Homemade album project

For this project you will need:
● Greyboard or chipboard sheets, (you can reuse cardboard packaging
for this).
● Twine or cord
● Eyelets and eyelet setter
● Fabric
● Glue gun
If you’re using a patterned fabric choose a fabric
that has an all over pattern. Patterns with straight
lines in it will be more difficult to use as the pattern
will be more difficult to keep straight as you stretch
it to form your cover. It is important to use fabric
and not paper or cardstock as the fabric creates the
hinge of your album.
Step One
Cut out three pieces of
greyboard two to form
the front and back of
your album and one is
for the spine. If you
want to customise the
size of your album this
is the stage you need
to do it.
Step Two
This album has been made to accommodate 6x8 inch size pocket page protectors so the
cover pieces have been cut out to 7.5 x 9 inches to leave plenty of room inside the
album for the pages. The spine piece has been cut to the same height, (9 inches) and
then 3 inches wide. Shorten or widen the spine depending on how much space for pages
you think you’re going to need. Once you have your pieces cut out place them on the
fabric, making sure the back of your fabric is laying down with the right side facing
down. Use a little bit of glue stick to hold the pieces in place on the fabric so they’re next
to each other with around a 5mm space between the spine piece and the two other
pieces like in the image above. Trim the fabric so you leave around half an inch around
the bottom edge and sides. The top edge needs to be left long.
Wrap the bottom and side edges of the
fabric around the board edges gluing it in
place as you go along.
Step Three
Step Three
When you get to the top
edge fold over the fabric to
form the top edge
Put glue along the top edge of
the board then fold it over again
to hold in place, making sure to
pull the fabric taught.
Don’t put glue anywhere else on the front of
the board you need to have your fabric loose
like in the image, left.
Step Four
Fold the edges of the remaining
fabric inwards and then glue the
fabric edges to the board, again
just putting the glue around the
edges and pulling the fabric to
keep it taught as you go.
When you get to the corners tuck it in
neatly, if the fabric is thick you might
need to cut off some of the fabric
corner to decrease the bulk.
Step Five
Next you need to
make a paper
template to add the
holes to the album
spine.
Cut the template to
the same size as
your spine, (in this
case it’s 3x9
inches). Draw a line
down the centre of
the template.
If you have pocket page protectors you already want to use then you need to use the
holes on those to get the placement of the holes right, (so the pages sit in the middle of
the album).
When your template is
finished place it on the
spine of your album
and make holes with
your eyelet setter or a
bradawl using the
drawn holes as your
placement guide.
Step Six
Step Seven
Set eyelets in the holes. To neaten
up the inside of the eyelets you can
use a second eyelet to cover over
the back of the first one so you end
up with an eyelet set on both sides
of the each hole.
Next you need your page
protectors for inside your album.
If you want to make your own
pages to fit your album make a
paper template the size to fit inside
your album and make your pages
to fit.
Step Eight
To add the pages to the album cut a
long length of twine or cord, around 1
meter long and then cut it in half so
you have two pieces.
Open out your album and thread one
of the pieces of cord through the bottom eyelet hole from the back then
thread on the pages. Repeat this
process with the other eyelet hole and
piece of cord.
Thread cord back through the
holes and shut the album
Tie the loose ends of the cord in a bow. Keep
them long as you’ll need to untie and loosen
the cord when you want to add or take away
the pages inside your album. Your album is
now complete!
Now all that’s left to do is fill your album. Small pocket page albums are perfect for
keeping in photos you want to keep but don’t want to make full page scrap pages for.
Scrapbooking Day is the perfect excuse to make an album. Make up a kit from your
supplies to help you match up what you’re using throughout your whole book then grab
your photos and scrap!
Created for Scrapbooking Day
03.05.14 for
www.craftytemplates.co.uk
Check out our range of scrapbooking
‘Quirky Kits’ available in single
purchase and on subscription.
These project instructions are
intended for adult use only.
All photos and text ©L Banks