I've Got A 'Crush' On You Mini Album

So ever since I've been on this mini album kick, I've experimented with all different styles, sizes & designs for mini albums.  To the point that I have about 4-5 half finished mini albums laying around my scrap room!  I start one, but never finish it because I get the urge to try another style of mini, so I start on the next mini & then history repeats itself.  Well here's one mini I finally finished & just in time for Valentine's Day.

I've used the lovely papers from Authentique's 'Crush' collection.  I wanted to utilize the Life Cards that come with the collection in this mini--so the mini was designed around the Life Cards.  It measures 3 7/8" inches wide by 4 3/4" inches high.  It has a chipboard cover & spine & a total of six pages.

Each page has a side pocket where a matted Life Card fits into & also front pockets where you can store tags or in my case a couple of cropped Life Cards.  For the front pockets the Life Cards were cropped down to 2 3/4" inches x 3 3/4" but since they're matted the total size is 3" x 4" inches.

I gave a wavy effect on the outer pocket flaps with the use of a Kiwi Lane mini border. The fuchsia card stock that adorns the pocket flaps were dry embossed to give it a bit more dimension.

On the inside front cover I created a belly band where I tucked a couple of small journaling tags as well as tag embellishments that came with the collection.  The 'XO' sticker element at the bottom acts as a stopper so the tags don't fall out.

For all of you that enjoy seeing the visual representation, here's a brief video showcasing the mini album.

I also have a brief tutorial on how I made the base pages of the mini.  This has most likely been done by someone already but this shows my take on how I went about creating the pages.  

As for the binding of the mini I used the 'hidden hinge' binding method that I discovered on Kathy Orta's YouTube channel.  There are several videos showing how to create the hidden hinge binding--recently Ginger from My Sisters Scrapper created a video & it's the one I found the most helpful because she also includes in the video how to create the covers for a mini which is the exact same way I go about creating the chipboard covers & spine for my minis.  You can find that tutorial here.

Thanks for stopping by & enjoy the rest of the week!

Products Used:

Authentique Paper: Crush Collection, Crush Authentic Life Cards, Crush Scallops & Circles, Crush Components
Other: Fabric Flowers, Glitter Foam Heart, Ribbon, Fabric Leaf, Medium Weight Chipboard