A Personal Mini Album

 

Whenever I post about mini album making, a lot of readers express their intimidation of the process. It's so sad to hear, because I think they're so enjoyable! Not only are they so much fun to make, but they can be an extremely inexpensive project as well. This post is all about making a simple mini album and letting go of the intimidation.

 

Here's what you might need:

1. Carboard from an empty cereal box

(can be sprayed to achieve archival quality)

2. Magazine clippings from vintage magazines or favorite catologs

3. A collection of interesting paper clippings and scraps

4. Sewing machine with various colors of thread

5. Embroidery needle and thread

6. Adhesive (I prefer archival quality rubber cement)

7. Gesso

8. Various colors of acrylic paint

9. Medium sized artist’s paint brush

10. Black and white Unibal gel pens

11. Letter/font stamps and black ink pad

 

 

 

 

I prefer to create the covers of my journals before I begin the designing on the inside. This is because I like to pick colors from the cover to repeat throughout the entire book. Also, the cover really sets the tone for the style of the whole book. I made mine with scrap cardboard from a cereal box which I covered in gesso. I then chose a picture from a catalog (Free People), cropped it, adhered it (with rubber cement), and blended it into the gesso background (with more gesso).  The finishing touches were splattering some watered down acrylic paint and cutting and stitching a window for the title, which is actually on the first page of the inside. When stitching the binding for your journal or mini book, make sure the cover folds over on the inside so that you have a place to hide your securing stitches.

 

I actually learned how to stitch a binding by watching videos on Youtube. It’s quite simple, but a little trial and error was how I learned. Once the pages and the covers were stitched, I chose to cover the folded inside of the cover with a graphic houndstooth paper. This is probably the cleanest part of the whole book!

 

 

Beginning a mini book or art journal can be quite intimidating, I know- I've been there!  (And I still hang out there sometimes). I like to start with blank spreads of kraft paper or cardboard which serve as the background. Depending on how bulky your pages are, you may want to stack only three spreads for each stitched section, if you are planning to sew the book together at their centerfolds. Seeing all the empty pages is the scary part, but the great thing about messy journals is that there are no rules. I just throw down pieces of paper chosen for their interesting patterns, photography, or textures.

 

Most of the paper you use should be simple enough to write on. Other papers with busy designs can be stapled, taped, sewn, or glued down as accent pieces.  You can also gesso over them to leave some pattern showing through while also allowing a nice background for journaling.  Sometimes I just spray paint over a stencil or pieces or lace to create a nice effect over just plain kraft paper or cardboard. The key to creating a visually interesting journal is layering textures of paint, paper, and anything you can dream up! 

 

After piling and pasting the spreads of your journal, it’s time to stitch together each stack. You can do this stitching process before designing the pages if it helps you understand how the book will come together in the end. At this point, I’ve been known to let the journal sit empty for a bit before adding more content and design. Every once in a while, I will journal in it immediately, but usualy I prefer adding to the journal depending on my mood. It’s really a lot like concocting a tasty soup. Sometimes the flavors have to simmer for a while.

 

 

 

 

It’s always exciting to see your book bound, but it’s really not complete until you’ve added lots of personal embellishments. Handwriting is wonderful, but I also love the look of the typwriter. Typing in a journal requires too much planning for my sloppy style, so I utilize a letter or font stamp. I did this throughout my book, but the primary spot was the title page which shows through to the front cover of the journal.

 

Magazine clippings can be instruments of journaling as well as design. Sometimes they can set the theme for a page, or even serve as the main feature of a page.  I keep a box of magazine clippings that I add to each time I purge my magazine stash.

 

For this particular journal, I wanted to include photos of those who have influenced my life. Old photos are great, but I would never glue them down to any of my scrapbooks. So instead of gluing them, I thought it would be safe as well as interesting to attach them to the page with paperclips. This method also allows for extra journaling which can hide behind the photos.

 

Hiding journaling is a fun design technique that I love to use in my journals. It adds a whole new interactive dimension to the book, but also it adds extra room for important thoughts.

 

There are so many way to personalize a journal. I love hunting for things and using objects that wouldn’t normally be found in a journal, like fabric or steel mesh. Whenever I finish a journal or mini book, I’m amazed at how it developed along the way.

 

 

 

I hope this little tutorial has been helpful and inspiring to you!  Next week I will be posting three different tutorials on decorating the covers of wooden mini books.

Comments

[elise]

omg.
so cool.

[Clair]

Love. Deeply.

