Mini-Album

Hello! Michelle here with you today to share some mini-album inspiration with you! This month the Scrapbook Kit came with a set of 6x4 chipboard and two O-rings to serve as a foundation for a potential mini-album.  Myself, along with four other designers created albums in place of our usual projects and have been sharing them both here on the blog as well as on our Facebook Fan Page and Instagram.

When I accepted this assignment I did a little jump for joy, because mini-albums are probably my favorite thing to create. They are so much fun to put together and they give me a break from creating traditional layouts. Today I want to give you  a little insight into how I put together my own album.

In contrast to creating layouts, I am very organized when it comes to approaching a mini-album. I brainstorm, look for ideas, and will set up a list of elements that I want to include in my album. I also rely a lot upon repetition-repetition of page design, embellishments, texture, and color.

For this album, I decided to go with a single ring, flip album with loads of layers. I like the look of seeing photos, papers, and embellishments peaking out from behind one another. Along with the March Scrapbook and Pocket Life Kits, I pulled out yellow tags, sequins, paper clips, and 4x4 page protectors to create my album. Mini-albums are also great stash busters!

The yellow tags that I pulled out from my stash served as a background for my journaling. It was super easy to slip them in and out of the typewriter and ensured that my writing stood out from the layered album.

I went ahead and limited myself to three basic page designs, this first one being the most complicated. By repeating them throughout the album I save a lot of time in putting it together. I can also work on my on my album in a sort of assembly line. By keeping the designs simple I free my creativity up for my favorite part-the embellishing.

One of the things I like to do for mini-albums, is to have my photos printed by a printing company. I use my Selphie pretty exclusively, but have found that I prefer the option of having my photos printed on a thicker, nicer photo paper for little albums. One of the reasons is that they are sturdier and hold up better to the embellishing that I like to do. I also like the finish of the photos and since a mini-album is meant to be picked up and thumbed through I think this extra step adds a bit of nice texture.

Even though I rely on repetition for my page designs, I also give myself the freedom to make minor changes. For example, I moved this photo to the right because it suited the orientation of the photo better. I also feel free to move the embellishments around.

My biggest goal for this particular album, was to let the photos shine. This particular batch of photos documented a beautiful trip to the beach and I loved how the photos all turned out. I had planned in advance to have some the photos stand alone and embellished them simply with some machine stitching.

Thanks for letting me share my album with you and I look forward to seeing what you all create with this month's kits :).

Michelle