Thursday, March 20, 2014

#TBCCrafters - Paper Bag Mini Albums & a Washi Tape Pennant Banner


Check it Out!  It's been almost 2 years since the fire and although I was able to recover a small portion of my family photos, I haven't been able to replace the albums.  It pains me sometimes to think about all the time, effort and money that was put into all the albums that I had created over a 24 year period.  So now, I have a few boxes of smelly and unorganized photos and I have been wrestling with how to use them.  I have pretty much just left them in the boxes.  Some of these photos are in better shape than others and I always get a headache after looking through the boxes, because they smell so much, so I decided that I would scan them into my computer and print out the ones that I want to include in an album.  Not having the money right now to go out and purchase all new albums and page protectors, I decided I would just have to make my own albums until I could buy larger ones.  My fabulous neighbor, the same one who gave me all those Dixie cups, also gave me a huge supply of paper lunch bags so thinking back on how I use to make paper bag albums, I figured that would be a great way to start creating some new albums.  


What's really great about using the paper bags is that I can make as many pages to the album as I want and using the openings and flaps on the bags, I can even create pockets.  
So to get started I simply fold my paper bags in half and turn them in opposite directions.  Holding the albums together can be done in many ways.  For the 2 that I created for this post, I punched holes and used brads to close one together and for the other I simply ran a bead of glue down the center fold of the bag.  In the past I have also used file folder prongs and even those large split-rings.  


Once I have my pages created, it's time to decorate them! I chose my papers and photos and glued the cut pieces of scrapbook paper on as well as my photos.   I then created the pockets by punching holes and adding brads to the bag bottom flaps and by gluing the openings together at the folds as shown above.  Then I embellished using whatever I had.  I really love using kits because the papers and coordinating embellishments are all there together.  Fun and cheaper too!  


For my first album I wanted to use the photos of my kids at Indian Springs State Park and my Hello Summer kit.  This kit was amazing because I have created at least 5 greeting cards, a journal and now this album with the one kit and I still have some of it left!  I loved the pennant paper that was in this kit so I created a 3D pennant banner of my own using Washi tape and string, and I love it!


To create this banner I simply laid out a piece of string and folded strips of Washi tape around it so that I could cut the tips to create pennants.  You can cut them in a ton of different ways to create a variety of looks and you can make them as long or as short as you want.


Since this year is my 25th wedding anniversary I decided to make my hubby a celebration album with some of our favorite pics in it. Above are some of the pages in it.  I used the pockets to include tags and journal pages with notes and more pics.
I can just visualize many more of these little albums and they make great gifts as well.



12 comments:

  1. What a cute idea. Yours turned out beautifully!

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  2. Love it!! You go crafty-girl!! Beautiful way to add decor to a great gift idea for family!! Pinned & Tweeted!

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    1. Thanks Jamie! I made one for my mother years ago and she loved it! They do make great little gifts.

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  3. Love, love love, love LOVE, 100 times I love this! I love the pockets, I love the pennant banner and I LOVE the idea and using such inexpensive materials! Dawn this is fabulous!

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    1. Oh Rose Powell, you always make me feel so great about my crafts and you are a fantastic source of inspiration for me! I would love to see the paper bag album you would create! Thank you!

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  4. Love the washi tape banner and the idea of using paper bags is awesome. I love the idea of recycling, repurposing, re...whatever, just to give new lives to old stuff. Congratulations! 25th years of marriage is awesome! I have a long way to go!

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    1. Thanks Rosemag! I love repurposing things and creating new life into them!

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  5. This is great! I always wanted to make a paper bag album, but never did. I just may do it now!

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    1. Thanks Greta! You should and I would love to see it after you're done!!

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  6. what a GREAT idea!!! I love this it is so cute!!!

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  7. Thanks Denise! Thank you for all those bags which gave me the inspiration!!

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