Doodlebug Design Inc Blog: CUPCAKES & CANDLES LET'S PARTY MINI ALBUM

Hello, crafty friends! It’s Conny here from The Daily Life of Creativity, and today I’m here with the new Cupcakes and Candles collection, creating this adorable 4-by-5-inch mini album. To begin creating this mini album, we’re going to need three pieces of chipboard: Back cover: 4 × 5 inches, Middle spine: 4 × 2 inches and Front cover: 4 × 2½ inches.

To cover the chipboard, I used the Sweet Sprinkles paper, trimmed to 11½ × 5¾ inches. I wrapped the paper around the chipboard, making sure everything was nicely covered. For the front cover, I also used a piece of the Rainbow Drops acetate sheet with polka dots, measuring 3 × 4 inches. This was placed on the front cover section, which measured 2½ inches wide. When adhering the acetate, I made sure it reached all the way to the edge, since this is the front of my mini album. I used double-sided tape to adhere the acetate to the chipboard, along with a little bit of glue for extra security.

To cover the inside of the chipboard, I trimmed a piece of cardstock measuring 4 × 9½ inches. The paper I used was Colorful Confetti, which is filled with all those cute little shapes. I thought it was perfect for this project. For the inside pages of the mini album, I used three pieces of cardstock.

For two of the pieces, I cut cardstock measuring 4 × 10½ inches. Along the 10½-inch side, I scored at 5 inches and 5½ inches. This created a ½-inch spine for each page. For the third piece, I cut cardstock measuring 4 × 10 inches and scored along the 10-inch side at 4½ inches and 5 inches. I used Birthday Wishes, Colorful Confetti, and one of the Core Petite Prints papers from the assortment . Once your pieces are scored, it’s time to assemble the pages. I started with the smaller piece at the front, and then adhered the remaining pages, leaving approximately ⅛ inch between the spines. (You can leave a little more space if you prefer, depending on how close or far apart you’d like your pages to be.) That little bit of space allows the pages to move freely and gave me room to create different interactive elements.

For this mini album, you can use your imagination to create flip pages, pockets, and more. I used the Party Plaid paper, which has all those adorable tags on the back. These were perfect for creating little flip pages and adding extra elements to my album. I also used cards from the Sweet Sprinkles, Blooming Birthday, and Surprise Party papers. I trimmed some of the journaling cards from the Surprise Party paper and kept them at 3 × 4 inches. I tucked some of these cards into the pockets I created on a few of the flip pages. It’s a great way to add extra space for photos, journaling, or little memories.

For the back pocket, I created a pocket measuring approximately 4 1/2" × 3 1/2" inches. I left about ½ inch on two sides and the bottom, scored those sections, and folded them to create the pocket.

Those adorable 3 × 4-inch journaling cards fit perfectly inside. For the front cover, I decided to keep things pretty simple. I used one of the Doodle-Pops birthday cake embellishments, along with a sticker from the cardstock stickers. I chose the This and That Happy Birthday sticker to finish it off. Before adding the embellishments, I attached a little closure using sheer pink ribbon. Of course, I also had to play around with the new Pom-Pom Wire Trim. Let me tell you, I’m loving this! It’s perfect for creating beautiful ribbon clusters, and I had so much fun playing with the different colors. For my ribbon clusters, I used the colors Cupcake, Blue Jean, and Bumblebee.

I also added some ephemera pieces and puffy icons to finish decorating the mini album. I went around the pages, adding little clusters using double-sided adhesive, while making sure to leave enough space for my photos. And that’s it for this mini album!

I hope you enjoyed this project and that it inspired you to document some of your favorite birthday celebrations using the Cupcakes and Candles collection. Thank you so much for joining me, and I’ll see you in the next one!