A few years back when I first discovered scrapbooking, I bought an all black 12 X 12 album that was on clearance for about $10. Up until this point I had put all my scrapbook pages into this album including Nicholas's First Year pages. After creating my wall letters for the Nursery one night I found myself with a good amount of fabric left over and tried to think of ways to use every last bit. First I thought about using the fabric to make closet dividers since I still have to look at the tags to know what onsie is for what age, then I thought about making pillows and even a blanket out of them. Before I could decide though I wanted to know how much fabric I had so I laid out the pieces on the table to get a better idea. And then it hit me. As I was laying out the pieces one of them happened to get placed on top of the scrapbook album and from then on I knew that the search for an album was over.
It only took 30 minutes to turn my once all black album into a customized one for Nicholas. The process was so easy that I think this will be my method of obtaining the perfect album from here on out.
What you need:
- 1 album (I used a 12 X 12 one)
- Fabric (I had 3 different patterns)
- Ribbon
- Hot-glue
How to make it:
This tutorial will varying depending on how many pieces of fabric you are using, the size of both the album and fabric as well as if you decide on using any accessories like ribbon or maybe a flower? No matter what you choose this is a quick and painless project for getting a great customized album. I'm going to go ahead and lead you step by step on how I created my 12 X 12 album using three different fabrics.
1. Iron out the 3 pieces of fabric.
2. The first two pieces of fabric (the white fabric with animals) will be 13 X 15 and these will be the front and back cover.
3. The third piece of fabric (green polka dots) will be 8 X 15.
4. The last two pieces of fabric (blue stripes) will be for the inner panels and will be 15 X 15.
5. Once our pieces are cut, gently gut the entire album.
Note: My album was easy to separate so I gently removed the rings along with the inner panels and set them to the side leaving me a bare front and back cover. Being that the album was originally black, I also had to paint my album rings brown to help coordinate with the rest of the album.
6. Take your first two pieces of fabric and drape it over the front of your album.
Note: You should have about an inch of extra fabric hanging off three sides.
7. Glue the edges of the fabric to the inside of the album making sure to glue one side after the other while pulling the fabric as you go to get a wrinkle free look.
8. Repeat step 7 to for the back cover.
9. Take your third strip of fabric and glue to the middle part of the front and back cover.
Note: This will lay in between your first two pieces of fabric on the cover sides.
10. Glue the edges of the fabric to the inside of the album making sure to glue on side after the other while pulling the fabric as you go to get a wrink free look.
11. Take your last two pieces of fabric and drape them over the two inner panels making sure to glue the fabric to the back of each panel.
12. Glue a strip of ribbon overlapping the two fabrics on the front and back cover.
13. Take your two inner panels and glue them to the inside of the front and back cover.
14. Glue the album ring back in the middle of the album on top of the panels.
15. Add any accessories or details to your album and enjoy!
The Result...
Though I only added a ribbon to the album, I'm considering adding his name to the front cover. For now though here are a couple before and after shots of Nicholas's First Year Album.Before:
Sorry about the before photos, I don't know what I was thinking taking a black album and placing it on top of a black table. Definitly not one of my finest moments.
After:
