Prima St. Tropez Mini Album Tutorial and Video

I'm ever so excited to be sharing the Friday Focus post on the Frilly and Funkie blog today.  For the next two weeks the Prima Marketing St. Tropez collection will be an extra 15% off the already discounted prices.  I have used one A4 pad, one pack of flowers, one pack of gemstones and one pack of charms with a few elements from my stash to complete a mixed media mini album/scrapbook.  Actually, this album is not so mini, but measures in at a whopping 6 x 9 1/2 inches!

No matter what size of mini album you wish to create, the principles I shared in THIS post on nestled binding will work for you.  The variation comes in the thickness between your pages.  On the above mentioned album I used a bigger gap between pages to accommodate thicker mixed media pages.  For this album I planned to keep my pages flatter and spine thinner so I changed my recipe up a little.

Three Signatures for 6 Flaps (12 Pages Front and Back) with Gap Between Pages of 1/4"
Signature 1. Height of Pages (9 1/4) x 1 1/4
Signature 2. Height of Pages (9 1/4") x 1 3/4
Signature 3. Height of Pages (9 1/4") x 2 1/4
Score each Signature ½” from each end.
Spine Width: Height of Covers (9 1/4) x 1 3/4

For this album I covered the the front and back covers with the floral paper in the collection.  I gave it a gesso wash to help tone it down to blend with my cover collage.  I did a spine wrap to connect the covers with the map print.  I use redline tape to adhere the papers to the chipboard.  I covered the wrap on the inside with more map paper and covered the inside spine with the wood grain pattern.  

Front and Back Cover Wraps: 10 1/2 x 7 (for a half inch overlap on all sides)

Spine Wrap: 10 1/2 x 4 3/4

Spine Lining: 9 1/4 x 4 3/4 (adhered before front and back inner lining)

Front and Back Cover Inner Lining: 9 1/4 x 5 3/4

To create my base pages I cut kraft stock for the pages.

Pages: 9 1/4 x 5 3/4

Patterned Paper Overlay: 8 3/4 x 5 1/2

I adhered them to the spine flaps with redline tape.  I then stitched the designer paper over the kraft.  I left the centers of each spread unstitched so that I could tuck elements inside, like this flap.  When my pages were added, I then adhered my flaps one on top of the other to my spine.

I made the closure by gluing wrapped jute cord to an XL button.  I strung the button through the covers to the reverse side and concealed with my layers.  Wrapping the back string keeps the album nice and secure and just looks cool.

I hope you will hop on over to the Frilly and Funkie blog to see the many photos of the inside pages of my album.

This is my favorite spread!  I'm sharing this video of the entire album because it's truly hard to absorb all of the details in still shots, particularly the few interactive elements.  This video shows the finished album with my family photos included and last minute touches.

3 Minute Flip-Through Video

Thanks again for your visit!  Now take whirl through the virtual shopping isles of the Prima Marketing St. Tropez collection at the Funkie Junkie Boutique and see the other amazing products in this collection.  Here are a few that I used for my project:

Prima Marketing A4 Paper Pad - St. Tropez	Prima Marketing Sea Washed Metals St. Tropez	Prima Marketing Cling Stamp St. Tropez	Prima Marketing SIIC Gems - St. Tropez
Prima Marketing St. Tropez Flowers - Belle Isle	Seam Binding	Sizzix Bigz Die - Ornate Frame #2 - 661195 (February Pre-Order)	Medium Weight 12x12" Chipboard (12 Sheets)
Prima Art Ingredients - Mini Art Stones (March Pre-Order)	Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 8PK - Tropical by Tim Holtz	(February Pre-order) Tim Holtz Idea-ology Quote Chips

I'm also sharing with:

Simon Says Stamp: Get in Shape

Let's Craft and Create: Just Beachy or Red, White and Blue
Mixed Media Place: July Moodboard

Creative Artiste: Always Anything Mixed Media Goes
Mixed Media World: Anything Mixed Media Goes w/Twist Natural Materials
City Crafter: Kraft Crafting