Making a Star Album for Christmas

Over the years I have taken many of my favorite family photos during the Christmas season, so I decided  why not highlight a few of those in a star-shaped mini album? Star albums are 6x6" mini albums that open up into a star-shape display.  You'll want to make one for yourself as well as a few for gifts. They are fun to make and easier than you may think but do take up a lot of cardstock and patterned paper  -- so make sure you have plenty before you get started.

Here is the supply list I used followed by some instructions. I would love to see how yours comes out, so please share a link if you use my instructions. Meanwhile, have a very Merry Christmas!

Supplies

1. Three sheets of Bazzill Red cardstock
2. Three sheets Bazzill Yukon Gold cardstock
3. Three sheets of Basic Grey Wassail patterned paper
4. Two pieces of chipboard 6x6”
5. Two sheets of Bazzill Metallic Gold paper for cover
6. Two 12” pieces of 1” wide ribbon
7. Heavy-duty adhesive such as Red Line tape or Book Binding Glue
8. Embellishments of your choice

Cover

A. Cut two pieces of Bazzill Metallic Gold paper into 8x8” squares.

B. Place these pieces face down and glue the 6x6” piece of chipboard in the center of the back of each.


Photo C.


C. Trim off each corner of the Metallic paper leaving a 1/8” of space on each corner. (Photo C)












D. Add some glue strips around each edge and fold over the edges of the paper. (Photo D)

E. Lay the two pieces down in front of you and glue a piece of ribbon onto each. The long ends of the ribbon should run to your left on the left page and to the right on the right-hand page.

Building the Star Points

A. Trim the tag ends off of the Wassail patterned paper.

B. Cut your cardstock as follows:

         a. Red – 12x6”

         b. Yukon Gold – 11x6”

         c. Wassail – 10x6”

C. You should now have 6 pieces of each color. Fold each in half.

D. Run a piece of Red Line tape along the short inside edges of the Red and the Yukon Gold papers.

E. Lay the Yukon Gold paper on top of the Red paper and adhere only the edges together.

F. Lay the Wassail paper on top of the Yukon Gold paper and adhere only the edges together.

G. Each star point is made of three layers of paper and now that you have six of these together, you will begin to see the star emerge.

 

Assembly

A. Glue the back of one of your stacks to the left-hand cover. 

B. Continue gluing each red layer back to back until you have glued the back cover on the last page.

C. Decorate the inside pages to your liking.

D. Tie the album open and display on a table.

Playing with my Cricut

Recently I bought a Cricut Expression. I love that I can cut up to 12 x24 if I want to, though just cutting 12x12 is exciting enough for me. I've only got a few cartridges -- and I can see that I'm going to be buying a lot more.

For this page I borrowed the Summer Vacation catridge from a friend as it offers a Ferris wheel shape, perfect for my neighborhood! I glittered it with Martha Stewart glitter so that it very nearly resembles the real thing!

One of things I don't like about the Cricut is the inability to change the weight of the fonts. For the word 'hood' I wanted some letters that were hefty but not tall and my Cricut would not let me do that with the font cartridge I own. So I turned to my Wishblade to cut all the words in the title shown here as it allows me to stretch my letters in any direction I so choose. The Wishblade's downfall is the steep learning curve and though I've had it for 4 or 5 years now, I've never been able to cut anything on it but titles and circles.

So for ease of use, the Cricut is the winner hands down. I can't wait to get some more cartridges so I can get scrappin'! If anyone wants to know what's on my Christmas list this year, just let me know!