Joyful | Mini Album | Rachel Lowe
Hello CVS crafty friends! I was super excited when Joyful arrived at my door and I totally love it. I don’t know about you but by the time Christmas is over I am a little over it. Also my Christmas photos always seem to be taken in a rush and therefore are usually quite average and one’s I probably wouldn’t put on a layout.
So making a Christmas mini album in November makes sense, its already to go and it doesn’t matter if photos are not perfect!

I used a Christmas tree cut file from the Silhouette deign store. I cut extra pages in paper and vellum, all in all I can add about 12 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch photos.

I used a coloured O ring to secure my pages and added some die cut banners finished off with some machine stitching. The top part of the tree is too small for photos so I added a scalloped border, a vellum cut and fussy cut some flowers to create a feature.
Under the vellum I used a chipboard piece. You will see that I have added machine stitching to my borders to add texture. I have also used foam tape to add dimension. I like my albums to look a little chunky.
So I can add numerous photos I always create an accordion paper piece, which I use a bone scorer, here I scored at 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches. Here I added the chipboard bird with foam tape but in a way I can use it to also lift the accordion in and out.
I love to use vellum to soften and break up the pages. I added a border and attached with machine stitching, this not only looks pretty but will stop the vellum for curling up.
The embellishments of Joyful are beautiful and plentiful, chipboard, die cuts, puffy alphas, puffy stickers, glitter stars and wooden flairs. I have used all of them on my mini album!
The larger back two pages I cut from 12×12 papers but every other paper is from the 6×8 inch paper pad. I always purchase a 6×8 inch paper pad exclusively to create mini albums and cards, saving my 12×12 papers for layouts exclusively.
There are many Christmas mini album options and that can be put together quickly, especially when you have such fab embellishments like Joyful does. I can now tick this off my Christmas to do list!
Thank you for stopping by and if you have any questions on my mini just leave a comment.
Rachel X































I added a patterned border to the photos using the paper pad. I love that the paper pads patterns are slightly smaller and also that you get some similar prints to the 12×12 but in different colours. The photo is adhered to the page with foam tape that has been doubled over. I wanted the photo to stand out a bit more than the cut file.
The ‘jingle bells’ cut file is from Cut to You and is a main focal element to this layout. I used a combination of patterned papers to back the file including some gold glitter paper that I had in my stash. I love the finished effect of the bells on this layout. It brings such a Christmas element of fun to the layout. A challenge with using feature cut files is to ensure that the file doesn’t take away from the main focus of the page: the photos. To do this I try and make sure to embellish the page in a visual triangle so your eyes move around the page from the top left, to top right, down to the journaling in the bottom right and back up again.























I start by cutting the photo frames and with gold sewing thread I stitched the edges. I cut the photo into a circle and also cut two circles from the design paper as well. I placed these circles behind the photo and with gold sewing thread I stitched the edges.
I cut some butterflies and flowers from the gorgeous design papers and used the beautiful flower die-cuts, stickers and the wooden buttons from this awesome collection. I placed them I around the photo. I love creating layers with these amazing embellishments. For the title, I use a pocket page card titled ” Little Moments of Joy” I cut out the text and use it as a die-cut on my layout.






