Mini Album - Decorating the Cover

Yesterday we created the cover and binding for our mini album.  Ideally, you will have left it to dry overnight so that the varnish and glue has had time to set and hold everything securely in place before you decorate.

 

 

When I decorate an album, I like to have several items that repeat throughout the project to help keep it cohesive.  In this case, I'm going to add doilies, ribbon and self-adhesive pearls as well as using a consistent colour scheme of brown, pink and green.  All these items won't show up on every page, but there will be enough of them throughout the book to create cohesion.

 

Here's a step-by-step photo montage of the way I decorated my cover.  I used a combination of glue, double-sided tape and foam tape to secure all the elements.

 

This is how my cover looked when I finished.

 

I didn't want to waste any space at all in my book so I decided to add embellishments and tags to the inside cover, back and front.

 

To create pockets for tags, simply use double-sided tape along the bottom and sides of patterned paper, leaving the top open for the tag to slide in and out.

 

I created pockets for the back cover in the same way.

 

 

Here I layered a small pocket over a larger one.

 

Now create tags to fit each of the pockets.  I find you need to make the tags about 1/2" narrower than the pocket opening, which is the measurement between the pieces of double-sided tape, so that they slide in and out with ease.

 

Make tags from pieces of cardstock, decorated with patterned paper, ribbons and embellishments.  Remember to decorate both sides of your tags, particularly if they are going to protrude outside the edges of the book cover.

 

Front and Back 

 

Front and Back 

 

Tomorrow we'll start adding pages to our album.

Pages 1 & 2