Mini Photo Book Tutorial

I absolutely loved the mini photo book that Teri sent me (you can check it out here). She said it was actually from a kit she purchased and put together (I'm afraid I don't know the name of the company who made the book, but I will admit to totally CASEing the cover idea and the inside decorating from Teri!). So I decided to figure out how to make it from "scratch". Here are the steps (I put the colours I used in parentheses beside the dimensions for easy reference):

Supplies:

• cardstock cover - 10-1/4" x 5" (Certainly Celery)
• paper for inside frame - 5" x 5" (Blue Bayou Prints)
• cardstock for inside cover pocket - 9-3/4" x 5" (Purely Pomegranate)
• cardstock for inserts - 4-1/2" x 4-1/4" (Certainly Celery)
• Round Tab punch
• stamps
• ink
• sticky strip or other double-sided tape
• corner rounder punch (optional)

Steps:

1. Score the cover piece at 5-1/8".

2. Make the frame by cutting a 2-1/2" square from the center of the paper (line up the paper at 1-1/4" and cut from 1-1/4 - 3-3/4" all the way around).

3. Put sticky strip around three sides of the frame, leaving about a half-inch from the edge (so that a photo will slide in without ripping the paper).




4. Score the inside cover piece at 5". Cut a triangle on the diagonal of the shorter side (4-3/4" of this piece).

5. (Optional) Use the corner rounder punch with the guard removed (or scalloped scissors) to create a scalloped edge along the diagonal.






6. Decorate the inside of the insert as desired (Blue Bayou Prints here) and put a piece of sticky strip along the bottom of the diagonal piece. Fold this over and adhere it to the square part of the insert to make a pocket.







7. Adhere this inside piece to the left inside of the cover. Adhere the frame to the right inside of the cover with the open end (non-sticky strip edge) at the scored line in the center of the cover.








8. To make the photo inserts, round the top corners of the pieces (the longer (4-1/2") sides are the top and bottom). Use the round tab punch to create tabs for the tops of the inserts. Decorate them as desired (for these photo mats, I used 3-1/2" x 3-3/4" Pomegranate and Blue Bayou pieces of cardstock and 3-1/4" x 3-1/2" pieces of Kraft cardstock). Insert these into the pocket.





9. Decorate the inside of the book and the cover as desired (see photos at the top of the post).

If you would like a printable version of this tutorial, please email me and I'll send it to you in Word.