Make the perfect Mother's Day gift this year (on the cheap!) -- free step-by-step tutorial (part 2)

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I created my mini-album using the 6" x 6" tabbed album dies at Pebbles in My Pocket. You can use their classroom and die cuts for free during the day, as long as you are cutting paper you have purchased at their store. I did bring in my own chipboard (recycled from various packaging), but bought the Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper there. I cut two each of the back cover and the two tab pages from chipboard, and four each from paper. When you do this, make sure you flip the paper to the correct side so you can get all the pages covered correctly, front and back. I also used a paper slicer to cut five 4"x6" pieces of chipboard for the photos, then punched holes in them.

While I was at Pebbles, I also cut the monogram "M" for the front cover (using both chipboard and patterned paper), as well as bought lots of ribbon for the rings and about 2' of butterfly lace for the pages. You can purchase rings at Pebbles, or more cheaply at an office supply store. The only other supplies I used were some ink for the edges, some dimensional adhesive (a.k.a. Pop Dots), and some little jewels I had in my stash.

First, the photos. My shortcut here was to put one 4" x 6" page between each tabbed page, pasting the photo directly onto the chipboard. I picked ten vertical photos, slapped them on the chipboard, punched some holes, and sanded the edges with a nail file. Voila! All my photos are done, with no extra embellishment needed.

I got a little fancier on the other pages. Before I got started, I adhered patterned paper to all the chipboard pages so they were ready to go. I inked the edges of everything as I went along.

Front cover:

Adhere the "M" monogram; write "(mom)" on the "M." Adhere jewels to embellish the patterned paper.

Page 1:

Cut two 5.25" squares: one from patterned paper and one from white cardstock. Embellish cardstock with .75" x 5.25" patterned paper strip. Add tulip cut from patterned paper; adhere with dimensional adhesive.

Page 2:

Cut three 1.5" x 11" strips from patterned paper. Fold each end up .5" for hinge. Fold each strip in half and adhere it to itself, leaving the hinges free. Separate the hinges and adhere those directly to the page. Punch six 1" circles from patterned paper; adhere on both sides of strip to create tabs. Cut three 1.25" x 4.5" strips from white cardstock; adhere to create hidden journaling beneath flaps.

Page 3:

Adhere 4" square of white cardstock to center of page. Cut two 2.5" x 4.75" pieces from patterned paper; fold .5" from ends to create hinges. Adhere hinges to page to create "cupboard doors." Create tabs using 1" circles punched from patterned paper.

Page 4:

Create mat with 3.5" x 5.5" piece of patterned paper; add 2.5" x 4" piece of white cardstock for journaling. Adhere 1" punched circle; cut bird from patterned paper and adhere using dimensional adhesive. For pocket, cut a 3" x 3.5" piece of patterned paper. Fold in three sides .5" and adhere folded sides only to page to create pocket. Embellish with 2.5" of butterfly lace. Create insert from piece of 2.5" x 4.5" white cardstock, with .25" x 2.5" strip of patterned paper at the bottom and two 1" circles forming the tab at the top.

Page 5:

Cut 3.5" x 5.5" mat from patterned paper; adhere. Cut 3" x 5" piece of white cardstock for journaling space; embellish with .375" x 3" strip of patterned paper. Adhere 2" x 6" strip of patterned paper to page. Cut 1.5" x 6" strip from butterfly paper. Hand-cut around the wings, being careful to leave the center intact. Adhere butterfly strip to page, using dimensional adhesive to lift the butterfly wings.

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