Gina Johnson's Altoid Mini Album

Gina Johnson, our December Visiting Therapist, has made the cutest little mini album with an accordian album, an altoid tin and our December kit! Check out her creation!


I love making these for gifts for so many different reasons! They’re small and don’t take long, they’re easy to personalize for whoever you’re making it for and they can stand a lot of beating. That last fact is really important if you’re making it for a grandma or someone who is going to throw it in their purse and take it everywhere!

Ok, to start off you’re going to need a piece of cardstock 10 5/8 x 3 ½, a Altoid tin, scraps of patterned paper, Modge Podge, and acrylic paint and embellishments (if desired.)

To start off I painted the top of my tin with white acrylic paint. If you don’t want to do this you can also just wrap a ribbon around the exposed edge after you’re done with everything else. It’s ok if the top is streaky because you’re going to cover it anyway. I was mainly painting it to get the edge covered since it didn’t match my pp.

To decorate the top of the tin I cut a piece of the yummy Heidi Swapp Grandma’s Dishes paper to 3 3/4 x 2 3/8 and glued it down. Don’t be too worried about gluing it well as we’re going to be sealing it with Modge Podge.

Next I inked the edges and then adhered the American Crafts Thicker elements and the stamped image. (For all my inking on this project I used Broken China Distress Ink and then Close To Cocoa SU ink for the darker edging.) I used perfect pearls mixed with clear embossing powder to stamp the “family traditions” and then inked and distressed the edges. Once you have everything you want on your lid put a generous coat of Modge Podge over it. You won’t loose any of the sparkle or shimmer as the Modge Podge will dry totally clear.

Now that your tin is done set it aside to dry and we can get started on the album. Once you have your CS cut you’re going to score it at 2 1/8, 4 ¼, 6 3/8, and 8 ½.

After you’ve got it all scored, accordion fold it and use your bone folder or fingernail to make sure the creases are all crisp.

Your next step is to round the corners. I find it easiest to hold two pages together and round the corners that way.

That’s it! You’re ready to decorate your album as desired. I used the rub ons from the December kit as well as some of the glimmer chips (these ink up great!) and the amazingly cute Heidi Swapp paper. I also found that the Core-dinations cardstock was perfect for this project because of the contrasting color when I sanded the edges of the album.

Also, a little tip, to make this easier to remove from the tin, add a little ribbon to the bottom page and always tuck it up so it’s sticking out on the top when you put it in the tin, then you can just pull on it and the whole album comes out. (note how the ribbon sticks out)

Here is my finished album.

This is the outside of the tin.

The Deco Art Snow Writer that comes with this month’s kit is AMAZING!!!! I think I’m
in love!!! I used it for all the snow on the back of the mini and it looks just fantastic!