Free accordion album class

I promised I would celebrate my first month of freedom with some freebies so I have another today - this one made as a part of a blog hop promotion - a very simple accordion album.

This is a very simple accordion book to use as a display item at home. I used a Woodware base for mine, but it would be just as easy to cut the squares from a very thick cardboard. If you want it to stand up you need to make sure the card used is reasonably thick and substantial.

The step by step here is very simple as the design is very straightforward. At the end of the post there is also a PDF file you can download that has all of the instructions and pictures and makes for an easy reference sheet if you want to create this project. The supplies given are for the book I made. Obviously you will vary them according to what you want to create.

Supplies

Woodware accordion album (4 sheets of wood with slots pre-cut) My ‘pages’ were 6” square.
K and Co Amy Butler papers
K and Co Amy Butler mat stack
K and Co Amy Butler chipboard letters
Assorted ribbons, some of which need to be sheer
Assorted blooms, stickers, die cuts
8 photos
Journalling pen
Stickles glue
Herma permanent adhesive
Double sided tape
Sewing machine
Hole punch/cropadile/sharp knife
Corner rounder

Step by Step

When making any sort of mini book I find it is much quicker to assemble all the supplies before you start. That way you have everything coordinated and ready and you can complete the book really quickly.

Having everything coordinated means that the book works as a whole thing. It doesn’t seem disjointed.

There are so many coordinated ranges out there that the job is made even more simple, although there is a thrill putting together your own selection mixed and matched from lots of different ranges.

When making mini books I prefer to think of each page as a separate scrapbook page, work on it as a separate page and then assemble them all together as a final stage.

I cut all of my background papers first – 8 squares each 6” x 6”. This meant that I knew what colours my 8 bases were and could ensure they were balanced before I started.

6” x 6” is a perfect size as it means you get 4 ‘pages’ out of each 12” x 12” sheet.

One of the things you can do to make a book work better together as a whole is repeat ideas and designs throughout. You might want to have several elements which are used on many of the pages. For this book I used doodled photo mats, doodled flowers, glitter, scalloped edges and stitching as my repeated elements. Not all elements were used on every page, but by mixing and matching them you get a cohesive look at the end of it.

The doodled mats are simple to do and quite effective when making a mini book.

Cut the mat to the size you wanted

Using a black journaling pen draw two parallel lines all round the mat. You are NOT looking for perfection. The beauty of doing this is that it is hand drawn and whimsical. You don’t want ruler straight lines.

Once you have drawn the lines, use the pen to colour in small blocks between them. Again, you are not looking for a regimented design of small small large etc. Mix the sizes and spaces up so it is as random as possible.

Once you have finished your mat add the photo to it and you are good to go.

I didn’t use doodled mats on all of my pages and I did vary some of them using dots and swirls instead.

One of the ways of tying something like a mini book together as a whole is to use scraps of the papers to make the embellishments.

In keeping with the doodled theme I drew doodled flowers for many of the pages.

Again you are not looking for perfection. You are looking for a freestyle where petals are uneven and double lined.

Once you have doodled them cut them out leaving a small border.

As the letters I used had little bits of bling on, I added stickled glue to the edges of the petals and to the centres of the smaller flowers. The larger flowers had tiny felt blossoms stuck in the centre.

I love sewing on pages as it gives extra detail. It is very easy to use a sewing machine, but good effects can be achieved with hand sewing and with faux stitching where you just draw or stamp the stitches on.

Faux stitching is very simple – if you are going for a faux zigzag just stick the shape to the background and use a regular journaling pen and draw the zigzags over the edge of the shape to make it looks as if it is stitched to the background.

Big simple shapes make good background detail to the page. I used circles which were sewn on for several of the pages and also used a large heart which was stitched on to the background paper.

Once you have completed all the pages it is time to assemble the book as a whole.

The album I used had slots cut in the wood so that the book could be joined together. If you are using a book like this then it is much easier to cut the slots in your pages before you mount it all together. I marked where the slots had to be on each page by using a pricking tool to prick through and then cut the slots with a craft knife.

If you are making your own base from thick chipboard then you could punch the holes with a crop-a-dile either before you mount the pages to the base or after if they are not too thick.

You need to make sure that your individual pages are stuck down very well to the album. I prefer to use Herma permanent adhesive as it is just my glue of preference. I lie the page on top of the base as I glue so that I can go right to the edge each time and any spare glue only goes on the base – which is a good thing!

If you have ‘lumpy’ pages, which I often do, or simply if you prefer to use it, double sided tape is the answer.

Make sure you lay the tape right up to the edge of the page as you want a good firm stick right along every edge with no loose bits.

Once you have assemble the individual pages to both sides of the base boards you need to join it all together to make the display album.

I joined mine with ribbons. I chose to use very sheer ribbons for joining the pages so that if they were in front of pictures they would not detract from them. I used fancier ribbons on the ends.

A good tip I was given, and always use, is that I burn the edges of the ribbons,. I keep a lighter in the craft room and just flash the cut edge of the ribbon in front of the flame. This seals the edge and stops it from fraying and is the most effective method I have found.

Do be CAREFUL though. It is a naked flame and the ribbons catch and melt very quickly.

I hope that you enjoy making one of these.

If you find these instructions at all useful and if you make one I would love you to let me know and share it with me if possible. Just drop me a line on my blog.

If you want to download the full PDF which can be printed easily then you can download it HERE

Thank you for stopping by and do please visit again. I often have free downloads and classes on the blog.