The theme for the July Silhouette Challenge is favorite things. Three of my favorites are paper, photos and Instagram. As a longtime scrapbooker, I have been in love with paper for over a decade. Paper is the easiest for me to bend to my crafting will and use for my crafts. I do not have many photos of myself as a child and I definitely know I am overcompensating for this with my children. I adore photos. I love how a photos captures the emotions, relationships and a specific moment in time. As a social person, I love Instagram. I love scrolling through the photos and seeing the personalities of other people through their square photos. For Father’s Day, I decided to combine all these loves by creating Instagram paper albums for my dad and my husband.
Supplies:
- instant photo camera album by Carina Gardner (design 60474)
- patterned paper and coordinating cardstock for the cover
- 8.5x 11 piece of cardstock for the base
- one 8.5×11 piece of white cardstock or paper for each page
- adhesive – I used my Xyron 510 with permanent adhesive (affiliate link)
- embroidery floss
- needle
- paper trimmer – I used my Making Memories paper trimmer (affiliate link)
- Silhouette and mat
- Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (optional)
Directions:
1. I printed 3×3 square photos to put in the album. I put two 3×3 photos onto one 4×6 photo for cheaper printing. You can download my PSD template here. You will need Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or gimp to use the file.
2. I bought Carina Gardner’s album in the Silhouette Online store during a 40% off sale. I used the design as the base for my paper album but I wanted the front of the album to look more like the Instagram logo. I started out with the die cut shape in the cut file for the cover, used my Silhouette knife ninja and offset skills to create my design for the front of the album.
3. I enlarged the size of the cover by 1/4 inches so that the inside pages would not show when the album was folded. Then, I cut all the paper pieces with my Silhouette and cut the photos with my paper trimmer. I had 12 photos so I only had to cut 3 pages because I used them double sided.
4. I used my Xyron 510 to adhere the paper pieces to the front of the album.
5. I originally thought I would staple the pages together but my stapler couldn’t reach the center of the album. I improvised and use dark blue embroidery floss and a needle to bind the album together. I started by poking a hole through the center from the outside of the album through one of the perforation marks. Then I went up inner side, to the outside and then back through the center. Then it was down the inner side, up the outerside and then back through the center. Then I looped through the thread that was inside, came back to through the center to the outside and tied it off. Tip: Don’t pull the thread too tightly or the album will not close well.
6. I love the look of rounded corners and they go well with the rounded corners of the album design so rounded the corners of my photos with a corner punch. Then adhered them to each page of the album.
For my dad’s album I used photos of all his kids and grandchildren.
For my husband’s album, I used photo of him and our kids.
The kids and I wrote a note on the inside of each album. I am happy to report that my dad and my husband both loved their albums.
If you love Instagram, you might also like my recent post on 10 Creative Ways to Display Instagram Photos.
Now check out all the favorite things from my Silhouette Challenge friends!
1. Just a Girl and Her Blog // 2. The Frill of Life // 3. A Time For Seasons // 4. The Thinking Closet // 5. Ginger Snap Crafts // 6. Grey Luster Girl // 7. Simply Kelly Designs // 8. Home At Eight // 9. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 10. My Paper Craze // 11. Mama Sonshine // 12. Practically Functional // 13. Adventures in All Things Food // 14. Two Purple Couches // 15. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 16. Sowdering About // 17. Cutesy Crafts // 18. My Mom Made That // 19. Pitter and Glink // 20. Pineapples And Pinecones // 21. Dream a Little Bigger // 22. McCall Manor // 23. TitiCrafty // 24. unOriginal Mom // 25. Persia Lou // 26. Lil Mrs Tori // 27. Home. Made. Interest. // 28. Sandpaper and Glue // 29. Silhouette School // 30. Creative Ramblings // 31. My Favorite Finds
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post. That means I get a small commission if you purchase through those links. As always I only recommend products that I love.
I`m going to try this one instead of buying a photo album for my polaroid films. Thanks for this amazing idea! Superb.
You are welcome! I hope it works for you. I love it for Instagram pictures!
GREAT DESIGN!! CONGRATS on the Postal Pix Blog feature 😀
Um, Kelly, I think I’m swooning over this project! AAAAA! I have a feeling I might make a few of these as Christmas presents for some of my friends on Instagram. *evil planning begins* Seriously!
Thanks for linking up with the Creative Spark a few weeks ago! Sorry it took me so long to start checking things out. *shamed face*
I need to start printing instagram pictures I am so hopeless when it comes to printing my pictures! Thanks for linking up at the Creative Spark Link Party! I hope you will stop by again today to link up! http://bit.ly/1kbGQ7W
I think as a scrapbooker I have always loved holding pictures in my hands.
Kelly, you come up with the cutest ideas! Love this!
Thank you Glenna!
Great project Kelly, what a fun idea.
Thank you Pam!
What an amazing idea!!! I really love this project, may just have to do this one day with my kids and nephew.
Thank you Alisha. An easy way to get the kids involved is to let them choose the photos. Have fun!
Ohhh I love this!!! So stinking cute:)
Thanks for stopping by Tori. 🙂
Kelly,
Your Instagram project is fun and creates a hands on album out of the digital age.
You Rock,
Karen Marie
Dragonfly & Lily Pads
Thank you for always being so kind with your comments. I appreciate it Karen.
Awww, I love this idea!! How fun!
Thank you Emily.
This is so unique and cute! I love it!
Thank you Carrie.
What a neat idea! And so great to take something so electronic and hand make it into a paper album that you can actually hold in your hand…it’s just so much better that way! Such a wonderful gift idea, too.
Thank you Meredith. I like to get pictures off the computer and do crafty things with them.
What a cute idea!
Thank you Sarah.
I love this! I want to make one now. 🙂
You should make one Bethany. I think I will make a few more too!
This is a super cute idea! I love everything about instagram so I am totally diggin this! Great job!
This is super duper cute
Thank you Alexis!
This is sooo cute!! I love the design and the colors you used and I especially love the thread holding it together. What a fun way to display pictures. Pinned!
Thank you Kat! The thread was an improvisation.