Botanical Tea Mini Albums by Sandy Trefger

Hello, Sandy here again with a tutorial for the Botanical Tea Mini Albums for the Mini Case.  In my last post on May 3rd, I shared how to assemble and decorate the Mini Album Display Case kit from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  In this post I share how to assemble and pattern the Mini Albums.

These little albums go together quick and easy.  You receive the chipboard covers in the kit to create four albums to put on the shelf of your Album Case as shown above.  Let's get started.

Supplies/Tools Needed:

• Mini Album Covers from the Mini Album Display Case  from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts #C51M 
• Graphic 45 Botanical Tea Paper Collection
• 12x12 Kraft Cardstock
• Button Twine, Natural
• 4 metal charms, 2 butterfly and 2 dragonfly
• White Glue
• Scissors
• 12" Ruler
• 12" Score Board
• Bone Folder
• 1/8" double sided tape (Scor-Tape)

Step 1:

• Layout the chipboard pieces for the four mini albums.  You will need 2 covers and 1 spine section for each album.

Step 2:

• Follow the kit instructions and cut 4 pieces of patterned paper for the outside covers of the albums.  Each piece should measure 10 5/8" wide x 4 1/2" tall.  For this tutorial, I will only show you the steps for one album.  You will need to repeat the same steps for each album, use different patterns of paper on each album.

Step 3:

• Glue each album chipboard section to the wrong side of the patterned paper.  Leave about 3/4" of paper on each edge.  Start with the first cover section to the left as shown below.

• Apply a piece of 1/8" scor-tape onto the paper along the right edge of the first cover section as shown below.

• Glue the spine chipboard section to the paper.  Line it up straight with the other chipboard piece and up against the 1/8" scor-tape "spacer".  Apply another 1/8" strip of scor-tape along side the right side of the spine section and glue the remaining chipboard cover to the right side up against the 1/8" "spacer."  Remove the tape backing from both pieces of scor-tape.

Step 3:

• Miter cut each corner of the paper as shown below.  Leave about 1/8" of paper at the tip of each corner.

Step 4:

• Working with one long edge first, apply glue to the paper and fold it over onto the chipboard to wrap the covers.  Do both long sides and then press the 1/8" edge of paper on the short sides on to themselves , apply glue and fold the short sides over on to the chipboard to wrap the ends.  Use a bone folder to gently burnish the fold lines into the 1/8" spacer tape.

Step 5:

• Cut pattern paper to cover the inside of your album.  Follow the kit directions or cut 1 piece        
• 9 1/4" wide x 3 1/4" tall.  Glue to the inside of the cover, burnish with your hands and use a bone folder to gently burnish the fold lines.  Carefully fold up your cover.  Do not force as that might cause the paper to crack.  If you should have cracking, you can ink the fold areas on the outside to create a "shabby chic" look for your covers.

For my albums, I created my hinges on the album pages instead of a hidden hinge.  You can choose to follow the instructions in the kit using a hidden hinge or create pages like mine below:

Step 6:

• For each album use 12x12 Kraft Cardstock and cut  2 each 4 1/2" wide x 3 1/4" tall for the pages and score the 4 1/2" side at 1/2" to create a hinge.  Also cut 2 each 3 7/8" wide x 3 1/4" tall for sleeve pages for each album and 1 each 4 1/4" wide x 3 1/4" tall and score the 4 1/4" side at 1/2" for a flap for each album.

Step 7:

• Apply glue to the 1/2" "hinge" of a page, and glue it about 1/8" from the front fold within the spine area of the cover.

The hinge part should be toward the center of the album.

Apply glue to the "hinge" of the second page and glue the hinge over the hinge of the first page about 1/8" from the fold line of the first page.  Make sure the hinge and the page are within the fold lines of the spine.  Also make sure your pages line up straight and even with each other.

Step 8: 

• To create a sleeve pocket on the page, apply a thin line of glue along one end of the sleeve piece and along the top and bottom sides as shown below.

Carefully place the sleeve piece with the glue on to the front side of a page.  Line up the unglued end to the right edge of the page, line up the top and bottom sides.  Carefully burnish so the glue sticks. Once dry, you will have a page with a pocket on the end for a tag or photo mat.  Do this to both pages in the albums.

Step 9:

• Apply glue to the "hinge" section of the flap piece.  Attach down to the second page of the album on to the sleeve part that you just attached.  Place the hinge on the open end of the sleeve of the page but be careful to not glue the sleeve shut.

Once attached, you will have a flap that opens up as shown in the photo above.  When folded the flap will look like the photo below.

Step 10:

• Cut a small strip of patterned paper 1/2" wide x 3 1/4" tall, ink the edges and glue onto the space between the two pages.

Step 11:

• Use your ruler to measure each page and flap of your album to cut patterned papers to finish the inside of your album.  Use scraps of paper to create short flat pockets.  Cut Kraft Cardstock into photo mats and tags to insert into the sleeve of both pages of each album.  Use a small circle punch to create a small notch on one side of each sleeve page so you can see that there is a pocket there.

 

Step 12:

• Cut a length of button twine, enough to wrap around the spine and to the outside of the album, loop and tie a knot at the top, tie a charm to the end of the string and tie a button twine bow to the top of the wrapped string.  This is used to pull the album out of the Mini Display Case.  You will need twine and a charm on the spine of each album.

Step 13:

• Tie a double loop bow around the knob of the drawer.  Insert all four albums into the Mini Display Case.

The Mini Album Display Case and four Mini Albums are done.  A perfect little gift for someone special or to keep for yourself to hold treasured photos.

Please check out the many chippies available through the Gypsy Soul Laser Cut online store and other chipboard kits.  Thank you for following along with my project this month.  I will be back on June 7th with another GSL project.

Happy Crafting!

~Sandy

P.S. Check out my blog/website at www.sandytrefger.blogspot.com  for more of my creations and ideas.