Chicago Two Ring Album

My favorite mini-album of all time

Jul 23, 2013

Chicago: A Big City Adventure

DIY Mini-Album

Front Cover. The front and back covers are made from 4x6 wood, which I painted black and covered with a photo/patterned paper.

Subject:

My trip to Chicago in July 2012.

Date Made:

September 2012

First page. 3x3 cardstock photo (all photos from Persnickety Prints) with a hand drawn title and airplane paperclip.

Construction:

Front and back cover are 4x6 wood pieces painted black and covered with photo/patterned paper. The inside of the album is made from cardstock photographs, sheets of patterned paper, envelopes, and other items. They are all bound together with two binding rings. The holes in each page were made with a Crop-a-dile hole punch.

Another cardstock photo. Journaling written directly on the photo with Sakura microperm pen. I used a Studio Calico tag to mark the location on a map. — Journaling written directly on the photo with Sakura microperm pen. I used a Studio Calico tag to mark the location on a map.

Extra journaling, washi, and some stamps on the back of the tag keep the project simple and moving forward. All photos taken with my iPhone 4s.

Number of Pages:

A lot. 36 (NOT including front and back cover of binding). I like this style of book because you can add as many pages as you need. If I wanted to make this book bigger, I would just change the size of the binder rings.

Throughout the album I played around with different handwriting styles, and different journaling pens.

Notable Parts:

This is my favorite project of all time. I told the story in chronological order, narrating my trip through photographs, with journaling directly on the photos.

This book is interactive, with hidden tabs, envelopes, and flip pages. They all help to tell the details of the story without being in your face about it.

All the pictures were taken with my iPhone 4s and printed as matte cardstock prints from Persnickety Prints.

Sharpie silver marker on black and white photos & a picture of the best sushi of all time adhered to the top of a kraft-colored envelope.

The back of the envelope holds more pictures; and another die cut tag helps to mark the change in days.

A pie chart cleverly splits up how I spent the day in Chicago.

Photos from Navy Pier. Journaling with a fine point sharpie.

More photos from Navy Pier. A little extra embellishing on these.

Photos of the city-wide bus tour, and a cool flip-page with lots of architecture photos.

I needed a way to show off all the great architecture photos without bogging the entire album down, so I created a flip-style insert to keep them all on a single page.

Simple page in the middle of the album acts as a transition to the next activity.

Photos from the inside and the top of the Sears Tower.

More photos of the Sears Tower with a hidden journaling tab.

Photos of my walk from the Sears Tower back to Navy Pier

A quick #selfie as a reminder that I got to experience all this cool stuff.

I added a small bag with a journaling tag to write about the river boat cruise experience and then ended the book with a lovely picture of Chicago at night from the water.

Materials Used:

Persnickety Prints cardstock photos, 4x6 wood covers from Zutter, Sharpie Fine Point Markers, Sakura Microperm Pens, Gold Airmail Washi, a lot of stash products, Amy Tangerine Baxter alphas, basically whatever was on my desk at the time.

Thanks so much for stopping by!