Blue Lagoon Mini Album

My obsession with making mini albums continues! I purchased a whole bunch of 4x4 mini albums when they were on sale a couple YEARS ago... and they've been sittin' pretty on my shelf ever since! Just waiting to be used and loved.

After finishing up the Keukenhof Pocket Mini Album a couple days ago, I needed a new project and photos to scrap. I decided to make a mini album based around our pics from the Blue Lagoon in Iceland!

Then I wondered which collection to use. The photos aren't very colorful, in fact, they are mostly mint, black, and white. So I decided to try something I've never done before and make an entire monochromatic mini album, not using a specific collection, instead I went through box by box of my scrap stash and pulled out all the mint-colored things from papers and ribbon to washi tape and buttons to sequins and ink colors, and much more!

After trimming the photos down I placed them into pockets in pretty much chronological order and the album already felt like it was lookin' good! Just putting photos into pockets is "scrapbooking"! Then I worked on the cover. I love this really old set of Thickers with different shades of mint. The plan was to use my sewing machine to stitch them on but after scratching up the cover and the needle broke and literally flew into my eye... I tossed that idea and instead did some hand stitching. On the spine I used my We R Memory Keepers Typecast and typed "Blue Lagoon Iceland" onto ledger paper, trimmed it down, and inserted it into the bookplate. Once the album was completely finished I wrapped ribbon, baker's twine, and yarn around the spine and tied on two mint tassels.

On the inside cover I adhered a chipboard wave from the brand new Summer Lights collection by Pink Paislee between the stitched lines.

What's a project without stitching?! Ha! I trimmed a piece of transparency to the same size as the page protectors, punched holes in the sides, then hand stitched the country of Iceland in aqua thread. I placed a small heart sticker where the Blue Lagoon is. Next came a sequin & glitter pocket: I poured a few blue sequins and glitter into the bottom, stitched 1/3 of the way across, added more sequins & glitter, stitched 2/3 of the way across, added even more sequins & glitter, then sewed the top shut. Being the glitter phobe that I am, I'm proud of this little pocket page haha.

I also really love backing die cuts with patterned paper! Since I spent a long time searching through all of my 6x6 patterned paper pads pulling mint papers, I figured I'd better use them! I die cut the self made "Blue Lagoon" outline three times from white textured cardstock, used spray adhesive to attach them all together, backed the open letters with patterned paper, then die cut a solid "Blue Lagoon" from white cardstock to back the entire piece so it has a clean back side.

Then we get to the photos! On all of the 4x4 photo pockets I wrapped washi tape around the right edge - I love the color this adds, though I don't know if "color" is the right word since I only used tints, tones, and shades of a single color ;) I copied text from the blog post recap, printed it out, and trimmed it into strips before adhering it directly onto the "white space" of the photo.

The next photo page is a picture of the rain-soaked window and a phrase we kept repeating throughout our time in Iceland haha. In the 4 pocket page I added two photos and the other two are filled with buttons - to help them stay in the pocket I machine stitched along the top edges.

The buttons are visible on the front and back and I added two more photos to the other pockets. On the right spread, another 4 pocket page, I trimmed four pieces of cardstock, sprayed them with adhesive, then layered bits of textured ribbon across them. A fun filler page!

The backsides of the ribbon-covered cardstock are seen on the left side and then I topped them with stickers. On the right page, another 4 pocket page, I typed and printed journaling onto vellum - the vellum reminds me of the fog/steam at the surface of the water. And I added another pair of small photos.

On the left side I backed the photos with pieces of baker's twine and yarn then stitched down the sides so they'll stay in place forever. On the right spread I used a 4" square photo (which means more washi tape on the right edge!), then added a wave die cut and a jumble of messy string with a mini clothespin.

The left side is a big picture of me in the water along with "most favorite" puffy stickers from my Fancy Free collection. Look carefully and you'll see I dotted the "i" with a sequin. The right 4 pocket page is 4 small photos, done and done, clean and simple.

I trimmed a piece of white cardstock to 4" square, stamped the flower from the Oh My Heart acrylic stamp set all over it using 5 different colors of aqua/blue ink, then trimmed it into 2" squares to fit the pockets. Also clean and simple! The right pocket holds a 4" square photo and then on top of the sleeve I added a puffy frame sticker with typed and printed journaling on vellum trimmed into strips.

On the left side I made another filler page by stitching mint embellishments down the center and mirrored that down the right edge of the right photo page. Directly on the photo I stamped journaling lines and hand wrote journaling all about that smoothie.

I added glitter chipboard dots to the top of the large photo mimicing rain. On the right 4 pocket page I saved our receipt and trimmed two 2" squares from it for two of the pockets then added photos to the other pockets. I stitched "love" to the center.

The left side is a couple more photos, a bit more journaling, and a puffy butterfly sticker with "antennae" made from pins from my stash. On the right photo I made "rain" with modeling paste and a stencil across the top edge and slid on a flag paper clip to the bottom right side.

The last page is a family photo and a few sentiment stickers on the bottom left, the date stamped below, and another flower stamped on the top right corner with a sequin in the middle of the flower.

All-in-all this album only took a single afternoon to complete! This format of mini album with pockets lends itself to quick scrapping - you just need to embellish which you can keep to a minimum or take it to the next level, whatever suits your style!

Also, gathering the supplies beforehand and limiting myself to only using a single color helped streamline the process and made it come together quickly!

As I type this my photo order of Cinque Terre pics is about to arrive so I'm gonna go prep the pages for that mini! 

Can't stop, won't stop making minis!