How to Use An Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 5B Mini Album #2

Today I'm sharing the second album I made in the "How to Use an Entire Paper Pad Series". Several of these papers were 6x6" designs on 12x12" papers to start with, which is what got me thinking about a 6x6" mini album.

Although this is from the same paper pad, it isn't Paris-themed. I chose to use the pretty florals on this one, since there was a mix of cutesy Paris-themed papers and more elegant floral papers in this paper pad.

Inside the front cover, there is a pocket. This can hold memorabilia or extra pictures.

I just love this gold foil polka dot paper!

Although this album has only three main pages attached to the spine, they all have several flaps and tags, so it can hold up to 31 photos of varying sizes.

This tag feature comes out the top of the main page, giving you room for four more photos or journaling.

This lefthand page has a pocket feature, so you can slide in a photo or some memorabilia.

That lefthand page opens out to another page.

This is a sampling of the basic style of page throughout the book. Now, let's skip to the back. (See, this is the same basic layout with the same pretty papers.)

This is the back cover.

And this is the spine. I used some pretty pleated ribbon to give it an extra feminine touch.

If you're interested in purchasing this album, I just opened up my Etsy shop last night. Go check it out here. I'll be sharing more officially about my shop later, probably after I finish this series.

I hope you're enjoying this series as much as I am. It's stretching me to think of several different ways to use the same papers.

Next up: cards made from the scraps.

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:


Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards
Part 7 - Tags 

How to Use An Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 5A Mini Album #1

Today we're moving on to a different project in the "use up an entire paper pad" saga - mini albums! These can be pretty picture-heavy, so I'm just going to share the first one today and do another post with the second one in the next few days.

This paper pad had 6x6" cut-aparts, so it made sense to make a 6x6" album. Since this was one of my very first albums from scratch, I followed an online tutorial. Dawn's tutorial (found here) was very clear and didn't have a lot of flaps and gadgets to confuse me as a beginning album artist, so I chose to use hers for this project. After I assembled the basic album, I decided to go back and add a flap to each main page (and thus double the number of photos this will hold).

Let's take a look at the inside of the album:

Inside front cover and page one folded ... Most of the add-on elements you see on the pages are tuck spots for pictures.

Inside front cover and page one UNfolded ... The sentiment strip came from a border page that came with the paper pad.

Back of page one and page two folded ... I love these Eiffel tower cut-aparts!

Back of page one and page two UNfolded ...

Back of page two and page three folded ... I don't drink alcohol, so I covered up the champagne glass with the matted Eiffel tower decoration.

Back of page two and page three UNfolded ...

Back of page three and page four folded ...

Back of page three and page four UNfolded ...

Back of page four and inside back cover ...

Lastly, the back cover.

This was fun, and I learned a lot!

I ended up using four 12x12" sheets, four 6x6" cut-aparts and some cut-apart embellishments from the paper pad. I also used six sheets of 8-1/2x11" blue cardstock from my stash for the base of the pages and the spine. I could have used 12x12" cardstock for the base, but I mostly have 8-1/2x11" sheets of plain colored cardstock at the moment.

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my process! I'll be back in a few days to share the second album I made from this paper pad. Believe it or not, the second one isn't Paris-themed at all.

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:


Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards
Part 7 - Tags 

How to Use An Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 4 Traveler's Notebook #2

I promised I'd share the second Traveler's Notebook from this paper pad, and I'm finally getting the time to write up the post.

This is another B6 (5x7") size, and it's a Paris theme. (No surprise there, since the paper pad is Paris-themed.)

I included one of the cut-aparts inside the front elastic, since it makes it a little prettier. This can be used as a bookmark or left in the front as a movable decoration.

I really love how the planner charm turned out for this one. I found these Eiffel Tower charms on clearance at Michaels and made the yarn tassel myself. This can also be clipped onto the front elastic, if you wish.

And now moving onto the inside ... This is the inside front cover and the first part of the 2-page, 4-sheet clear pocket dashboard. I lined the pockets with printed paper to separate the front and back.

Here is the second and third parts of the clear pocket dashboard.

This is the end of the clear pocket dashboard and the cover of the first insert. I added a cut-apart to the insert so the recipient can label it according to what information she's putting inside.

This is the pretty paper clip I made from cut-aparts and a bow die cut.

This is the back of the first insert and the front of the second one ...

... And the back of the second insert and the front of the pocket folder with the pen loop attached.

This is the inside of the pocket folder. I like the idea of having a folder to corral the miscellaneous papers that seem to be a part of everyone's life.

Lastly, here is the matching pen that I created from paper scraps.

I hope you've enjoyed this peek at my first Traveler's Notebooks. I'm a little addicted to them now ...

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:


Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards
Part 7 - Tags 

How to Use An Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 4 Traveler's Notebooks

Today is the 4th part of a series about using up an entire paper pad. I've already explained my process, shown the results of my planning with a paper pad, and then shown you the composition notebook journals I made with the Parisian Lane paper pad.

Today I'm going to share a Traveler's Notebook that I made. I actually made a second one, but my week has been so busy with family emergencies that I wasn't able to photograph the second one. I plan to share that in a few days when I get the time to take pictures of it.

This is the cover of the one I gave to my niece recently for her 22nd birthday. It was the very first Traveler's Notebook I ever made, and I learned a lot in the process. It is a B6 size, which holds 5x7" inserts.

The first lesson I learned was that you do indeed need a laminator if you want to laminate the cover. An iron just doesn't cut it. You can't see it well in the pictures, but the lamination looks a bit "bubbly," even though it's all adhered as it should be.

Once I bought my laminator, the laminating was perfectly smooth - exactly as it should be.

A neat side note: The removable decorative flower tucked behind the elastic closure came from Dollar Tree as part of a spring hanging decoration. There were 36 cutouts in a pack (3 different designs). I just had to remove the tape that held them to the string. They are all double-sided, and I was thrilled to see how well they matched this paper.

This is the inside front cover and the top-loading pocket that I made from a page protector that I cut to size and sewed in the middle.

This is the inside of the top-loading pocket. There are two sides to the pocket, so it actually holds four pages.

This is the back of the top-loading pocket and the front cover of the first notebook. Also included in the picture is the flower clip marker that I made from tissue paper.

This is the back of the first notebook and the front of the second one. I used the same paper for both and just used a different decoration on the cover of each one. The idea was that she could write on the decoration piece what each notebook contained.

This is the back of the second notebook and the front of the pocket folder that I made.

This is the inside of the pocket folder. I like that there are a few places to store random bits of paper.

I also attached the pen and pen loop to the back of the folder.

The pen loop was made from a small section of a border cut-out from the paper pack and laminated with packing tape.

I decorated an RSVP pen to match.

Lastly, here is the "charm" that I created to hang onto the side of the planner. These are purely decorative, but they're fun to make and pretty to look at. I made the yarn tassel and crocheted the white heart.

Stay tuned in the next few days for another Traveler's Notebook from this paper pad.

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:


Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards
Part 7 - Tags 

How to Use an Entire Paper Pad Series: Part 3 Composition Notebook Journals

Today I'm going to start showing you the projects I'm making with my 12x12" paper pad. I'm starting with composition notebook journals.

I was able to get four of them out of this paper pad, two of each design I'm going to show you. This will vary by paper pad. Some lend themselves well to notebooks, while others don't.

I chose one of the full-page papers for the front of this book. I had to cut it down, since the front of a composition notebook usually measures somewhere around 7x9-3/4", while the paper itself is 12x12". This required a little creativity, but I liked the end result.

Cutting off the side was no problem. It was the height that was a little trickier. I finally settled on piecing it back together in a shortened form and adding some paper lace over the seam to make it less obvious. The paper lace then became a design element, and I added some light pink rhinestones at each scallop.

I chose to wrap the back paper around to the front to cover the black spine.

This is the inside front cover and first tab, complete with a bookplate of sorts from the cut-apart elements in the paper pad. I backed each tab with a matching solid pink cardstock for stability.

This is the second divider ...

... and the third divider ...

... and the fourth divider. I used the same basic pattern for all of them.

Lastly, here's the inside of the back cover. I used the remaining part of the paper I used on the front, so I had to piece it for length. I used the same technique - paper lace - to hide the seam. I decided not to add the rhinestones inside, though, since it would create marks on the facing pages.

And now for the second notebook:

A little creative cutting allowed me to use the main elements of this full-page paper.

 Once again, I wrapped the paper from the back around to the front to cover the black spine.

Here's the inside front cover (and first divider) with another bookplate made from cut-aparts from the paper pad. I backed each divider page with plain white cardstock.

Here's the second divider ...

... and the third ...

... and the last divider. I used a few cut-aparts to cover up parts of the paper that I didn't care for.

Once again, I used the rest of the paper from the front cover on the inside back cover.

And there you have it: four composition notebook journals (two of each design) from this paper pad.

Stay tuned for the next installment. We have a lot of paper to use yet!

Want to see the rest of the series? Check them out at these links:


Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Planning
Part 3 - Composition Notebook Journals
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebooks
Part 4 - Traveler's Notebook #2
Part 5A - Mini Album #1
Part 5B - Mini Album #2
Part 6 - Cards
Part 7 - Tags