Sun, Fun & Minis
Mini albums are an awesome way to document a season like summer. The mini gives your many photos a common home and place to document. It’s why I put the adorable 4 x 4 Instagram Album included in the May Make a Pretty Life Kit to work on documenting some of last summer’s highlights.
Yes, I’m just now getting much of last summer scrapped. Perhaps I’ll make a second mini for this year’s fun and have it ready to fill. My overall design scheme is simple enough to follow after all: “big” print (4 x 4) on one page, with smaller prints (2 x 2) and embellishments on the other side. Nothin’ to it!
To prep for this, I created a photo collage on my phone using the Project Life app.
Actually, I created a bunch of different collages—one for each topic I wanted to include in my book.
On these spreads, I used the yummy puffy stickers in the May kit for my titles.
Because the stickers have a clear backing, I was able to position the letters on the sticker backing first to ensure they’d fit the space on my photo (vs. having to place them on the image and risk ruining the pic only for them not to fit).
JOURNALING TIPS
With little pages like these, you sometimes have to get a bit creative with your journaling. On this spread about summer birthday celebrations, I added the birthdays behind the tag. It isn’t crucial to the story, but it’s nice to have them documented. (By this July, I know I’ll appreciate the reminder.)
A photo with white space (open space), can also be a great space to journal. Just make sure you select a pen that won’t smudge on photo paper.
DESIGN SIMPLIFIED (Purists, close your eyes!)
By about half way through the book, my design gets extra simple. And, perhaps, a bit cringe worthy for my purists. You see, I scrapped directly on the backs of the “big” prints. I realize I could have simply used white paper, but I was already feeling the “lazy” in these lazy days of summer. I sure hope I’m not alone in taking such a shortcut from time to time.
My embellishing for these back pages is also quite minimal, but it gets the job done, and I love that it uses up my scraps. (I seem unable to throw anything away. D’oh!)
TEXTURE TRICKS FOR THE COVER
The cover is the most complicated of the book, but not by much. I did add some dimensional glaze to the sun’s sunnies to make them look more glasses-like. Oh, yeah, and I put the die cut sunglasses on him for some add personality.
For the trim along the bottom, I simply pleated the crepe paper, which comes included in the May kit. I used my sewing machine for this. I like that it shows on the front and the back of the cover page.
That’s it. Summer fun in no time. Having a bunch of cute pieces already picked out that go so well together is a dream come true. It makes crafting a cool summer’s breeze. 😉
Cheers!
Megan Hoeppner
Megan Hoeppner