Envelope Mini Album...and Other Tracy's Treasures!

Here is another fantastic video tutorial from Tracy at Tracy's Treasures....I love her blog and so look forward to reading about her days (it's kinda like spying on your neighbor...) and the bonus to spying on her and her family, is every so often she has a great video of some cool little mini album!

This mini album is super easy, just three envelopes, some pretty paper and embellishments a little glue....and voila! In a couple of hours I whipped out this neat little mini album for my friends 13th birthday (okay...really I hemmed and hawed, bought paper, hemmed and hawed some more and then a month and a half after she turned 13 I whipped out the mini...at least I finally got it done!)

So here are pics and info on the mini I did, but be sure to watch the video first for all the how-to instructions....


Here is the front of the mini, I used three #10 envelopes (because I had a stack of them close at hand, but I think any envelope would work). All the papers I used were from Rusty Pickle's Candy Land line (so sad to see RP go out of business, they have great papers!) and my embellishments and die-cuts were made on my Silhouette.


Here is a top view of the mini opened up, the left and right 'top wings' of the mini are each one envelope and the 'bottom wing' is the third envelope...remember to watch the video and then this will make more sense. I sealed and then cut my envelopes so they were 4" tall (bottom of the envelope to the top of the envelope).

These pics are from one of the tri-fold sides (you will have two tri-fold side to the mini)
(See Rooster there, he was very interested in the pictures I was taking, and wants a mini of his own now...)


The paper measurements for each of the tri-fold sides are:
Left long piece: 4 1/2" X 3 3/4"
Middle pocket: 3 3/4" X 5 1/4" (fold the bottom up 1 1/2" for the pocket)
Right short piece: 3 3/4" X 3 3/4"
Outside-right short piece: 3 3/4" X 3 3/4"
Spine piece: 1/2" X 3 3/4"
(Now remember to cut two of each of these, as you will need them for the other tri-fold side)


Here is one of the tri-fold sides opened, with all the goodies pulled out.

Since the envelopes were sliced open on the top, they make pockets for goodies. Here are the insert sizes for the entire mini...
Big envelope pocket: cut four 4" X 4 1/4"
Small envelope pocket: cut two to four pieces 3" X 5" (I cut mine with rounded corners and punched a hole in the top to make a tag with ribbon)
Small inside pocket: cut two 2 3/4" X 3 1/2"(On this mini, I actually used small flower micro-mini albums instead of the insert, I cut the micro-minis on my Silhouette from one of their purchased shapes)
Big inside pocket (we haven't cut this yet, it comes in the next step): cut two 3 1/2" X 3 1/2"


This is the back section of the mini. This is where the 'big inside pocket' inserts go...

The paper sizes for this section are:
Left and right pockets: 4 1/2" X 5 1/4" (fold the bottom up 1 1/2" for the pocket)


And here is a picture of the back section and all of it's goodies...

And lastly, the front and back cover papers: 4 1/2" X 3 3/4"



Now, as for a closure to the mini, I used ribbon...I punched a small hole on the edge of the front and back covers (you can sort of see that in the pic above)...I slide in and adhered the ribbon to the inside of the envelope. Make sure your ribbon is long enough to wrap around the mini and tie on the opposite side, since the mini opens on the front and the back.

Hopefully these instructions were understandable...I haven't had a full cup-o-joe yet, and my allergies are making everything a bit hazy...I understand what I am trying to say...right? Wait, let me go get another cup of coffee...

Anyway, I hope you try this out...it was fast, easy, super cute and a great way to use up scraps!