Building a DIY Hard Cover Album

Hello, everyone! When I first started crafting I would buy blank albums and fill them with pretty patterned paper. Not long after, I started needing different size albums and different color pages, so I had to learn to make my own. There are many methods to creating an album, but this method is what I use most frequently. The method can be adjusted for any size album!

Today I will be constructing a DIY hard cover album from scratch - the cover, the binding, the hinge system, and the pages. Our album cover will measure 5.5” x 6.5” with our pages measuring 5” x 6”.

Supplies: 

• Cardstock Warehouse Cardstock in Sirio Color Blu, or any color you like.
• (1) 12x12 Medium Weight Chipboard (I'm using .055")
• Scoring Board & Bone Folder
• Paper Trimmer
• Scissors
• Scor-Tape
• ¼” for adhering pages to hinges
• ½” for creating hinge system and cardstock cover
• 1” for back of binding
• Liquid Adhesive
• Ruler

The best way to learn how to make one of these albums is visually, so please join us in this video tutorial. Please reference the cutting guide below the video to help you cut and score your card stock.

Our album will have a 2” binding with three (3) page sets. Each page set has 6 pages, for a total of 18 pages.  

Cutting Guide (width x height):

Chipboard:

• (2) 5.5” x 6.5” - Front and back cover
• (1) 2” x 6.5” - Binding

Cardstock:

• (2) 12” x 8.5” - Cardstock for cover (adhere together and trim to 15.25” x 8.5”)
• Score landscape @ 1”, 6.5”, 6 ⅝”, 8 ⅝”, 8.75” 14.25”
• Score portrait @ 1”, 7.5”
• (1) 8.5” x 5 3/8” - Binding
• Score landscape @ 2”, 2.5”, 3”, 3.5”, 4”, 4.5”, 5”, 5.5”, 6”, 6.5”
• (2) 5 ⅜” x 6 3/8“ - inside covers
• Pages (for each set/hinge) are generally sized 5” by 6”
• (2) 10” x 6” - Score landscape @ 5” - (6) total
• (1) 5” x 12” - Score landscape @ 6” - (3) total
• (1) 5” x 4” - Score portrait @ 2” - (3) total

Tips and Tricks:

Want to resize this album? 

• Your pages should be at least a half an inch smaller in width and height than your binding (in the video our pages are 5” x 6” assembled, while our cover measures 5.5” x 6.5”).  
• The binding should be at least .25” smaller in height than your pages to enable them to fit comfortably!  While the height of our pages is 6”, our binding here is only 5 ⅜” high.
• Scor-tape used on the hinges MUST be smaller than the height of the hinge.  In our video, our hinges are ½” high.  I used ¼” scor-tape to adhere pages and made sure to put the tape at the top of the hinges so they did not stick to the binding when the pages were turned.
• Experiment with your pages!  Make your pockets bigger, change your fold outs!  
• Decorate your album pages before adhering them to your album.  I would recommend decorating the outside cover last.

Show us your DIY Album! We'd love to see! Show us your creations on Facebook or Instagram. Use hashtag #cardstockwarehouse for a chance to be featured in our stories!

Happy Crafting!

Traci Selig  

IG: @tracicrafty

Blog: www.tracicrafty.com