Boy (no pun intended!), do I have lots of mini album inspiration for you all today! I have absolutely fallen in love with mini albums. I used to think of them as extremely intimidating. That feeling hasn't gone away completely, but they have become more fun and less overwhelming. This could be because I've actually created 3-5 mini albums this year already.
Anyways, I wanted to show off this very special mini album that's close to my heart. One of my best friends recently gave birth to her first child, a beautiful baby boy. From the moment she told me she was pregnant way back in early December 2013, I knew I wanted to make a special mini album for her to document her baby's first year.
As soon as I found out, I bought just a few things. And I actually mean that! I definitely could have purchased more, but, for me and my impulse scrapbook buying habits, I did relatively good. But before I list out the supplies I purchased, I'll break down my thought process and how I approached this very daunting task. (Well, I'll break it down to the best of my ability.)
I knew from the beginning I wanted a 6" x 8" D-ring binder with pocket pages as my album base. I wanted to use journaling cards. I thought these would be the easiest way for my friend to document, quickly, her son's first year.
Then came the hard part, for me at least. I had to figure out the layout and prompts to include in the album. I did some extensive research. I stalked YouTube for baby albums, baby boy albums, baby boy mini albums, etc. I checked Pinterest front to back and back to front for links to baby boy albums. I looked through various Etsy stores selling baby albums. I went to various stores, flipping through baby albums. I went as far as to photograph some for future inspiration! (Don't worry, there was no stealing of prompts, designs, etc. In fact, after I did all that, I never looked at the photos after I took them.)
Next, comes the brain dump. I wrote down different techniques, pins or blog posts I wanted to look back to, ideas I definitely wanted to include in the album, colors I wanted to use, products I wanted to make sure to include, prompts, etc. It definitely helps me to just get all this stuff down onto paper.
So, now, we're at the part of actually designing/creating the mini album. I wanted to use various designs of pocket pages. I had stacks of 5 different designs, I had my supplies I purchased for this project, I had the album itself, I had my brain dump list, I pulled stuff from my stash coordinating with the main products, I had picked kraft as my neutral color to help make the album cohesive.
Ready!
I decided to to separate the album into three sections:
Birth/Welcome to the World
Monthly Highlights: A layout like this for the first 12 months
Favorites and Milestones
I am so, so SO proud of this mini album! This is just the first of many mini albums I see in my future! What was the most recent mini album you created? Was it for your memories or for someone else? Let me know in the comments section! I love reading your comments!
xoxo,
Heather
Supplies Bought Specifically for Mini Album
- First Tooth Paper by Pebbles
- It's A Boy Paper by Pebbles
- Special Delivery Die Cut Cardstock Shapes by Pebbles
- Special Delivery Journaling Card Pad by Pebbles
- Baby Boy Snap Cardstock Stickers by Simple Stories
- Baby Boy Snap 4x6 Card Pack by Simple Stories
- Baby Boy Snap 3x4 Card Pack by Simple Stories
- Baby Boy 12x12 Cardstock Stickers Sheet by Bella Blvd
- Baby Boy Cardstock Stickers-Miniature by Bella Blvd
- Baby Mine-Boy Collection Kit by Carta Bella
- DCWV Little Mister 12x12 Stack
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