Graphic 45 Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial with Step Out Photos for RRR

Hello, Ribbon Lovers!  I’m fulfilling a promise in today’s post.  A few weeks ago, I share this Wander Mini Album here on the blog, and many of you asked me to do a step out tutorial for the mini album base.  Well, today I’m sharing this sweet little Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial with step out photos and some tips I learned along the way while designing the album base.  Although I used a different paper collection, the steps for building the base are the same, and you can use them to create loads of these tiny but mighty albums in any theme you choose.  You can add more pages, or fewer pages; it’s really up to you.  To refresh your memory, here’s a photo of the Wander mini album cover.  You can find this post HERE on my blog.

For this Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial, I chose to work with the cheerful and bright papers in the Graphic 45 Mother Goose Collection, pairing them up with gorgeous ribbons from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  Here’s a look at the finished album cover:

The finished album measures 4.25″ x 5.75″ .  The covers are made with corrugated cardboard (waste packaging!) and the interior pages are made with 4″ x 5.5″ white card bases that I found in my stash.  You can build this album with any size card base, of course.  Just cut your covers so that they are 1/4″ larger than your base pages.

Here’s a view of both covers.  Now, before we get started, I’m warning you: this is a looong and photo heavy post.  So go grab yourself a cuppa and a snack so that you have some sustenance to keep you going!

Supply List for Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial

• several 4″ x 5.5″ white card bases.  I used 10 in this album.  And if you don’t have card bases, just cut your white cardstock to the correct size, score and fold.  I just happened to find a huge stack of card bases in the Closet of Shame when I was purging it.
• Mother Goose 8×8 papers and 12×12 papers, chipboard and stickers from Graphic 45
• Really Reasonable Ribbon:
  • Red Swiss Dots Satin
  • Yellow Plaid
  • natural Burlap String
• Glue (I only use Art Institute Dries Clear Adhesive, but you can use Scor-Tape or tape runners if you prefer)
• Petaloo Flowers
• Novelty Buttons
• Yellow Canvas Ticking
• Dynamics Stitched Star Die
• Black Cardstock
• Heartfelt Creations Cut, Mat Create Dies (for photo mounts)
• Ivory Burlap
• 1/2″ Scor-Tape
• Flip-Flop Fasteners
• Scor-Pal or other scoring Tool
• Picket Fence Distress Paint
• Hickory Smoke Distress Ink
• Vintage Photo Distress Ink
• Baby Ephemera from your stash

Building the Base of your Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial

From your stack of cards, select two bases.  On the first card, cut the right hand side to measure 2.75″.  For the second, trim the left hand side to measure 2.75″

Line up the cards as seen in this photo with the cut sides facing one another.  Add a bead of glue to the top, bottom and inside edge of the cut sides.  Leave the outer edge unglued, as this will form a pocket for photo mounts.

Glue the two pages together, forming a pocket.

Use a punch to create a thumb hole for your pocket as shown in this photo.

Select another card base, glue the edges as shown in this photo. Glue the pages together.

Open the newly create page.  Select another card base and lay it inside the page, fold down as shown in this photo.  Make a pencil mark about 1/4″  in from the left hand side.  Trim the folded card on this line.

With the card fold on the bottom, measure down 1.75″ from the top and trim away only the TOP layer of the card at this mark.

This will form a pocket page when glued into the album base.

Use your circle punch to create thumb holes on both the top and bottom layer.

Don’t glue this page in yet; just hold it in place with a clip, otherwise it will be a pain to line panel in the back.  Now you will  have a full page on the left and a double pocket page on the right, as seen in this photo.  Use this same procedure for creating additional pocket pages.

Select another card base, and add glue to only the top, right and bottom edges, leaving an opening along the cut edge.  Seal the edges together. Use your circle punch to create a thumb hole on the right hand page.

Select another card base, and open it.  Join the cut edge to the preceding page using flip flop fasteners.  I sealed the top and bottom first, then spaced them out evenly, using 5 on each page.

Repeat this process with another card to create a fold out page. You will want to trim about 1/4″ off the panel that is on the far right, so that the pages will fold in neatly.  I used an accordion fold here.

Select another card base and score the right hand side at 1.75″.  Crease.  Do not glue this page together until AFTER you have lined it.

Punch a thumb hole. This will form a side pocket on the finished book.  Glue the left hand page to back of the preceding  fold out page. Glue another card base behind , leaving an opening for a pocket.

The next page is a double pocket page, and you will need 3 card bases to complete it.  Create the pockets as you did before.  ONCE YOU HAVE LINED THE BACK PANEL, you will glue the taller pocket on the bottom and sides, but leave the shorter pocket unglued so that it can flip down.

The final page is a fold down page and will use 2 card bases.  Cut a folded card base to measure 37/8 inches wide.  Open the card so that the fold is in the middle and secure to the bottom of the right hand page, using flip-flop fasteners as shown in this photo.  This will be a fold down page in the finished album.  Fold the page up, and glue the left hand page to the back of the preceding page, leaving an opening for a photo mount page.

Fold your album up so that it looks like a little book.  Mark the front cover as the front cover. You will NOT decorate this page; it will be glued to the corrugate cover.  Mark the back page as the back page.  This page will not be decorated, but will be glued to the back of the corrugate cover.

This completes the base for the album.  Now on to the cover.

Create a Cover: Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial

Cut two pieces of corrugated cardboard (waste packaging) to measure 4.25″ x 5.75″.  Paint the edges, front and back, with Picket Fence Distress Paint and sponge with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.

I created the cover by cutting a 4.25″ x 5.75″ piece of yellow canvas ticking.  I topped this with a 4″ x 5.5″ piece of paper from the Mother Goose Collection and stitched them together on my sewing machine.  You could also use Scor-Tape, but I love the finished look of machine stitching.  The flip side of the cover is lined with more paper from the 8×8 pad.  Even though you are gluing your mini album base to the inside cover, you will want your edges to be finished with paper.   Go ahead and line the back cover as well.

I glued down a small white doily to the cover, then attached my ribbon closure with Scor-Tape.  Then you can layer on your design.  But you have to get that ribbon down first, or you will not be able to close the book.

A Really Important Detail in this Mother Goose Mini Album Tutorial

I find it is easiest to decorate all the inside pages before attaching the base to the covers.  So do this.  Once you’ve lined your base pages, you can glue in your pockets and add tags and such.

To create my finished binding, I used the blue stars paper and cut a strip that was about 4″ wide x 5.5″ tall.  I glued this to the mini album base front cover, wrapping around to the back cover. You don’t have to do this step, but it does create a nice, finished look.

Once the interior is done, center the front and back covers with the mini album base and glue them down.  I use binder clips to help hold everything in place.

Photos of the Completed Mother Goose Mini Album

Now, I’m just going to show you the photos of the completed album, as this post is soooo long.

I hope you’ll follow this tutorial and make something totally fabby with it.  If you do, I sure would love for you to share it with me on my Kathy by Design Facebook page!  I love seeing what you make!

Thanks for hanging in there with me for this long tutorial!

Cheerio,

kathy