Mini Albums

I adore happy faces, don’t you? I also adore little kids’ depictions of the people that they love. Why not take a page from LBD Kit Club’s April 2013 guest designer, Tara Anderson, and create a mini album to feature the adorable sketches of the little people in your life? It’s a fabulous idea. We adore it. We know you will, too!

The Happy Faces Mini Album by Tara Anderson…ER…Chase, Age 4.

Tell me you don’t adore that. I won’t believe you if you follow through on that request. This is a fabulous method of documenting a child’s perceptive of your family or a gift for someone who loves the little one as much as you.

Let’s flip through and see the happy faces documented here in this fabulous mini album for all time:

Always give credit where credit is due…love that Tara noted that the artwork was “by: Chase, Age 4″ right on the cover of this mini album. 

Page 1: Chase

Page 2: Alaina

Page 3: Dad

Next time you’ve got Happy Faces…put them all in one place and keep them forever with a Happy Faces mini album. It will make you smile every time you look at it.

Supplies used to create this project came from the April 2013, Don’t Worry Be Happy scrapbook kit from LBD Kit Club. Supplies used that were not included in the kit: carnival ticket, binder ring.

Welcome Stephanie to the Little Black Dress Kit Club design team. We’re so glad to have her! And we think you’ll be just as glad that we have her after you see some of her first month’s scrapbooking projects. First off, let’s pay a little more homage to the mini album. Too much, you say? March Mini mAdNEsS with Write.Click.Scrapbook was all you needed of mini albums for a while? For SHAME! Any dedicated paper lover, scrapbooker, or photo enthusiast will always be up for another version of the “mini.” Minis offer the satisfaction of a fully complete project in a shorter than usual amount of time. They offer cohesiveness with the chance to tell a story of a place, a person or a time period that had special meaning to you or yours. They are space savers (they’re mini after all). But most importantly…they’re adorable. So buck up, buttercup! We’ll always have another mini album idea to show you from the LBD Kit Club designers now and then. It’s a never ending array of wonderful from these ladies!

The Hello My Name is Mini Album by Stephanie Bryan using the March 2013 scrapbook kit, A Chance for Luck, from Little Black Dress Kit Club:

Stephanie put this mini album together using the March 2013 scrapbook kit from LBD. Non kit items that you’ll notice include the doily, a tag from an office supply store, stitching (added by a traditional sewing machine), EK Success star punch and watercolor paints.

What do we adore about this scrapbooking project submission? We love the mini. Sorry just had to say that one more time. (It’s alright to admit when you’re obsessed with something. It makes for a healthier obsession). We also love the stitching that you see throughout the album. It brings all the different pages together and adds strength to the album. Other things to consider: the perfect ring size for the mini album (ring binding of mini albums are our favorite kind – easy and pretty dang cool), the Hello tag as an album title, the stitching along the edge to give the album a “book” look and feel and add some stability to the cover, etc.

I adore this journaling…I try to add notes from Mom to the kids regularly in my mini albums. I love that Stephanie does that here. It adds so much “real” to the project and makes it priceless and lasting in a way that we sometimes don’t realize is possible.

I always love a good envelope/pocket. Stephanie added one here on the fabulous shadowed box letter paper background. I really like how the craft paper is mimicking the envelope, too, and bringing the page together. Love the little added black/white embellishments on this 2 page spread: “love THIS,” YOU & ME SO HAPPY,” and the “4.”

I love the simplicity of this page. The photo is amazing and can stand alone. Great use of the calendar paper and the wood grain You are Lovely embellishment on the side to let the photo have all the attention there on the right.

Looking for more STEPHANIE? I’m not surprised. We like her, too. Check her out on her very own blog (link is on the right of the LBD Kit Club Blog in the list of design team members) or find more projects coming up here on the LBD Kit Club Blog, the Facebook photo albums, etc. 

I could be the only one obsessed with tiny things, but I don’t think that’s the case. We all talk in funny voices when we get up close and personal with tiny, little, wittle babies. (See…you read that in your head in a weird, funny voice, didn’t you?) And that’s not the only example of universal “tiny” love. Tiny feet are adorable and big, adult feet…not usually described as adorable. There’s also the fact that we’re all intrigued by “miniature” items. The miniature horse for example. Awesome! Except…that it now can’t do all those things that we like horses for doing. Or the “mini” soda can. Ummm…adorable. May I have 10 more? Yet, when I see a miniature horse clippity clopping along in a parade I smile. And I didn’t smile at those normal sized horses that were carting around rodeo prize winners 5 minutes previously. Do I ever buy mini cans of soda despite the fact that I need to drink the entire six pack in one sitting? Yes, I do. Call me illogical, wasteful, silly…whatever you want. But I prefer to label it the phenomenon of the mini. And I’ll leave it at that.

If you love the teeny, mini items as much as I do…you’ll love what’s going on over at Write.Click.Scrapbook this week. They’re doing some Mini Madness for March. It’s all about the mini album. Needless to say, I adore the idea! Here’s a sneak at a couple projects from their designers using the March 2013 scrapbook kit from LBD Kit Club for Days 1 & 2:

Day One:

Max to the Rescue Mini Album by Write.Click.Scrapbook’s Aliza Deutsch

Aliza said, “I have to say that I am fairly new to making mini albums. I have had many mini album intentions over the years, but not a lot of completed projects. I often found the process of filling a whole book (mini, though it may be) intimidating. This month, I have discovered that, 1) mini albums are a great way to tell a longer story, and 2)using a kit makes the process infinitely easier. Because the products are preselected to coordinate with each other, I did not need to overthink what to use for my album. I was able to dig right in with cutting and pasting, and even some painting and misting.” See the full post on Aliza’s mini album here! 

