OK, there are a gazillion gift-giving occasions coming in the next couple months – teacher appreciation, graduation, Father’s Day, weddings, showers, birthdays, anniversaries and more!  You say you want to give something special, handmade and very unique, but you don’t want to spend a fortune or loads of your precious time?  I’ve got the perfect project for you — a simple square envelope mini album you can whip up in a snap!

I adore Cut Cardstock’s square envelopes.  They come in several sizes, colors and textures so finding the right one is easy.  But the best thing about these envelopes is that they’re ON SALE RIGHT NOW!  Gotta love a bargain, right?


SUPPLIES:
  • Patterned paper (Papertrey Ink Library Ledger and Bitty Box Basics)

  • Baker’s twine, narrow gingham ribbon, Maya Road chipboard letters, ultrafine glitter, white pigment ink, Tea Dye Distress Ink,  various buttons and ribbon, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Marvy Super Jumbo pennant and Giga and Mega circle punches,  tiny clothespin and library card and pocket

For my teacher thank you gift I made a square mini album using the six-inch natural square envelopes.  I used three envelopes, but you could easily make as many pages/envelopes as you want.

I began by adhering the first envelope’s bottom to the second envelope’s flap.  Line up the bottom of the first just a little bit above the crease on the second’s flap (maybe 1/8″), as this will allow a tad more “foldability” when your album is complete.  What you end up with is a sort of accordion.
This forms your base and all you do is decorate to your heart’s content.  Here’s how I created my vintage inspired teacher’s album for my niece’s preschool teacher, Miss Jessie.

The cover and back of the album are covered with two 6” x 6” squares of patterned paper.  I inked the edges with Distress Ink and a sponge dauber.  Using a  pennant punch I created the flags for my banner and adhered them to baker’s twine with liquid adhesive.  To give the appearance of the banners being tied to the cover I tucked & taped the ends of the twine under the cover paper.  Before adhering the cover papers I placed a yard of thin red gingham ribbon to tie the album closed, anchoring the ribbon with adhesive and then covering it with patterned paper on both the front and back covers.  The back cover is actually the back of the second envelope.  The letters on the pennants are Maya Road Jonathan mini chipboard covered with white pigment ink and then ultrafine glitter.

I chose to cover the flap on the first envelope with patterned paper.  You could tuck the flap in and leave it uncovered – either way is perfectly acceptable.  I cut two pieces of patterned paper at 2” x 6”, adhered them to each side of the flap, one at a time, trimming the excess to fit the tapered edges.  Then I inked the edges.  Each of the interior pages is covered with patterned paper cut at 5-1/2” x 6”, which allows the opening of the envelopes to be easily accessible.  The back of the third envelope folds into the album and is covered with a 6” x 6” piece of patterned paper.
 
I used a variety of buttons, baker’s twine, mini clothespin, fancy scalloped border punch, a bit of polka dotted ribbon stapled to a library card with a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and slipped inside a library pocket.  The stamps are from a Papertrey Ink set called Teacher’s Apple.

Finally, I made three 5-1/2” square inserts for the envelope pockets using Cut Cardstock’s Brown Bag kraft cardstock and stapling a little flap of ribbon on the side of each insert and adhering a tiny button onto the ribbon pull. Then I placed a cardstock-mounted photo to each of the finished inserts using Cut Cardstock’s Pop-Tone cardstock in Wild Cherry.

A very simple project that’s easy to make and fun to give!  Make one this evening – you’re sure to feel that sense of accomplishment when you finish in time to watch your favorite TV show!  Click here for printable instructions.

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CutCardStock

Owner and founder of CutCardStock.com