Cricut Imagine Cartridge Enjoy the Seasons Mini Album

Last October, I was invited to be in the April "Cricut Mini Albums" book by Northridge publishing. One of the conditions was that I needed to pull any photos of the album until after the book was released.  This was to keep the album new and fresh. Yesterday, someone asked for the instructions to make the album and I realized I hadn't re-posted the tutorial. So here we go:

 

 

 

 

Enjoy the Seasons 12” x 6” album

What you’ll need:

• Cricut Imagine
• Enjoy the Seasons cartridge
• 6, 12 x 12” sheets of chipboard
• approx. 5 sheets of light weight chipboard (like the back page of a paper pack)
• Crop-a-Dile for punching holes
• 12  x 12” card stock or paper
• 3-D pop dots or foam dots
• 1” binder rings
• Basic scrapbooking tools, your choice of accent embellishments and adhesive

First things first:

Before you assemble your book, you should pick the images you are going to use from the Enjoy the Seasons cartridge.  I chose the following at:

January – snowflakes, page 19 – size 3”

February – hearts, page 31 – size 2”

March – birds, page 32 - size 5”

April – hot air balloon, page 12 - size 3”

May – flowers, page 6 - size 3”

June – butterflies, page 32 - size 5.5”

July – lady by the lake, page 9 - size 3.75”

August – suns, page 31 - size 6.25”

September – apple with worm, page 16 - size 3.5”

October – bats, page 33 - size 5.75”

November – turkey, page 15 - size 3.75”

December – holly, page - size 5.75

You can print and cut this artwork as a flat image or in layers to make the embellishments dimensional.  I wanted the die cuts to hang off the edges of the pages in this album so I used thin chipboard to make them sturdy.  I also opted to print and cut the images in layers. To cut thin chipboard you should set the multi-cut to 2.

To cut the basic book:

Cut all 6 pages of the 12 x 12” chipboard sheets in half so you have 12, 12 x 6” pages. Set 2 of the 12 x 6” pages aside.  They will be the last 2 pages of the book. 

Next, cut the remaining 10, 12 x 6” pages as follows:

•         2, 10 x 6” and 2, 2 x 6”

•         2, 8 x 6” and 2, 4 x 6”

•         4, 6 x 6” (you will only need 2 – you can discard the other 2)

Assembling the pages

This will leave you with 12 pages (24 if you count the front and back) which means you will need to select 24 paper/ cardstock patterns or colors.  You will need to cover your album pages before punching holes for the binder rings.  I selected paper that coordinated with the images I chose to use from the “Enjoy the Seasons” cartridge.

Make your paper selections and cover your chipboard pages and ink the edges.  Now you are ready to punch the holes.

You will punch 8 holes in the 12 x 6” pages,  6 holes in the 10 x 6” pages,  5 holes in the 8 x 6” pages, 4 holes in the 6 x 6” pages, 3 holes in the 4 x 6” pages and 2 holes in the 2 x 6” pages.

You need to punch 2 holes in the 2 x 6” pages and 8 holes, (instead of 7 hole), in the 12 x 6” pages to stabilize the spine of the book.  The best way to make sure that the holes line up straight for assembly is to make a template.  I used a 12 x 6” piece of chipboard for my template so it was nice and sturdy.

Measure .25” in from the (inner) vertical edge and draw a margin line from top to bottom.  You will use this line to make sure your holes line up.  You will punch holes at .25”, 1.70”, 3.50”, 5.25”, 6.75”, 8.50”, 10.25” and 11.75”

Stack the pages on top of one another and insert binder rings in each group of holes.  For a final touch, tie ribbon through the binder rings.

Viola- your book is assembled and your die cut embellishments are ready to be adhered.  The rest of the design is up to you and your photos.