Love This Home (Mini Album) | Claire Murphy | Re-used/Repurposed item

Hey everyone - Happy New Year!!!

I am first up today with my take on our new theme this month which is to use another item not originally intended for scrapbooking. 

This could be items that would ordinarily end up in the recycling or something from around your home. There are no rules so please feel free to get as inventive as you like if you fancy joining in with this months theme. 

I decided to make a mini album. Mini albums can be very time consuming but not when you use envelopes as the basis of your pages!! I have a tonne of envelopes hanging around and thought it would be great to repurpose these into something I could use to memory keep. These are also great to make as gifts for friends and family and come together in no time at all. 

So let's take a look at how these are made......

You need to first start with 2 envelopes. You can go with white like I have or change it up and include some funky colours too. 

You need to adhere the back of the flap of one of the envelopes inside the other like I show here in the photo. 

Think of this as your outer covers and we are going to work inside of this from now on. 

So, to add more "pages" into your mini album you will need......you guessed it, some more envelopes.

Next you will need to repeat the same process as before with adhering the back of the flap of the next envelope into the same place as before. You want to do this to the front and back envelopes to build it up evenly. 

Be sure not to add too many envelopes as they will start to become disaligned from each other and the album will be too bulky. I would recommend 4-5 envelopes to create this album and bear in mind that you can add flaps and pockets and tip-ins inside the album too so you'll have plenty of space for photos and journaling. 

So here are some photos of how my mini album came together. 

I used the beautiful Unforgettable collection from Cocoa Vanilla Studio to create my mini album and this is a great way of using up the final bits and piece from a collection!! Here I made a little tag pocket by adhering 3 sides of the paper to the envelope to create the pocket and then added a couple of tags with a little bit of tulle added in at the top. 

Now, I love cut apart sheets and they are the best for mini albums too! Here I have fussy cut around the little wreath card and added it to the front of the pocket with some foam adhesive and this has given me a great little journaling spot. 

I love to make little interactive elements for my mini albums so here I have made a band that goes across the page. I have stitched this in place using my sewing machine but you could always just use some adhesive to stick the edges down. 

Then I have tucked a couple of the journaling cards from the cut apart sheet and added a fussy cut butterfly and a sticker for embellishment.

And here is my album in full. I wrapped a piece of patterned paper around the front and back (as one piece) to help strengthen it all and used some foam stickers for my title! 

One thing I should mention, if you ar3e going to add a ribbon tie then be sure to add this underneath the covers before you stick it all down and then that way it'll be hidden underneath the paper. 

I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at this super quick and easy mini album idea. 

See you next time!!

Claire xx