I was looking for a way to make a small mini album for the holidays and happened to think of a method I had used several years ago. Who would think you could make a sweet little album with just some envelopes for your base? One of the beauties of this method is the fact that you can use any size envelope you want. I’ve used the Snow Haven papers by Close to My Heart, but think how fun this would be to use some of your Gelli prints!

A pretty little mini-album all tied up!

I still had some square envelopes on hand, so I decided to use three of those.

Three square envelopes.

Adhere the envelopes together by using the flaps. You’ll only be adhering 2 envelope flaps. The third will fold over the front as part of the cover.

Adhere two flaps, and leave the third one free.

Next, you’ll want to select some coordinating papers. I used the Close to My Heart, Snow Haven papers. I love how they are a little different color combination than red and green! You can use what ever you want to fit the season or occasion.

CTMH Snow Haven paper pack.

First, you’ll want to cover the flap that was not adhered to another envelope. You’ll cover it front and back.

Cover the front and back of the free flap.

Next, decorate the envelope on the opposite end of the flap you just covered. It will become the portion which will make your front cover, so make sure it coordinates with the covered flap.

Cover the panel at the other end of your envelope train.

Cut a piece of coordinating cardstock to create a pull out panel that will fit inside the envelope. Cut it at least 1/4 inch smaller than your envelope width so that it will slide in and out easily, even with photos or other items added on it. If you plan to heavily embellish it, you may have to trim the card down further.

Let’s put a pull tab on it, so it is easy to grab. You can simple fold a piece of paper in half to create a tab, but I cut little tabs to use. If you want to add a brad, be sure to do it before you fold the second side over, so that you cover the little legs of the brad.

Place the brad before folding the tab to the cover the second side.

A small word was stamped and punched out to add a little something to the corner. It was adhered with a foam dot to give a little dimension.  Remember, this is still the front panel. Here is this section completed.

Front section completed.

Decorate the other two envelope sections. Remember, if you are going to use this for adding photos, you don’t need to do a lot of embellishing at this point. You could always add embellishments while adding the photos. I am going to use the Snow Haven Complements for this album. I think these are so adorable!

CTMH Snow Haven Complements

This panel has an extra pocket added by just cutting a triangle of paper to cover it.

Extra pocket created on one panel.

The decorated panels.

Another small stamped image added.

You can decorate the back as well. It will give you three more panels to use!

Now let’s go back to the front flap. I added just a bit of coordinating paper to the flap. Next, we need to create a place to thread some ribbon, cording, or whatever you want to use to tie your little album closed. I used my trusty Crop-o-dile to punch through all the layers of the flap.

Punch through all layers of the flap.

You can either punch it once or create a second row to thread your ribbon through. It will work either way. I just like the way it lays a little flatter with two rows.

Double holes to thread ribbon in and out.

Your album will fold like this:

Fold your album like this.

Wrap your ribbon and round and tie it up just like a pretty little package!

A pretty little mini-album all tied up!

Thanks for joining me on another Make It Monday blog hop! Next up on the hop is Alice from Scrapbook Wonderland, who will inspire you with an elegant Christmas card!

I hope you came over from Beth at Scrapping Wonders, who shared how to make an Advent Calendar with the Cricut Explore. If not, be sure to go back and check out her post, too.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’ll make one of these envelope mini-albums from today’s tutorial. If you’d like to keep up with Artful Adventures, leave your info, and you’ll even get a freebie right away!