Faux Leather Mini Album

Faux Leather Mini Album

OK, confession time. I ADORE MINI ALBUMS - there I said it! They can be packed full of little moments that can be enjoyed for years to come. Decorated and adorned with images and pretty papers, what's not to like? I'll warn you, this post will be very photo heavy so you get to see all the pages.

Now here is my second confession, I have never used the faux leather before - YIKES, I was worried about giving it a try but I promise you, it was just so simple and easy and, so much so that I have already used it again.

Here's what you will need to complete the above project

• silhouette cameo
• faux leather
• photographs
• sewing machine (optional)
• patterned papers and embellishments
• embroidery floss (optional)
• pokey tool (could use a needle instead)
• a button
• needle
• double sided tape/ wet glue
• heat gun (optional)
• crop o dile (optional)
• sewing machine (optional)
• bakers twine (can use wool or string etc)  

The 'how to' bit

the design I chose to work with was this one

 You will see when you open it it looks like this:

For my book I didn't want the bottom right section:

In order to remove it I clicked on the whole image, went to object and clicked ungroup:

I highlighted the section on the bottom left and deleted it, be sure to get all the dash lines deleted too!

I was left with this:

Perfect! I knew that I wanted to add in some extra pages so for those I simply deleted the left hand section and then re grouped the remaining section on the right, copied and pasted it onto a second page twice for extra pages YAY!

Now for the cutting, I was so nervous but it worked great. I added a 12 x 12 sized piece of the faux leather, it feels like thick card. Loaded it up just the same as I would do for a piece of paper.

I used these settings:

Now once your designs are cut you need to soak the paper in warm water with some washing up liquid in it, then after about 2 minutes I stared to scrunch them up in my hand (these pictures show some tags I did for another project but the same method) I really scrunched mine and then rinsed them and sort of made them flatish again. The faux leather is super strong and can cope with this process very well, LOVE the stuff! you will feel that the it becomes softer and pliable when wet and the scrunching gives it more of a leather texture.

You can just leave them to dry naturally but I am impatient so I used my heat gun to speed up the process.

Now you are ready to go YAY!

I decided that I wanted to use a button as a closure so I poked holes in using my pokey tool so I could sew it in:

You will see that all my pieces have holes around the edge, I made these by running them through my sewing machine minus thread. I wanted to add interest and texture and you will see in the finished album that I have added little sections of thread which I sewed by hand using embroidery floss. This is a great way to add texture and interest but you can skip that part if it's not too your liking.

I decided that I wanted to sew in my middle pages to the book, my book measures about 4 x 4" and included 3 pages. I needed to measure an inch in from the top and the bottom of the inside of the book cover and make holes with my pokey tool, I did this three times, one for each page down the inside of the spine. To make the holes on the inside pages, just lay the cover over the page and use a pencil to mark through to the inside page, this will ensure they line up perfectly, reapeat on all inside pages.

I also wanted to add a charm to the book so I  used my crop o dile to create a hole ready to thread it through, this again is optional,

I then got together all the inside pages and chose which photo's I wanted to use. The theme of this album were the twins Lily and Freya (aka The Frillies) at the beach through the years.

To attach the inside pages to the book I threaded up a needle and sewed the pages in with embroidery floss, I sewed each page a few times between the holes to make it more sturdy, plus it looks pretty. Choose whatever colours you want to match your papers. You can see mine on the picture below.

I added a long length of bakers twine trying it near one end to the button and then leaving enough length for me to run it around the book three times and to secure it I run it around the button again.

Now for the really fun part, decorating the cover. You can see that I stitched some sections of thread as I think it looks fun and colourful. I used my double sided tape to add on the paper elements and for very small pieces of paper I used wet glue. To add the flowers and the hearts I used a hot glue gun as I it's important that the books can be looked at without falling apart.

It's so hard to describe how amazing the faux leather is, it feels so tough yet can be shaped, sewn through, and it really looks the part.

Some photo's of the cover of the book:

Here is the inside of the book:

On the page below I wound more thread around the page before I added the photograph. More interest and texture. 

Chunky, scrumptious and so much interest, a feast for the eyes. It feels amazing too.

A few more pictures of the cover:

I really urge you to have a go at making one of these books, I have lots of ideas and you will see them in future posts.

Thanks for taking the time to wade through the pictures, I hope you like it and feel inspired!

C x

Design Used:

PRODUCTS USED: