One of the hardest things in living far away from your family is being absent from family gatherings during the holidays. Purim is one of those occasions. The kids are wearing their costumes and the general atmosphere is one of joy and festivity. This Purim I wasn’t able to join my family, but I wanted to create a mini album that I can carry around so at least I will be near the photographed memories…

To capture the holiday spirit, I designed a mini album which is covered in felt and has some embroidery details on its cover, as well as a decorative edge to all the signatures inside. This mini album is in fact a dressed up version of the 10 minute mini book tutorial. I guess my minis want to dress up for Purim – who am I to stop them?

The felt cover protects the album, but also provides softness that makes you want to caress it… A feeling which goes hand in hand with the cute pictures of my nephews and niece: Superman, the Bride, Robin Hood and the Knight In Shining Armor…

If you want to make one for yourself or as a gift to a loved one, keep reading…

Tools & Supply –

• Felt
• 5 sheets of 8½ by 11″ black cardstock
• Glue stick
• Embroidery floss + needle
• button
• Paper trimmer
• Scallop Border Punch
• Brayer
• Bone folder
• Scissors

How To –

Step by Step Instructions –

1. Cut your cardstock at 9″ by 4″. (If you want to give up the scalloped edge, or to simply round up the corners, you can cut your cardstock at 8″ by 4″ and score at 4″ instead).
2. Score your cardstock at 4½” and fold in half. Use a bone folder for a crisper crease.
3. Align the edges of each closed signature with the tick marks of the border punch. Make sure the ends are placed at the same tick mark on both sides. Punch firmly and repeat all across the edge. If you are more cautious about your [EXPENSIVE] punch, or if your signatures are made of heavy-weight cardstock, you can punch each edge individually, as long as your alignment is precise. It will just take longer.
4. Attach the signatures together with glue stick. Again, take special care at aligning the scallops together. Use a brayer to insure a strong hold.
5. Let the signatures dry while they are spread wide open to make sure they won’t get stuck together.
6. Measure and cut a stripe of felt. Use the signatures for measuring. Just pencil in a tick mark a little bit above the height of the signatures and cut along with sharp scissors. (~4¼” by 11½”).
7. Figure out the placement of your flap using the signatures. Note that the spine adds some dimension. After finding the right placement, pencil in your title and embroider over it using a backstitch.
8. After finishing your title design, use the remaining embroidery floss to create a loop in the middle of the flap. Thread your embroidery floss horizontally and allow a loop to form, then secure its ends. Don’t worry about the backside of the flap, as it’ll be covered later.
9. Use the signatures to find the placement of the flap on the felt cover when closed. Allow some room for adding dimensional elements to the album’s pages. Sew a button in correlation to the loop you have just added to the flap.
10. Measure and cut a piece of patterned paper and glue on the flap to conceal the embroidery’s backside. Use a brayer to insure a strong hold. (~4″ by 2″.)
11. Attach the signatures to the felt with glue stick, let dry and start playing with the inside pages 🙂

Here is a glimpse to all the inside pages of my mini album:
[Click on the photo for a closer view]

Tags: creativity, creativity prompt, felt, mini-album, Tutorial, Video, Video Tutorial