Gift Idea: Sister Photo Book

Hi, friends. Today let's hop back on the scrapbooking train! I'm going to show you how to make one of my very favorite albums, a chipboard photo book, in another installment of our Canon USA collaboration. I made one earlier this year with wedding photos, but the one we're going to make today is even simpler, because we're using a three-ring binder book instead of a spiral-bound book.

This book is a special gift for my sister.

Over the past year we've taken a lot of photos together for the blog. Some of them are my very favorite photos ever. Prior to making this neither of us had any of these photos printed out in our homes, the shame! For this project I am printing them out and making an album with all full-page photos as a keepsake for Emma. I want her to always remember this special season we've had.

Supplies:
-chipboard album
-2 pieces of colored cardstock
-photos to fill all your pages
-adhesive
-scissors
-X-Acto knife

Not pictured: I also used black bookbinding tape, a Crop-A-Dile tool, and black and white acrylic paint.

Optional: There are countless fun embellishments you can pick up to add to your pages. If you want to, use stamps, letter stickers, washi tape, mists, or stickers.

Time to print! Measure the cover and the pages of your album. Add 1/2" to each side (so they will go over the edges a little and help you trim them exactly flush with your chipboard). Print your photos. We printed ours on the PIXMA iP8720, which is our go-to printer for large prints (it can print up to 13" x 19"). I love it for these projects, because it makes it easy to get multiple prints on one sheet.

Assembly Step One: Use scrapbook adhesive to line the outside edge of each chipboard page. Then adhere the page to the back of your photo, centering it.

Assembly Step Two: Trim the photo paper away from the chipboard using an X-Acto knife. Some parts will be easier with scissors, and on the corners you will want to use the X-Acto to get a good rounded edge. This is the most tedious part of the album. After you adhere a photo to both sides of each page, use another page to guide you to re-punch holes with a Crop-A-Dile tool.

Assembly Step Three: After the photos are on the front cover, use bookbinding tape to seal them down and cover the spine.

Assembly Step Four: Use black paint around the binder clips to give it a more finished look.

Assembly Step Five: Last step! Adhere colored cardstock on the inside of each cover side. I used two different colors just for fun.

Now that it looks finished and polished, it's time to add fun details!

Time to decorate those pages. Choose whether you want to stay minimal or go crazy with embellishments. For me, the more I love my photos, the fewer embellishments I tend to use. So this book doesn't have too many. I wanted to let the photos really shine. Don't worry. I'll go embellishment crazy another day soon. :D

Get sentimental. Real sentimental. I always like to add a personal note to a gift album.

And it's that simple! Your album is complete. This one took me two days because the X-Acto process is a little tedious. Worth the effort, though! I love the crisp, clean look of full-page photos.

Want to see the rest of the book?

Every album ends with "to be continued." I love these foam stickers that my friend Amy designed.

For a finishing touch, I added messy painted stripes to the bookbinding tape on the cover. I can't wait to give Emma her book (I left it on her desk at work). It was a lot of fun to make, and it feels awesome to have so many of our memories printed out and put together.

Who do you want to make a photo book for? xx. Elsie

Credits // Author and Photography: Elsie Larson. Photos edited with Stella from The Signature Collection.