Day Two:

The My Boy Mini Album by Valerie O’Neall on Day 2 of Write.Click.Scrapbook’s March Mini Madness!

Valerie said, “To create this album, I pulled out my most favorite items from the kit. There’s always a fun variety of ribbon and trim in each and every Little Black Dress kit. I used the black and white chevron looking trim to “tie” my album closed. The front was embellished with polka dotted tulle and buttons. Don’t you just love all that texture?!” Read more and see the rest of the mini album photos here! 

If you haven’t received your March 2013 scrapbook kit or you haven’t ordered it yet, you’re in for some fun! This month’s kit is called A Chance for Luck and you’ll feel your luck change as soon as you have it in hand. At Little Black Dress Kit Club we adore the mini album. So you can imagine how excited we were to see one of our LBD Kit Club Design Team Members sent in this adorable take on the mini album using the March 2013 monthly kit. There’s something about tiny things…they’re just cuter! Tiny feet are cuter than big feet. Tiny fruit are somehow more precious and adorable than regular sized fruit. Tiny books have a special quality that big books can’t hope to attain. It’s just a phenomenon that can’t be exactly pinned down. It’s best just to accept it.

The Hello Dear Mini Album by Valerie O’Neall:

Still not sure that you can get “on board” with corrugated cardboard as a staple in your scrapbooking supply. Use number 5,423: mini album cover of any size/shape. Don’t you just adore the sweet title embellishment Valerie created with a bit of trim, some stitching and a couple banner shaped embellishments from this month’s kit? Love it.

If you have a typewriter at home (or at a friend’s house…scrappers are good sharers), try using it to create custom “tags” and embellishments that fit right in with purchased scrapbooking items. The typewriter font is to die for right now. OR you can download a good typewriter font on your computer and get the look minus the texture that old school typing will add to your scrapbook papers.

Who says photos have to be the centerpiece for every scrapbook project? Words are amazing things…they can paint a picture so quickly if you pick the right ones. Here you can see how Valerie used her chosen cutting machine to create “baby girl” in a great font, and then stitch it directly to the mini album page. Love that little bit of pink thread!

Pockets and envelopes! I have an unhealthy love of them. One of my favorite mini album projects ever was an entire book (mini, but still) created from envelopes. I guess it’s the “secret” potential that they offer. Plus, it’s like the old pop up books with all the inserts and pull outs, etc. back in the days of my lovely childhood. Good stuff comes out when you pull on a tab, right?

Ack! Completely adore this miniscule page in Valerie’s mini album. The page covered in stamped quote look is fabulous. And to top it off with the threaded tag with the teeny heart is simply sweet and perfect for the gorgeous little project Valerie created here.

Must every baby book make me tear up? I love when moms and dads (and siblings, for that matter) record their thoughts and feelings and beliefs in connection to new little ones. On a scrapping note, make sure to check out how this page coincides the previous “word filled” page – coordinating font/color/page layout/pink thread, but notice how it’s just different enough to make its own mark on the mini album with the pink thread bordering the right side of the page this time as well as anchoring the words in the top left corner. I also adore the inclusion of a little bit of hand writing here. This is such an amazing project! Thanks for sharing Valerie.

Hello Dear Sweet Baby **mini album** supply list:
Little Black Dress March kit–patterned paper: Glitz Design | patterned vellum: Studio Calico | wood veneer: Studio Calico | washi: October Afternoon | corrugated cardboard, trim, tag, kraft bags
[non-kit items: Silhouette SD (fonts: Grand Hotel, Novocento Wide, Impact) | label stamp: Studio Calico | heart punch: Stampin’ Up | typewriter & sewing machine

I’m so easily distracted by a good mini album. I don’t know exactly what it is. It’s a weakness of mine. It could have something to do with the fact that they’re, like, tiny. Everything’s cuter when it’s tiny. Blinged out jeans are at their best in a size 00. That teeny, tiny grape on the bunch with the rest gets all the attention with the oohing and aahing before it finally gets chomped. And then there are babies. Babies are so squirelly and troublesome and helpless and TINY. Luckily, for the sake of humanity, the only descriptive term that means ANYTHING is that they are TINY! That translates to adorable, sweet, lovable and simply irresistible. “Awww…it’s so tiny!” or “Awww…she’s so tiny!” or “Awww….he’s so tiny!” Don’t deny that at least one of these strings of words have come out of your mouth at some point during your life or we’ll have to mark you down as a filthy liar. You might as well join the mob. (But make it a “tiny” mob so that we can think it’s kinda cute, would ya?)

The POINT is that THIS mini album is going to have to be my favorite for a while. Suz somehow managed to take my love of the mini album and turn it into an obsessive, crazy love for the “tiny” album. You’ll love it.

The MONTH mini album by Suz Mannecke using the Lucky Penny scrapbook kit from Little Black Dress Kit Club, August 2012.

I like it a lot! (And I really like that wash tape, Suz. Good selection!) Fore more ideas check out additional projects on Facebook.

Details from Suz:

Mini Album: “Year in Months” LBD | Aug 2012

Non-kit Items: Studio Calico Mr. Huey; Pony, book ring ; 7 Gypsies