Never Ever Throw Anything Away Again

Last week I completed this mini-album of the very first Kartchner family reunion. (We went to Disneyland in 2007.) I have to admit that I put this project off because I was so intimidated by the sheer volume of photos. I printed off about 50 pictures in a 1x2 inch size. (Out of 300 pictures.) I inked them and then left them for over a year to languish, unloved on my scrap table. Well, a few months ago, Ania did a class at Bad Girls on how to make a mini-album using toilet paper tubes. I knew immediately that this was the perfect thing for my Disneyland pictures. I saved up every toilet paper tube for months. Then, I wasn't sure what papers to use. That is until Luxe sent me the Simply Orange and the Flip Flop line. I knew I was finally set.

Here is an overall picture.


And a close-up of the front. I used Maya Road sheer letters layered over Luxe sticker alphas for my title. I outlined the sheer letters to help them stand out more.


I used the toilet rolls as the pages of the album and inside each tube is a tag with journaling. The tags have Luxe epoxy stickers as handles so they are easy to remove. TIP: When you cut out your tags, make sure that they fit inside your holder before you get all crazy with the decorating. I noticed that some tubes were smaller than others even though I only use one brand.


Here are the pages. I incorporated loads of pics. The pictures that had a story went on tags with journaling.


You can see that I wrote names on some of the pictures.


I also used some Basic Grey rub-ons.





Here is a picture of my journaling tags. Each side is filled with stories. I didn't photograph the other side, however. The paper is the new Simply Luxe Orange line. This is T's favorite part of the album. He had forgotten some of these stories and when he told me that he really liked this project, I knew that I had done a great job.


Intrigued? This is what I did. I started with a toilet paper tube. I smashed it so that it was flat. I used a bone folder on the folds so that it would be as neat as possible. (When you do smash the tube, make sure that you don't put the roll's seam on the fold.) I stapled one end together using 3 staples. I was careful to staple as close to the edge as possible so I wouldn't mess up my hole punching.

Next, I covered the tube with paper using PVA glue. I bet Elmer's would do the trick. I trimmed off any excess. I didn't do anything to the inside of the tube. I suppose you could paint if you wished, but the paper covers the ugly brown parts and I don't even notice the inside with all that is happening on the outside. After the glue dried, I used my Crop-a-dile and punched a hole in the closed end. After I put all my goodies on, I attached each roll using a metal ring.

I measured the smashed roll and made tags to fit inside. I triple checked to make sure that all my tags fit before I decorated them.

When decorating, I was very free with stuff hanging off and with bumps on the pages. However, on the journal tags, I was very careful not to put on anything bumpy or hanging off of the tag. I wanted them to slide in easily.

I ended up having more paper lined toilet paper rolls than I could use in this album. I plan on using them as cards/card holders for birthdays.

So, even the ugly toilet paper roll can be re-purposed into something useful and beautiful!