What's Cookin' Envelope Recipe Mini Album - Simple Stories DT project

 Hey there crafty friends! I just wanted to hop on here and share with you a little walkthrough/tutorial on how I put my pages together to create this fun little Recipe Mini Album. I used the super cute What's Cookin' collection from Simple Stories. My assignment over at Simple Stories is cards - which I LOVE! But sometimes I like to think outside of the box on some creative ways my card-making skills can turn into other types of projects.

I decided I wanted to create a mini album made from envelopes and the Card Kit from the What's Cookin' collection. As a card maker, I have OODLES of envelopes so I looked up a few YouTube videos and Pinterest ideas and came up with this little cutie! It was super fun to put together - and I want to share with you how I did it! 

So let's start with our supplies- You will need the following:

 (6) #10 Kraft Business Envelopes. I got mine on Amazon here

(2) 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 pieces of medium-weight chipboard for front and back covers

(1) 12x 12 piece of What's Cookin' Seconds Please paper

1 set  of What's Cookin' Recipe cards

(5) 4 x 6-inch pieces of Color Vibe cardstock in the following colors:

Robins Egg, Peony, Mustard, Tomato, and Peacock

(2) 4-inch white doilies

Twine, Ribbon, and Brad to decorate the cover

For your tools you will need:

-Paper Trimmer

-Scoring Board 

-Bone Folder

-Adhesive (liquid or strong double-sided tape works best)

1 1/8 -inch circle punch

Optional - Ink for edges and a Scallop Edge Corner Chomper

Step 1- Seal up all the flaps on the envelopes

 Step 2- Trim 1/4 -inch off each end of the envelope. It should measure 9 1/4 inches.

Step 3- Lay the 9 1/4 inch side on your scor-board and score at 3 1/4 inches.

Do all these 3 steps to each of the 6 envelopes

Step 4- To start  - take 2 of the envelopes and lay them like the picture shown below. You are going to be gluing the short flap of one envelope to the back long flap of the other envelope.

Make sure that you add your glue about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch away from the folded edge of the envelope. This will just make the pages turn easier once the album is all put together.

Step 5- Do this to all of the envelopes so when you are done it lines up like the photo below. Take your circle punch and add the notches to the top edges of the envelopes so the recipe cards can be pulled out easier.

Step 6 - Make your front and back covers. Take the 12x12 piece of Seconds Please paper and trim it to the following sizes:

(2) 5 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches. This is the Yellow Gingham side of the paper that will be used for the front and the back sides of the album. Add a strong glue to the chipboard and center in the middle of these papers. Miter corners and add strong adhesive to glue these papers to the chipboard.

(2) 4 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches. These papers are glued to the fronts of the chipboard inside the front cover and back cover of the album. I used the brown floral side of the Seconds Please paper. NOTE: if you are going to add a ribbon closure for your album, glue it to the top of the brown floral side of the paper in the back cover BEFORE you add the envelopes to the album! 

 Your covers will look like this when done. 

Step 7- Glue your covers to the front and back of your folded envelopes.

Step 8- Let me show you how to add the flaps that go into the large flap of the envelope. Take your 4x6 inch pieces of Color Vibe cardstocks and lay the 6-inch side on the top of your scor-board. Score the paper at 3 1/2 inches.

                                      

If desired notch the top corners with a corner chomper to round the edges. I used the Scallop side of my corner chomper to achieve a little bit of a decorative edge.

Fold your paper and place the scored edge at the top of the envelope. Tuck the excess into the short flap pocket and glue the paper to the envelope. 

Here is a little photo example of how the pages are put together in the album. The next part is where I took the pieces of the card kit and added them to my album. I didn't really measure these out - I just trimmed the papers to fit the space on the envelopes. 

I added 2 recipe cards to each pocket of the album. One in the front flap and one inside the pocket covered by the Color Vibe cardstock.

Step 9 - Decorate your pages and your Front Cover using elements from the What's Cookin' Card Kit. 

I hope this little album inspires you to create one of these for that special someone whom you would like to share cherished recipes with - or even keep it for yourself and add your favorite recipes! Either way- this is such a fun collection to work with to remember all of those special memories in the kitchen, Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions on this project! 

Thank you so much for stopping by !

Happy Crafting!