cigar box album

the little cigar boxes by Jenni Bowlin are so cute!

i had actually planned to make a set of cards in one of the boxes and use that for one of the teacher gifts. the other box i bought to make for a mini album to fit into.



the colours on the original box didn't go well with the papers i chose, so i had to cover it over.

this is the front. i left a little spot where she can tuck in a photo or two of her favourite memory. or just leave it as it is.



it needed a title!

Aidans' teacher took a trip to New York this past spring, and he said she took a lot of photos. that made my job easier! i love that one of the symbols for New York is an apple...perfect for a teacher.



here you can see how the box opens up to show the mini album.

the album is handmade. i custom designed it to fit inside the little cigar box.



this was the first time had made something like this. with that considered, i was pleased with how it turned out. it took some tweaking but eventually all worked as it should.



the spine is actually papers folded accordion style. then i adhered each page to the spine. this was the most challenging part for me. there are a few ways to do this part, so i had to figure out which worked best for the photos that should be included.




had to include one of my last library pockets!

i used a 6x6 pad of paper, 2 sets of paper embellishments and 1 set of chipboard embellishments that coordinated. i had a few items in my stash that coordinated well. i love this colour combination.

Aidan adored his teacher, and so did we. he has been so fortunate to have had 3 amazing teachers in his first 3 years of elementary education.


i'm anticipating a good week. i seem to recover a bit more of my energy each day and feel more like myself again. June did not play out so well for me, but i'm much more hopeful for July! we're off to a good start.