The Mini Version of the Traditional Mini Album w/Kaori Watanabe

Hi Everyone! Kaori Watanabe with you to share a fun tutorial on how to create an "extra" mini, mini album! It's actually quite "small" and perfect for storing away in the purse while out and about the town :)

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The Essentials: Emma's Shoppe Pattern Papers {Fabric, Inventory, Play House, Books, Dresses & Quilts}, Accent Cuts, Chipboard Accents, Ribbon, Layered Chipboard, Border Stickers, Phrase Stickers {An Emma's Shoppe kit + Embellishments is another option}.

The Tools: Big Shot {or a die-cutting system that is compatible with Spellbinder Dies}, Label Shape Spellbinder Dies, Sewing Machine & Screw Clamp {for holding together the pages of the album}

First of all, select the papers for the album pages as I've done here and then trim the shaped papers with the Spellbinder Die shown in the image above. If in the United States, this die is readily available at places like JoAnn Fabrics and other local scrapbook boutiques. If outside the US or prefer to purchase such dies online, there are various online stores that sell them too - simple google Spellbinders and you'll run into them eventually!

Let's now work on creating the pages! I love the various Emma's Shoppe embellishments - in this particular set-up, I chose Phrase Stickers and cute, mini die-cuts as my decorating pieces and added a quick, curvy line via the sewing machine directly over the top and across the page.

How about this ribbon? Isn't it the loveliest ribbon you've ever seen? I sewed the ribbon into position with the sewing machine (watch your fingers!) in a sort of imperfect fashion - it's a very simple technique and is so very pretty!

Continue working on the rest of the album pages - as you can see above, most my pages are ready for the album. Because I felt the cover would be weak if made from only paper, I opted to trim the cover from cardboard instead.

I actually created the cover separate from the actual cardboard piece. After the "paper" part of the cover is complete, adhere it to the cardboard so that the cover is of two layers; paper & cardboard {now it should be sturdy!}.

To hold the album together, I chose to use a machine screw. I often use these because their super easy to find and are extremely economical for holding together album pages. They're almost similar to the style of post used to hold together pages inside a traditional post bound album.