Creating a Ringed Gratitude Mini Album with Allie
I’m sure someday, Traci will ask me to stop making these ringed mini books/tag books… but she’s hasn’t yet, so I’m going to keep making them! They are just such an easy project that has a big “bang” with your favorite collections.
If you haven’t seen what I call my “ringed mini books” before, let me share a little (basic) insight into how I like to put them together:
Take a “coordinating” set of paper-like items (I say “coordinating” because there are no rules in mini-book-fight-club) of all different sizes.
Punch a hole in the top of the papers
Weave a binder ring through the holes
Close the binder ring and decorate your little paper loving heart out!
While there are no rules for this “ringed mini book” style that I love, I do love using collections so that my papers DO coordinate and look all nice together. And there’s no better collections to use than Traci’s. I love that she always includes Traveler's Notebook signatures, as well as the traditional 3x4 cards (both with journaling spaces, as well as gorgeous word art), because I love using the different sizes to create all sorts of visual interest in these fun books. When Traci adds the little journaling “tags,” I love to add those in too-- anything to add that layered visual interest. Sometimes, I even like to add some of the stickers coming off the side of a card, or some coordinating ribbon on the book ring.
For this mini book, I used the new “Bountiful” collection-- it just screams fall, and since that’s my favorite season, I knew I had to make a “mini gratitude” book out of it, to celebrate this last month of fall, and the Month of Gratitude that we use November as.
I like to think that I’m capable of a “daily project” like Gratitude Documented or something like that --- but I know my ADHD self won’t keep up with it as soon as you say the word “daily” or “habit.” But a fun, no rules mini book that I can add to in the cute little spaces as the month goes on? Sign me up. I even started the first page with little photos -- not even on the first page, but a random page that I liked.
I don’t always do this, but since i loved the patterns so much in the Bountiful kit, so I went the extra mile and printed some of the 12x12 papers on the back of the Traveler’s Notebook signatures, so that there was all of that visual interest on the “back” pages too. This also gives me more space to easily decorate, and the blank backs of the 3x4 journaling cards leaves me with plenty of space to journal, without the overwhelming white space of the backs of the Traveler’s Notebook sized papers.
Have you ever made a tag book or ringed mini book? Do you like using complete collections for projects like this, or do you mix and match collections?
TRD Collections Used in This Article:
