MINIBOOK HOW-TO {part 2}

This is the second part of the minibook how-to series.  If you've missed the first post please read it here: MINIBOOK HOW-TO {part1}

In the first part I discussed 3 elements that help you to get started: an idea for the mini, choosing dimensions and binding for your book, and the selection of paper.  Today I want to talk about 3 other important aspects: style of your minibook, materials and embellishments for the project, and the photos.

1. STYLE
The style of your mini will be often dictated by the overall idea of the project.  While I had to put my 100-day minibook project on hold, I am currently working on 2 albums for one of my customers.  There were almost no restrictions for the project and while it's tempting to go "crazy" and creative I have to keep in mind the overall style: the albums are for 2 young girls and their mother, a talented photographer, asked me for a vintage-y style.  I know that she is a big fan of the 50's and 60's so I am trying to keep this feel throughout the albums.  You can see how the paper selected for one of these albums is dramatically different from the materials for my 100-day mini and the Europe minibook.

Before selecting your paper and embellishments, before making the first page of your mini, think about the style.  Here are some of the possibilities:

vintage, modern, artsy, clean-and-simple, messy, elegant, romantic, childish, exotic, folk

If you are struggling with finding the style think about the main idea for your minibook (see part 1):

If you are making an album for your child it might be bright and childish.
If you are working on a travelling book you might lean towards romantic and messy feel, or maybe a completely opposite: clean, structured, and modern.

Finally, if you can not pinpoint your specific style, or if you need more ideas do the following exercise:

write down the theme of your minibook.  Let your mind wonder to come up with as many associations (words) for this idea as possible.  Write all of them down.  Use this list to help you select paper, embellishments, and other materials for your project.

2. MATERIALS
The theme of the project will serve as a destination.  Once you know where you will be going it's time to pack!  Time to select the paper (see part 1) and decide on other materials.  You can choose to be minimalistic and use only paper for your mini.  Or you can choose to incorporate ribbons, buttons, paperclips, and other ephemera.  In fact, you can make your whole mini with materials other than paper: fabric, cork sheets, wood veneer .... 

Material itself can serve as an inspiration for your project.  I like to collect some (all if possible) of the materials beforehand.  This selection is not final and it gets revised during the creative process but having it ready from the beginning helps me to work on the page layouts and it reminds me of the theme I've picked for my project.  
If you are like me, seeing a new collection of embellishments or finding a forgotten set of die cuts can easily tempt you to rethink the whole project in order to incorporate these new element.  With the pre-made selection at hand this temptation is somewhat easier to manage.  It's also faster to find the necessity brad in the pile of selected material rather than to dig for it through the whole stash.
Using similar materials throughout the minibook unifies your project.  I've wrote about this last year in the post about my August minibook.

3. PHOTOS
There is more to photos than the 6x4 format.  Even if you don't have a photo printer at home (I don't yet) you can experiment with different photo sizes.  Here are some of the possibilities:

Combine small and large
I love small photo formats so instead of printing all my shots 6x4 I minimise some of them and get four on the 6x4 canvas.  These little 3x2 images are super cute and I get four of them printed at once.  Sometime I used them on their own, other times I combine them with regular-sized photos.

Square
Square images are extremely popular, mostly because of Instragram.  But even if you do not take your pictures with a phone or do not bother having an Instagram account it is easy to crop any of your existing photos to make a square. And you can have so much fun with the square format: alternate between big and small images, combine big rectangular (6x4) photos with small square ones, or use a mosaic of small square shots for a fun collage.

Fake Polaroids
I've shown fake Polaroids I used for my August mini before.  It's a bit of work but the result is extremely cute!  Follow my POLAROID DIY tutorial and add some vintage style to your next mini.

No matter what photo style/size you choose try to stick to one or two per project.  Having too many different images sizes can end up looking messy ... and not in the fun artsy messy way.

Hope these suggestions will help you with your next minibook project.  And I would love to see what you are crafting, feel free to share in the comments.

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A year ago: SEPTEMBER PALETTE
Two years ago: LECHATELIER LINE - ROSE CARD

MINIBOOK HOW-TO {part 1}

This week I began working on 2 minibooks and thought it to be a good opportunity to talk about the how-to's of a minibook making. While the process is creative and there are no precise instructions feel free to use these steps to help you with your project.

 
1. IDEA
Having an idea helps with the material selection, the colour scheme, and with deciding on the dimensions of the minibook.
My first mini is about my Europe trip and the second one is a 100-day countdown to my birthday. 

2. DIMENSIONS and BINDING

Ring minibooks are fun and simple. You can keep adding pages or choose to reorganise them at any time. Ring binding doesn't require any preliminary work, simply punch the pages and slip the rings. Or you can choose to bind your minibook. Decide on the type of binding (coptic or long-stitch work great) and the number of signatures. Bind it now or wait to stitch the book once it's finished.
As for dimensions choose whatever is comfortable for you. Make sure that chosen dimensions work well with your images and content.
I will be using ring binding for my 100-day mini while European minibook will get a nice long-stitch binding.

 3. PAPER

This is the most exciting part. If you are new to minibooks and scrapbooking start with a paper pack. You won't need to worry about matching colours and designs since papers in those packs go well together. Most paper packs come with matching embellishments that could be handy when decorating your minibook.
Or you can mix and match papers yourself. Try keeping the same theme and colours so your finished album feels "whole".
I am very excited about the Europe mini. I decided to use a mix of scrapbooking papers and random papers for my stash.  I will be also adding lots of ephemera and papers collected during the trip.

For the 100-day minibook I will be using scrapbooking paper from different paper packs: "Carefree" and "Fresh" by Authentique and Ambrosia by Basic Grey for a nice mix of brown, blue, grey, red, and orange. 

I will be sharing more "in progress" pictures and would love to see your creations.  Leave a comment with a link!

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Looking for more minibook inspiration?  Here are scrapbook albums and minibooks I've shared in the past:

30 TO 30 MINI BOOK

A year ago I was running 30 TO 30 project - a fun countdown to my birthday. The idea was quite simple: I took a picture every day and noted how that particular day was special. Some days were fun and exciting and some were quite and calm.


After posting all the images I've decided to compile a simple mini book.  I've used paint chips to decorate the front and the back covers.  I dyed pages with coffee and added some blue paint.  I then followed the steps of the long-stitch binding tutorial (part 1 and part 2) to make the book.

To keep things fun and simple I've used washi tape to glue the photos and wrote a line or two for each day. Here are some of my favorite spreads from the mini book.

The front and the back covers again - I was very much into blue, brown, and yellow a year ago.

If you want to see all the post from 30 TO 30 project, click here.

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A year ago: SNEAK PEEK: LOVINGLY LINE

 

Shop update

I added some new items to my Etsy shop.  The items from the new LOVINGLY LINE are now for sale.  They are perfect for the upcoming Valentine day.  I will write more about the album and cards but here are some pictures.

LOVE ALBUM

LOVE YOU CARD

BUTTERFLY CARD

CUPID CARD

BIRD CARD

I also added a new item to LECHATELIER LINE:

MINIBOOK

Head over to BRASS AND RUFFLES to see more pictures.


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