Scallop Square Die Mini Scrapbook

This is a cute way to give a little book of photos & memories to a family member and is the perfect size for a Grandma’s brag book that she can tote around in her bag…it is also lightweight and is a great size for mailing to those who live away…

It uses the fabulous Scallop Square Die that is featured on pg 207 of the catalog and is exclusive to Stampin’ Up! and is made of just one sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock, some chipboard sheets and Designer Series Papers and embellishments. It can easily be adapted to add more ‘pages’ thus more photos which I will explain further below.

You can even turn it into a photo card that is just perfect for special birthdays and the Holidays – to turn it into a card, simply use cardstock instead of chipboard for the front and back pieces, cut just one length of the center section and skip adding the ribbon – your photo card will fit nicely into a Medium Square Envelope that you can find on pg 171 of the catalog – decorate it using the Deck the Halls or Candy Cane Designer Series Papers & embellies featured in the Holiday Mini Catalog, wouldn’t these make fabulous Holiday cards this year?

Here is my tutorial so that you can make your own – at the end of this tutorial you will find a printable version along with the template of measurements so that you can print it out and keep it for reference.

Firstly take your Scallop Square Die and two pieces of chipboard – you can purchase chipboard sheets or do what I do – I am a bit of a squirrel and hoard chipboard sheets that arrive as part of the packaging for papers and vellum etc – I have quite the collection and it costs nothing to keep them and use for projects like this.

This is what the scallop square die looks like – it is clear so that you can position and cut perfectly over patterned papers so you get the exact placement that you want…

Cut two Scallop Die shapes out of your chipboard…

Take a sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock in the color of your choice and cut two pieces to be 11 1/4″ x 3 3/4″…if you wish to expand your mini album, simply cut more of these strips…

Score each at 3 3/4″ from each end and fold concertina style, and this is what you will have…

Take the end of piece of each and adhere together using a very strong adhesive such as Sticky Strip…if Grandma is receiving this as a gift she will be using it alot so be sure to use strong tape that can withstand alot of handling!

And this is what your cardstock should look like…

Use your Scallop Square die to cut 4 pieces of Designer Series Papers to cover your chipboard covers. Apply the papers to both sides of your top piece of chipboard but only on the inside of your bottom piece…you can choose to add a piece of ribbon to close your book and if you decided to do so, you need to add it before you cover the outside of your bottom chipboard piece with Designer Series Papers…

To do this, simply cut your ribbon to be 24″ in length and find the center-point – adhere the center into the middle of your back piece of chipboard that will be at the bottom of your book…

Once done, take your piece of Designer Series Paper and adhere it in place over the ribbon – the back is now complete…

Turn your scallop square over and adhere one end of your cardstock strip to it…

Repeat for the other end and this is what you will have…the bare bones of your album…it really is that easy!

Then continue to decorate your covers and inside ‘pages’ as you wish – you can make photo boxes, add sentiments, embellies etc…let your imagination run wild!

This is what I did for mine…first side…