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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
WOw, that is a great pictorial, I will have to down load that. Very awesome project.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fantastic project! I love mini albums and this one is just too cool. I will have to try it soon!
ReplyDeleteYour mini album is gorgeous! Love the way you created the cover! :)
ReplyDelete