How to create a tiny accordion album

I had written this little how-to a while back, but thought I would repost it here since someone e-mailed me a few days ago and asked me exactly how to make one of these little accordion albums.

Creating a tiny, handmade scrap album is very simple, using materials you already have. You can decorate them in an endless amount of ways, creating a super gift idea for friends, family, and loved ones. They make wonderful gifts for any occasion, including holidays. These albums are also extremely inexpensive to make.

Start with a piece of 12 x 12” cardstock. A sturdy, kraft-colored cardstock will give excellent results. You will need to cut a strip of the cardstock into a piece that is 12” wide and 3” tall. One sheet of 12 x 12” cardstock will make four tiny albums!

Once you have cut the strip of cardstock, you will then measure 2 “ increments, and fold the cardstock every 2 inches, back and forth, accordion-style. This will give you your “pages”, as you will be decorating the front and back of this “accordion”. Using a bone folder to create the folds is strongly recommended, as you want them to be very crisp, so the album will not only look better, but also the pages will lay nicely when it is folded.

Cut a piece of chipboard into two 2” x 3” pieces. The chipboard will reinforce the front and back cover of your miniature album. Next, glue one piece onto the front of the accordion, and the other piece onto the back. You should have something that looks like this:

Again, this is an older album that I created a while back, but the design steps are the same for the actual album itself.  :)

Have a great Wednesday!

When the finished album is folded up, you will see the “Love” cover, and the journaling will be the back cover. Finish your album by tying a pretty ribbon or piece of twine around the whole album. This keeps it flat, and also keeps it closed. You may even want to give the album in a gift box, and it will also fit into an altered Altoids tin. You can experiment with different colors and textures of cardstocks to get the results you want.

This album will fold up flat when completed.

Now you are ready to begin decorating the pages! Keep in mind that you will want to keep lumpy embellishments to a minimum, as the album will not lay flat if the pages contain many three dimensional items.

In my example album below, I used a red, white, and black theme. (***DISCLAIMER*** I told you I wrote this a while back, so no making fun of the "old" supplies! LOL!) I adhered red cardstock and 7 Gypsies papers to the front cover, and then applied Mod Podge with a paintbrush to seal it. This adds even more strength to the front cover, and helps protect it from fingerprints. I carried the color scheme throughout the album by using more 7 Gypsies papers, KI Memories Time paper, and red cardstock. I used Adler font, and also the Making Memories date stamp. On the back cover, I printed my journaling onto white cardstock, then adhered it to a piece of red cardstock that completely covers the back, and I Mod Podged over the entire back cover to strengthen and seal.

Here is my finished album!