Gatefold Mini Album Tutorial

This is the measurements and instructions on putting together a gatefold mini album which I made over the weekend and that you can see completed here. This is my first tutorial on here, so bare with me and I hope that you find it easy to follow - just email me if you have any probs.

What you'll need:
Patterned paper
chipboard/heavyweight card
cardstock
glue or double sided tape
Basic crafting tools

Instructions:
1. For the back cover cut one 6" x 5 1/4" piece of chipboard or heavyweight card and one 8" x 7 1/4" piece of patterned paper of your choice. Cover the chipboard with the paper, mitering the corners.

2. For the front cover cut two 3" x 5 1/4" pieces of chipboard or heavyweight card and two 5" x 7 1/4" piece of patterned paper and cover chipboard pieces as above, again mitering the corners.

3. For the accordion binding cut two 4" x 5 1/4" pieces of cardstock, scoring and folding at 1/2" increments across 4" width starting and ending with valley folds. Glue one accordion fold onto each side of the back cover (see pictures) and making sure to line up first fold of the accordion spine with the edge of the back cover.


Glue each remaining end of the accordion onto the front edges of the cover, also glue the outside accordion folds together - by doing this it creates a sturdy bookbinding that will hold the pages neatly in place.

If you want to increase the number of pages in the gatefold mini album you just extend the length of the cardstock binding and folding extra pleats according to the extra pages being added.

5. Cut two 2 3/4" x 5" pieces of patterned paper and glue to the inside front cover over the accordion edge. Cut one 5" x 5 3/4" piece of patterned paper and glue to the inside back cover.

6. For the flaps cut six 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" pieces of cardstock, round two of the corners only at one end and then glue the square end onto the accordion edge spacing them out equally.

You now have the basis of your gatefold mini album which you can embellish, layer and decorate to your choice for example in my completed album which I posted yesterday I have made a pocket to the inside back cover which will hold a CD and using a template made some mini envelopes and glued them to the inside front covers on each side (see here).