Prima Victorian Christmas Envelope Album Tutorial for Throwback Thursday

Hello, Friends!  If you are a fan of all things Victorian, then you are going to love this Christmas Envelope Album Tutorial.  Welcome to Throwback Thursday!  Normally I would tell you to grab a cuppa and a snack while we talk all things papercrafting.  But this Victorian Christmas Album seems to call for china cups, linen napkins, silver spoon and crumpets.

As many of you know, I have been in the process of re-organizing and purging my tiny studio.  As is always the case, I found some forgotten goodies that inspired this Throwback Thursday.  Prima’s Victorian Christmas Collection was released in 2015.  I fell in love with it immediately.  All those jolly Victorian Santa Claus images,  sweet birds and vintage toys captured my imagination.   When i also found a forgotten stash of 5″ x 7″ burgundy envelopes, the concept for this envelope album was born.

Now,  I did not invent the idea of using envelopes to make a mini album.  It’s been around forever.  But I did make a few innovations to make the concept my own.  I’ve created a little video tutorial to guide you through the steps of making the album base with something wonderful from your crafty stash.

Some Helpful Tips and Tricks

This album measures about 5 3/4″ x 7 1/2″.  That’s because I used envelopes for 5″ x 7″ cards.  But you can use whatever size envelopes you have in your stash as long as they are all the same width and height as one another.

Adding canvas and fabric to the cover design really strengthens and reinforces the album spine.  Ranger Industries makes a Sticky Back Canvas that is really easy to work with.   I highly recommend it.  Just measure it to size, peel off the backing and press it in place.  Easy peasy!

If you choose to use a fabric spine as I did for this album, there are a couple of things to bear in mind.

• First, don’t use fabric that is too thick or stiff.  It will make it hard to open the cover.
• Next, stitching around the edges will keep the fabric from fraying.  If you don’t sew, you can use a product called Fray Stop for this purpose.
• Stitch your buttons in place before you adhere the fabric spine to the base.
• Adhere your fabric spine with a strong adhesive like Red Line Tape or Scor-Tape.

The Picture Show

This little gold letter box is a charm that came as an add on to the collection.  Fill it with festive greenery for a fun detail.

Use foam dimensionals or waste chipboard to build up lots and lots of layers.  Look for Christmas greenery in the floral department of your craft store.  The Christmas pick this greenery came from was on clearance.  I love a good deal!

A Peek Inside

Because Victorian Christmas had a countdown cut apart page, I decided to turn my album into a December Daily.  You’ll see all the details in the video tutorial and tour below, but I thought you might like to see a few detail shots here as well.

Double waterfalls with magnetic closures offer a great way to use up scraps.

Use a circle die to create an interesting edge on your envelope pocket pages.  These also make it easier get photos and recipes in and out of the pockets.

There are so many wonderful Victorian Santa Claus images in this collection.  It just makes a fun lap book, even without photos or journaling.  But I included lots of room for both.

TIP:  Add even more of a Victorian Vibe to your envelopes by brushing the edges with gold paint.  I did not have any gold paint in the studio.  So I brushed the edges with Prima Gold Crackle paste.  It worked beautifully.

Envelope Album Tutorial

If you’d like to see how to create the envelope album base, please enjoy this tutorial and video tour with tips and tricks.

 

Do you have this collection in your stash?  Or have you ever made an envelope album?  I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy

SUPPLY LIST

Please note:  Throwback Thursday projects are designed to inspire you to get into your stash and make something new from something old.  Because many of the products I use for Throwback Thursday are older or retired, I may not be able to link to them.  But I bet you have a suitable substitute in your crafty stash!  

• Prima Victorian Christmas
  • A4 paper pad
  • 2 sheets of 12×12
  • chipboard
  • charms
  • flowers
• Bold Plaid Christmas Ribbon
• Burlap String
• Sticky Back Canvas
• Tim Holtz Rosette Die
• Rusty Jingle Bells (the company I used to buy these from went out of business during Covid…)
• Buttons from my stash