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Creating a Hybrid Mini-Book

by Sue Kristoff, Creative Team Member

Mini books and albums are a fun way to celebrate something in your life, are easy to create, and provide instant gratification because they come together so quickly. You can create a mini album out of cardstock, coasters, chipboard or anything else you can pull together. Mini books are generally associated with traditional scrapping. However, there are a ton of ways that you can incorporate digital scrapbooking techniques to create fabulous mini books.

There are two extremes of using digital techniques for creating mini books. On one hand, you can print digital papers and elements and scrap with them as if they were traditional paper products. On the other hand, you can digitally create each page completely, then print out the pages and add them to the mini book. Of course, there is infinite variation between those two extremes.

My example mini-book leans more towards the former.

• This book is made with 4" circular coasters.
  
• The theme of this book is my son's birthdays, and I used one coaster per page.
  
• I printed digital elements from my Stars digital kit, and used them as traditional paper elements, cutting shapes out of the paper for my page backgrounds and decorative elements.
  
• I embellished each page with some traditional elements and handwritten notes.
  
• I left the back of each coaster with just background paper so that I could add more notes and thoughts later.
  
• I also used a large binder ring to hold it all together so I can add additional pages as he grows and has more birthdays.

Related Article: More Ideas for Creating a Digital Kit from Scratch by Sue Kristoff
Supplies:
"Birthday Star" hybrid coaster mini-book
Patterned paper, star embellishment: Stars kit by Sue Kristoff for EDS Blog (Get this free kit here)
Chipboard letters: American Crafts
Rub-on letters: Doodlebug
Pen: Sharpie Poster Paint Marker
Ribbon: May Arts
Chipboard number tags: Lil Davis

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