Mini Envelope Book Tutorial with Courtney Walsh!

I am a huge fan of mini albums—especially when they serve a purpose. For years now, my daughter and I have written letters to each other. We even installed a cute mailbox in her room. The fact is, some kids don’t verbalize well…so writing things down makes communication a lot easier.

Creating a mini envelope album with letters for your child or loved one to open at pivotal moments in their life is a great way to provide them with carefully planned words of wisdom.

Step One: Gather envelopes of several different sizes and stack them together.

Step Two: For the cover, I used a sheet of thin book board. (I got several sheets of this for free from a printer. It’s not as heavy as chipboard, but it makes a nice, sturdy cover and is easy to alter.)

Step Three: Measure your cover based on your largest envelope. I love to create mini albums that have a variety of sizes and lovely embellishments sticking out all over the place, so you don’t have to get too caught up in perfection here. For this book, I simply folded the book board in half and cut right down the middle, which happened to be just about the perfect size.




Step Four: Punch holes in the board board and use that as a template for punching holes in the rest of your envelopes. For the smaller ones, you can punch two holes so it can be secured either at the top or the bottom. Don’t worry, they won’t go anywhere! Be sure to assemble in your book so the pocket faces the back.



Step Five: Choose your “milestones”. Decide which milestones you want to capture in your envelope book.  Here are a few to get you started:

•    When you need to feel like a princess…
•    When you get your feelings hurt…
•    When you’ve lost your courage…
•    When you get your heart broken…
•    When you forget how special you are…
•    When you need to feel loved…
•    When you don’t feel like you fit in…
•    When you hurt someone else’s feelings…
•    When you need to forgive someone…
•    When you don’t know how to say “I’m sorry”…

These could be anything you want. Think about your own life…what do you wish someone had told you? (It’s sort of like giving them a little instruction book!)

Step Six: Gather your supplies. I decided to use Webster’s Pages new Girl Land collection for my album.



Step Seven: Embellish! Use the envelopes as individual pages and decorate the fronts as you would any other mini scrapbook page. Feel free to let the embellishments be the star…



Or to use a photo on each page. Here you can see, I allowed a small white envelope to serve as a “border” and I layered papers, a journaling card and a Mini Message sticker right on the front of it.




Here’s one of the larger envelopes. To create this one, I simply covered the envelope with the same sized patterned paper along with two smaller strips of coordinating patterns. Next, I printed a digital motif from the Girl Land collection (the shoe) and used that as an accent. A bloomer and some Dazzle-Me Gems and this page is done!

You can decorate each page however you’d like…

(*Note: With this kind of album, flexibility is one of the biggest perks. You can see I’ve included journaling cards which aren’t attached to an envelope but which give me the chance to write “side notes” to my daughter. Do this with ephemera, embellishments or measured sheets of patterned paper.)

Step Eight: Print your “titles” on strips of white cardstock and cut them out, adhering them to each page.

Step Nine: Write your letters. Fill each envelope with a special letter from you or someone else who loves your child. For instance, a grandparent, daddy, special aunt or older sibling could all contribute making this book even more special. Insert the letters inside the envelopes and seal.

Step Ten: Assemble using small jump rings which are found in the office supply section of most stores. (tip:  in order to add to the envelope book later, use larger jump rings.)

Creating a keepsake is easy with just a bit of planning, a bit of emotion and the scrapbooking products that inspire you!  The new Girl Land paper from Webster's Pages (on sale here!) was the perfect collection for this mini book for my daughter!

I'll be stopping by on Friday again, can you guess why? 

~ Courtney Walsh

Comments

[Kathy P]

Love it....how creative! This paper collection is so pretty!

[Christine Ousley]

What a lovely idea and a gorgeous book. I love minis that serve a purpose too. Thanks for the inspiration!
xoxo, Christine

[Melinda T]

Great tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

[Becky fleck]

Courtney, not only is your album GORGEOUS, but what a great theme/idea. I love it!!

[Laura]

Love this! makes me want to make 1 each for my boys...maybe it'll break the communication barrier! :)

[Rebecca A]

What an awesome idea! Thank you for sharing. I need to start gathering supplies to make each one of my kids a book like this. Maybe even hubby! <3

[Rose Stannell]

What a great idea! TFS the tutorial.

[Deb]

Wow This is a wonderful idea. Your daughter is blessed to have a mom like you. My daughter and I also have a great relationship and I think that this idea will only add to it. I can't thank you enough for sharing this idea. I do have some advise that I would like to give to her that might be easier said in writing only because I get too emotional in person.
Thanks again from the bottom of my heart!

[Cathy Pfingsten]

I am so thrilled to see your tutorial....I just arrived hoime last nite from a trip to Amsterdam with the girls. I am going each one (5 girls went) a mini book....this came at the right time....even tho its for a daughter...I can make it into a travel theme!!! Thanks!!

[Judi V.]

I LOVE mini albums and this one is no exception!! What a fabulous idea. Thanks so much for the great instructions. I was going to do some housework tonight. Guess what I will be doing instead???

[Nicole]

Love this idea! Differently going to create something just like this! Thanks for the idea.

[Renee VanEpps]

Such a beautiful and wonderful idea for your daughter.. and perfectly executed!

[Romaine]

I like this idea! I am dipping my toe into actual scrapping!

[Jude]

What a great idea & you have explained it to us so well. thanks!

[Michelle Liimatainen]

This is truly amazing! I had thought about writing my daughter letters for the most pivotal points in her life and this just made me decide that I MUST do it. You are a great MOMMA and this book is INCREDIBLE! :)

[Karen Conner]

I love doing these books. Yours is wonderful & inspiring.

[Brenda B.]

So pretty and such a great tutorial...thanks!

[Charmaine]

What a beautiful idea! Note to self - add to project list!!

[Joan]

You got me at the fact that you and your daughter write letters to each other all the time! Wow... so nice! Great work on this album Courtney!