[Melissa Mann]

wow! i'll have to try this out! Thanks for the great tutorial!

[gigi]

great stuff m, great stuff
this looks fun!

thanks for the how to :)

xoxo

g

[nan]

MANDI! Omg I just saw that some of your paper is in the Merchant 5 kit for September! oMG I CANT WAIT!

I am so happy for you with all your successes! You truely are a mentor! So glad to call ya a SISter! Hugs Nan

[Patricia]

Now this made my morning. This mini book is just beautiful, its the sort of book I would like to create. So artistic. Thanks for the tutorial, its wonderful!!!!!!!

[Roberta]

Cool beans...love this Mandi...thanks for showing all the fun stuff. I'm like you...love mini albums...love that feeling of accomplishment of a mini album...it doesn't go on forever...lol
Have a great weekend, fondly, Roberta

[Christina C]

this is super cool! thank you so much for sharing this. totally have the urge to go and paint something now.

also, just saw the sneak for the sept Jenni Bowlin kit. Holy stars, there's the housewife collection! awesome.

[Raquel]

I soooo feel like you posted this just for me!!! LOL! I spent some time last night flipping through your mini albums and just telling myself to quit thinking about it so much and just do it! I make the whole process a lot harder than it needs to be! Thank you for posting this tutorial!

You are one awesome chick!!!

[Lindsey]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

[shaina]

this tutorial is seriously JUST what i needed.
love love
and thanks!!

[Badziek]

Thanks for this tutorial... I have made some albums, but they were an epic fail usually. Hope your advice will help me cause I have always adored your amazing minis.
I love your art.

[lilith]

I absolutely love this album, and the cover is gorgeous!
and I would die to get this letter stamp, where did you find it?
caroline

[Jamie H]

This is fabulous! I absolutely love this album!!! So glad I read about this on Shaina's blog and decided to check it out further! Great info and awesome album!!! I think I'm in love with it. ;)

[rose]

divine.
{my comment kinda turned into an essay so i'll just email instead k}

[Jeremy]

perfect.

[danielle-cococricketsmama]

i am not worthy (insert deep bowing here)...

[tiff]

thanks for the inspiration! i'm headed up to my art room to create a fun new minibook right now. :) i'm loving my housewife paper kit, by the way. i'm making into a minibook called SNARKalicious using old cutouts from my anne taintor day planner. so fun!

[tara pollard pakosta]

this is amazing!!
I love mini books! I counted mine the other day and stopped when I got to about 40! LOL! I make TOO MANY OF THEM! I need to find a rotating way to keep them out for the kids to look through them all and guests too!
I still want your kit so MUCH! I need to ask my hubby if we have the dough LOL!
tara

[AesaLina]

I am always so intimidated to make mini books. Ahhh. But this post gives me hope. I'm going to try to make one this weekend and let you know how it goes. Wish me luck!

[kristen]

ah! i love you for posting this! i love minis but i'm always too intimidated to make one. this has given me hope..i'm going to make one :]

thanks!!

[Carrie]

This is very inspiring!!! You have a gift for style...Can't wait to try my own :)

[Tara]

Amazing! Thanks so much. Just found your blog recently and very pleased I did! Tara :)

[elisa p]

thanks for the tips and the inspo ! that mini is totally gorgeous !!!!!!!

[sandra]

lovely!

[Alexa]

thanks for sharing your process, i am a big fan of making my own mini books/journals - i use cerals boxes for the cover too! lovely lovely mini :)

[jen geigley]

gorgeous! you are just amazing, my friend.

[Jill Sprott]

Thanks for sharing this!

[danielle]

these albums look like allot of fun. i cant wait to try it out

[Denise Laborde]

Stayed up WAY too late last night so will have to return to this post to read past the first few lines (after a few more cups of coffee) but have gotta say that a) I never begin by the cover and am captivated by your approach and b) the photos are beautiful. Merci.

[Amy Tangerine]

AMAZING!

[lisa hurwitz]

Hi Mandi-- I was wondering if you could explain how you got the grey lines on over, on top of the gesso that's the layer under the paint drippings? Or were those lines a part of the clipping from Free People?

[Mandi]

Hi Lisa,
The grey lines are just the streaks in the gesso where you can see the catalog underneath. Hope that helps. :)

[Sena]

Saw this on pinterest and had to come check it out! Awesome inspiration and how to! I love making mini books, and journals, I just need to sit down and actually use them lol.

Love your blog!