Marvelously Magical Mini Albums + A Tutorial

Happy Tuesday, G45ers!

Welcome to our marvelously magical blog today! It's a beautiful Tuesday for some inspiration and we have it here for you. Today we are featuring two mini albums using the Tropical Travelogue and the Little Darlings collections. Our fantastic designers Betto Cesare and Susan Lui have created some crafting magic for us today. Susan even included a tutorial of how to make a mini from scratch. Get ready for some fun!

First off, we have a beautiful 5X5 Altered Art Box with a Tropical Travelogue mini inside from Betto Cesare! The texture is so rich, this mini album is sure to impress! Beautiful details with the rolled and distressed edges on the cover.

Betto Cesare is a masterful fussy cutter. Don't you Love seeing these details on the cover?

Betto maximized his altered art box by creating a beautiful scene on the far right panel. Great idea!

And now, the magical mini inside!

Supplies:

Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue papers

Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue Stickers

Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue Alphabet Stickers

Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue Tags

Graphic 45 Metal Brads

Graphic 45 Shadowbox and craft album

Core'Dinations Cardstock - Dark Cashmere

Studio Ink - Classic Teal

Studio Canvas natural

Distress Ink colors : Vintage photo, Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade and Black Soot.

Tim Holtz - Tissue tape

Sizzix - Filmstrip Frames

Tim Holtz - Film Strip Ribbon

Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy

What a fun way to remember an excellent travelling adventure! Did you get fun ideas?

Next, we have Susan Lui's stunning Little Darlings Mini Album she made from SCRATCH! Including a tutorial so you can make one too. Fun fun fun!

This is what Susan Lui has to say about her Little Darlings Mini Album: "I whipped up this mini album using Graphic 45’s new Little Darlings collection as a gift for the grandparents. The raw mini album is really quick and easy to make. And all you'll need to do after making the album is to decorate it with your favourite Graphic 45 papers and embellishments. Here is a photo of the completed album:

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album 1

So let's get started on how to create the raw mini album. Here's what you'll need:

Supplies:

Graphic 45 Little Darlings patterned papers - 4-5 sheets of 12x12 inch papers

Graphic 45 Little Darlings chipboard tags

Vanilla cardstock paper - 1 sheet

2 chipboard pieces measuring 6x6 inches for the covers

Ribbon - 30 inches

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 1

Instructions:

1. Cut 2 sheets of 7x7 inch patterned papers for your cover. Adhere the 6x6 inch chipboards on to the back and centre of these patterned papers.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 4

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 5

2. Cut a diagonal off the corners of your patterned papers. Fold over the sides of the patterned paper on to the back of the chipboard and adhere securely. Repeat for the back cover.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 6

3. Place the front and back covers side by side an inch apart. Lay the ribbon across the centre of the back of the covers and glue down.

4. Now onto the spine of the mini album. You'll need two sheets of vanilla cardstock measuring 5 3/4 x 11 3/4 inch each. Score each cardstock at the 5 3/4" mark. Then score at intervals of 1" apart. Accordion fold the cardstock. Do this for both sheets of cardstock.

5. Join the two pieces of cardstock together as shown. Adhere securely.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 1b

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 3

6. Adhere the cardstock to the front and back covers of your mini album.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 9

7. Cut 5 sheets of Little Darlings patterned paper measuring 5 3/4 x 11 1/2 inches. Fold each sheet into half and glue the ends together.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 10

8. Adhere each page on to the spine of your album and you're done! To securely close the album, just tie the ends of your ribbon together into a pretty bow. How simple was that?

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 11

Now all you need to do is decorate and embellish the mini album to your heart's desire. I decided on a lace cover for my spine and this is how it looked before I embellished the cover.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album Step 12

The inside pages - again I embellished the spine.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album 6

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album 7

More photos of my completed album which I decorated using images from the Little Darlings patterned paper, chipboard tags, fabric, seam binding, pearls and flowers. The images were given more dimension using 3D foam dots.

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album 4

Susan Lui Graphic 45 Little Darlings Mini Album 5

So if you're thinking of making a pretty mini album for a mum-to-be or a brag book for the grandparents, why not give this a shot? Happy scrapping!" - Susan Lui

Wow! That WAS magical! Thanks to Betto Cesare and Susan Lui for their amazing mini albums today. Join us tomorrow for more inspiration! The fun never stops at Graphic 45.

Happy Papercrafting!

The Graphic 45 Team