Prima Sweet Peppermint Hexagon Mini Album Tutorial

I'm so excited for our new challenge at Mini Album Makers!  Boy has my team ever amazed me with their incredible projects this month.  Please hop on over and pay them some love.  Today I'm sharing a hexagon mini album tutorial and template with you.  I used the A4 Prima Sweet Peppermint pad for this book.  I still have over half a pad left!  I made a template by inserting the following image into a document and resizing.  Right click on the image and open in a new tab then save.

My chipboard covers are 6.25" wide, the watercolor paper (or cardstock) bases are 6" wide and the designer paper overlays are 5.75" wide.  I printed these onto cardstock then traced them and cut out for each element.  I lined up the steel wire guide on my paper cutter with my pencil marks and cut.  It is important to cut towards a point and not starting at a point.  You will need 12 designer paper hexagons, 8 base cardstock (or watercolor paper) hexagons and 2 chipboard cover hexagons.

For your signatures cut three pieces of your base cardstock to the width of one section of your hexagons.  Mine is 3 7/16":
3 7/16 x 1 1/4”
3 7/16 x 1 3/4”
3 7/16 x 2 1/4”
Score ½” from each side long ways.

Assemble the signatures and apply red line tape on one side only.

Adhere your base paper to each signature.

You will see the hinge slightly, but the designer paper covers it for the most part.  You could sandwich two base pages together, but I was afraid the edges might not line up evenly.  Plus this showing doesn't bother me and it's much more simple this way.  My hinges show on the top half of each spread.

Soon you will have the base of your book assembled.

My book opens at the bottom.  You cold open it sideways if you like.  Either way, go in and adhere your designer paper with the pattern going in the direction of how you wish to open your album.

Adhere your chipboard to designer paper and make marks on each side to cut the designer paper approximately 1" wider than the chipboard.

Carefully make small snips in each corner, making sure not to get too close to the chipboard.  Adhere tape onto the edges of your paper and the edges of your chipboard for complete coverage.

Fold up each section and burnish well.

Now for the spine.  (I was making this up as I went.  You may come up with a better way to attach your spine.  Please share that in the comments section if so.)  Because my spine would be at the top of my album and would not show very much, I decided to just add another signature and mount it to the chipboard covers.  I cut a fourth signature at 3 7/16 x 2 3/4” and scored 1/2" from each side as I did with the first three.  I added a piece of designer paper over the center.

Here's how that looked.  You could probably use washi tape and get a nice look too.  I thought of sandwiching pom pom fringe in the cracks, but changed my mind.

The last step is to line your inside covers.  I used one watercolor paper hexagon with a ribbon glued beneath, then topped it with a designer paper overlay (not shown).  The thickness of these layers hides all of the wrap arounds from the chipboard cover.  Plus, I like the matted look.  

To decorate my cover I embossed the GORGEOUS Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Flourished Frame Valerie Square in Stampendous Frantage Shabby Pink embossing powder.  

Last month I showed you a perfectly photographed bundle of my elements beforehand.  This month I'm sharing a raw photo of how I actually work!  LOL!  You will see I cut out all of the collage elements from the paper, made tags from the scraps, cut out a trillion die cut elements, raided my stash for coordinating colors - and barely fit it all on my table to work with!  :)  I find having everything laid out this way is really helpful.  I sort of go shopping from the piles and "try on" elements for each spread.  And here they all are...

The ribbon closure has to be my favorite part.  It was the handle of a shopping bag from Altar'd State.  :)  I hope you've enjoyed this (very long) post and will give it a try!  I'd love to see your work, so please leave a link in the comments if you make your own hexagon album.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  

We'd love to have you play along with this month's challenge for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Lindy's Stamp Gang!

I'm also sharing with:

Simon Says Stamp: All Creatures Great and Small

Make My Monday: Anything But a Card

Sisterhood of Crafters: I See Spots

Simply Papercraft: Anything Goes

Crazy 4 Challenges: Pink
Craft-Dee Bowz: Anything Goes w/Handmade Bow

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