate the Christmas season.  The activities range from baking cookies to random acts of Christmas kindness giving hand warmers and cocoa to volunteer bell ringers outside your favorite store.  These ideas slip into the cutest little bag I created to clip into the back of the album and my kids will take turns drawing a random activity for twelve days. 

 If you would like a copy of these ideas, you can download them here:
Random Acts of Kindness Cards:


Family Activity Cards:
I created this album before the season starts this way as we complete each activity we can take a photo or two and place them in each of the twelve pages.  The Authentique Three Christmas’ in One paper pad made this project easy by giving me perfectly coordinated papers, stickers and diecuts all in one place. 
12 Days of Christmas Mini Activity Album @craftsavvy #craftwarehouse #christmas #minibook #diy
I am looking forward to using this little album to encourage my kids to give more than take during this holiday season. Here are the steps to help you create one for you and your family this year. 
Supplies Used:
Authentique Paper Three Christmases in One Paper Stack
Darice Stickerz: Red and Black
Darice Trims: Red Snowflake, Red and Black Glitter
Thickers Black Number
iCraft Super Tape
Grafix Chipboard
Triveni Craft 4mm Red Gems
We Are Memory Keepers Gift Bag Punch Board
Baker’s Twine
Foam Tape
Directions:
Creating the Cover:
Step One:  Decide what size you want your album and cut two squares of chipboard to that size.  Next decide what size you want your spine and cut a piece of chipboard to that size.  I decided my album should be 6 ½ x6” so my chipboard cover pieces were cut 6 ½ x6“ and the spine was cut 1 ¾“x6 
Step Two:  Layout your chipboard pieces with the spine piece in the center making sure to leave a gap between each piece of ¼”.  Measure the length of your chipboard pieces to find the size of your inside cover.  Next add two inches to both the length and the height of the measurement to get a piece of paper the correct length to wrap around the cover.
Step Three:  Cut and splice together a piece of paper long enough to cover the inside of the album using the inside cover measurements you just made.  Then create a piece of paper to cover and wrap around the outside of the album.  I wanted the spine to be a different color than the cover or back so I made the center four inches of my cover piece a different color.  Cut the corners of this sheet diagonally to help give it a finished look after it folds.
Step Four:  Using super sticky adhesive such as iCraft SuperTape carefully place adhesive around the boarders of all your chipboard pieces and carefully fold your paper over gluing down each flap.  Then again place your adhesive around the edges and place your inside piece of paper inside your album. 

Creating the Pages:  
Step One:  Cut two lengths of Darice Trim Ribbon one yard long and using super sticky adhesive glue the ends of the two pieces onto the inside of the spine of the album.  Next cover these ends with another piece of cardstock completely gluing down the edges. 
Step Two:  Cut the base of your pages.  You will need spots for 12 days of activities so I created 12 pages.  I like some of my pages to differ in size so two of those are half pages are two pages have flaps to lift or open.  So basically I cut 8 6x6” pieces, four 3x6” pieces and two flaps to glue onto a 6x6 that measured 4¼x6.”  (*Note:  I thought I would like my pages to be slightly smaller than my 6 ½ x6” cover so my pages are actually 5 5/8 ”x 5 5/8”.  I regretted it later.  So my measurements in my photos will slightly differ.)    
Step Three:  Match up the pages and place one page on top and one page under the ribbon.  Using strong adhesive to sandwich it all together.  Make sure to leave space between each set of pages so that your album folds.  Also make sure you place any half pages you have next to each other or the album will not fold correctly. 
Decorating and Embellishing the Pages and Cover: Using the diecuts an the stickers in the Authentique Three Christmas’ paperpad, embellish the cover and the inside pages of the album.
For the cover I used foam adhesive to layer the diecuts from the paper pad and add depth.  (Some places have three layers of this foam tape!)  I tied bakers twine around the spine and I also used Darice stickers to lay out the title. 

For the inside pages I used a combination of papers, stickers and ribbon to embellish each page.  Since I want this to be an easy project to put together this Christmas, I wrote the dimensions of the photos in the locations they will go. 







Punch the Bag: Using the We Are Memory Keepers Gift Bag Punch Board punch and fold a gift bag that measures small enough to glue into the back of your album.  If you have young or “energetic” kids, you may consider clipping the bag to the back cover so you can remove it when it is time to pick an activity and then clip it back in when you are done.  (I’m considering this option. J)  
Print and Cut Out the Cards:  Download and print the cards I made or make your own and cut them out and place them in the bag. 
Step Six-Have Fun and Add Photos!

3 comments:

  1. WOw, that is a great pictorial, I will have to down load that. Very awesome project.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a fantastic project! I love mini albums and this one is just too cool. I will have to try it soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your mini album is gorgeous! Love the way you created the cover! :)

    ReplyDelete

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