{Mini Tag Album} - Tutorial

I want to share with you a fun and extremely quick and simple way to make a mini tag album.

And by mini, I mean MINI -- this album is only about 3 inches long -- the perfect size to tote around.

There are lots of instructional photos coming up, because how fun is a tutorial with just words?  Not very fun indeed.  Even though there are lots of photos, it's very simple.  I made my album in under an hour!   Let's get started...

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The first thing you will need to do is save this tag image to your desktop and print it out:

For the best quality image, I suggest saving it directly from the source at {JUST SOMETHING I MADE}. Cathe Holden's site is amazing and is filled with printable freebies just for you!  Be sure to check out the entire site.

Next, tear the back off of a thin cardboard cereal or cracker box.  This will act as your free version of chipboard to help make the tags more sturdy.  Cut out the tags and glue them to the cardboard.  A glue stick works great for this project.

Once all the tags are glued down, it's time to cut them out.

The cardboard is thin enough to cut with a paper cutter or scissors. 

After they are trimmed you can round the corners.

I prefer the look of the rounded corners on one end, but you can certainly leave them square and they will be just as cute!

Next, you will want to score the back of the tags to make them bend easier once they are all tied together.   If you have a papercrafting score board, perfect.  If not, you can do what I do... I use the channel in my paper cutter and an embossing stylus.  The lines aren't perfectly straight, but it works!

Then fold the tag forwards on the scored line.

Now it's time to decide how you want to tie your tags together to make a book.

You can do this in SO many different ways -- holes with clip rings, ribbon threaded through, spiral bound or you can do what I did, mini eyelets.

I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch the tiny holes and to set the eyelets in place.

However you decide to hook it together, just be sure your holes are all punched in the same place so all of your tags will line up evenly.

Lookin' cuter by the minute!

At this point, the backs of the tags are plain cardboard.  The cardboard is cute on its own, but I wanted to add a little more color to my pages.

I grabbed some coordinating papers from my crafty stash and glued them onto the back of the tags, again with the glue stick.  Then cut around the tag to trim off the excess paper.

Now is the time to decorate your pages!

You can distress the edges of the tags with ink or paint or rough them up with a sanding block (or nail file) and just make them as shabby or as clean as you like.

I decorated my tags and the cover with some black + white polka dot washi tape. I stamped some wood grain on white paper and ripped the edges and glued it down. I die-cut some leaves and punched out a sentiment with my Dymo label maker. I then threaded some aqua + white baker's twine through all of the eyelets and tied a tight bow in front.

That's all there is to it!  Pretty easy, right?

You can use this as a mini photo album, or a "Favorite Blogs" album (hint hint) or a "Things I Love" book, as I have.   It's sort of a mini Smash* book... a small place to list the things that make you happy!

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Lately, I've been keeping myself busy coloring and creating cards over at my papercrafting blog

{Annie Rose Makes Things}.
If you, too, are a fan of papercrafting, I'd love it if you stopped by to say hello! :)

- Annie

*Please check out our Linky Parties page or our side column to see the linky parties we participate in*

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