CZ Design

Project File: The 10 Things Mini-Album

Project File: The 10 Things Mini-Album

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Last week I got my crafty on and decided to revisit a mini album I’d made back in 2006. The album was called “10 Things That Make Me Happy” and yes, you guessed it, the contents listed 10 things that made me happy. Each spread of the 4 x 4-inch album contained one item and one corresponding photo.

I wondered how things had changed during the past five years. How many things still made me happy? You know, perennials versus trends. So I copied the design by creating a template for the pages, and started writing. Within about a half hour, I had 10 new items and I was ready to find photos, papers and get down to making the album.

I wanted to show you my finished pages for this very simple hybrid scrapbooking project. (Click on any of the photos to see them larger in a new window.)

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Repetitive, simple, small, and oh yeah, adorable. It has been so long since I’ve made a little album that in and of itself, made me happy.

CZ_10ThingsAlbumPREV

You provide the patterned papers, cardstock, jump rings, cardboard and basic scrapbooking supplies, and this set gives you the template pages which are set up as layered PSD files (for use in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements) to create an album of 10 things for yourself.

In this set, I give you ideas for a handful of different “10 Things” themes as part of an illustrated 6-page step-by-step How To PDF that walks you through the production process. The themes that come as part of interchangeable PNGS are:

albums that changed my life
moments I want to remember
movies that mattered to me
of my most favorite photos
people that I most admire
places that are close to my heart
songs I will never get sick of
things I love about you
things that make me happy
things you might not know about me
tv shows that rock my world

You just need to add the “10” either with chipboard numbers, stamps or stickers. If none of these appeal to you, you can create your own with a customizable title strip template.

Note: Even non-Photoshop users can use the templates, as there are printable PDFs included for both title strips and pages. (Non-PS users must handwrite their journaling.) Fully layered digital files are inlcuded for digital scrapbookers as well.

This album took me about an hour to make in all. I think it could be a really charming idea to make a “10 Things I Love About You” gift album for a child, a friend, or a partner as well.

If you have any questions about this album or the template set, don’t hesitate to ask.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Antoinette says

    Your creative style and your blog make me happy 🙂 Thanks for sharing yet another fun project.
    Hugs!

    Reply

  5. Dana says

    Great album! Very cute! I did an 8×8 album a few months ago about what I was thankful for. Every day for November, I wrote down what I was thankful for and took a picture. It makes me happy to look through that. Your idea is wonderful and I think I’ll do one!

    Reply

  6. Mary Hogue says

    I used this template years ago as part of a Stacy Julian class at BPS. I never realized back then that you had designed the templates that we used. It’s been one of my favorite albums!

    Reply

  7. heidig says

    Beth Proudfoot did a class at BPS with this same sort of template. I loved that class! I’m definitely buying the template. Sure makes things easier.

    Reply

  11. cathy says

    I think I remember that, but I think Stacy had someone else do the actual templates! Its just a fun idea that has been around for a while. I just love the whole idea of making something cute in less than an hour!

    Reply

  13. Jackie says

    Very cute! Looks like something I could accomplish in a short amount of time since that is about what my attention span is – thank you!!!

    Reply

  18. katie t says

    I bought this last night and started working on it for a project for mothers day. So thank you, and thank you even more for the step by step directions.

    Reply

  19. Dar says

    What a great homeschool project for my kid!! This combines art/photography with English, as he writes down the ten things that make HIM happy, and uses my camera to get the pictures. (This also gives Mom a glimpse into what’s going on with this kid of mine at this point in his timeline.) Someday, I may have Photoshop and can take advantage of your great templates. Till then, we’ll “make it work.” Thanks, Cathy!

    Reply

  20. cathy says

    Im going to make another one for Aidan, a 10 things I love about you. Bought some other sheets of really cute October Afternoon paper and its just calling for it! : )

    Reply

  21. cathy says

    Fun idea! And yeah, you can just copy the idea! Or, in the template package, you print out the PDF pages which are totally blank, then write in your numbers and your words. : )

    Also, you can try a free version of Photoshop Elements for 30 days. Its downloadable from their website!

    Reply

  25. cathy says

    Doh! Sorry! I didnt have this post planned to run until today. I know the set was probably marked $1.00 off. Sorry about that!

    Our next sale is coming soon. Stay tuned!
    : )
    c

    Reply

  26. Stacia says

    Ali had a cute Valentine’s Day book with red felt that I was planning to make (but I didn’t have red felt, and then they had two kinds and I didn’t know which one to get, and…you know how it goes!). I even wrote out the “Ten Things I Love About You” for each of my (four!) boys – but never made the books! So maybe I’ll just use this format instead.

    It’s so easy when you have a template…maybe I’ll actually do it!! 😀

    Reply

  28. Lorie says

    I once had a client who wanted a hairy chested man in a dress on their ad. That was my worst Photoshop hack ever. 🙂

    Reply

  32. RobinD says

    LOL it’s not the price. I am kicking myself because I spent WAY too much time deliberating and I should have just hit BUY! Sheeesh, I so
    have to get over stuff, huh?!

    Reply

  33. Karen F form New Zealand says

    This is so funny I drop in to check out your witty and crative blog entry for today and up pops the image of the mini book I just had to buy when I checked DD sale items( a common occurrence from this newbie digital/hybrid scrapper) in the sale! Of course usually my fist check is what does Cathy and Ali have in the sale so it popped up and said BUY ME!.
    Thanks so so much. Super cool pictures and examples thanks.

    Reply

  36. Claudia says

    very cute album, great idea!

    I hopped over to DD to check out your other templates and I was wondering: since I scrap at A4 format, could I use an 8,5×1″ template and adjust the image size in PS to 21cmx29.8cm i/o 8.5×11″? I’m not too proficient at PS, so I don’t know whether that would work or not…

    Reply

  37. cathy says

    Claudia, I think you could, but youd have to be confident in grouping layers and tweaking them to fit. So Id have to say it would be questionable. Id hate for you to get something and not be able to use it!

    Reply

  42. Anna says

    Hi Cathy! I was so excited to buy this wonderful guide to make a gifty for an aunt for Christmas and I looked through October Afternoon’s paper but I can’t find the one you used, which I think is absolutely perfect! Do you still remember the name? Thanks so much in advance 🙂

    Reply

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