My "Green" Mini Album

I'm starting to think about those all-important Mother's Day Gifts. I normally make fun little mini albums and this year will be no exception. I've decided to go "Green" this year and I knocked one of the albums out this weekend with this fun little circle album made out of recycled old CDs. Recycled CD Albums are one of my favorite mini-albums to make - they're SUPER sturdy (translation: my 3-yr-old doesn't tear them up as easily as a chipboard or paper album), they're the perfect size for a fabulous little gift, AND there are lots of really cute circle ablum templates out there making them SUPER quick and easy!!

I'll go ahead and share all of my project photos with you, then give you all of the nitty gritty details:
For this album, I started out by gathering up a handful of old scratched up CDs and DVDs (I NEVER throw these out for this purpose) and sorting through my digi pics of Dean from the past year+. I went with all my fave photos from the past year (you've probably seen several of these photos on various projects this year). Next I needed to find the perfect digi kit to use. I went with the awesome All-Star kit by Kristin Cronin-Barrow (Sweet Shoppe). Just look at everything you get in this kit for just $6.99 (I'm betting for all those papers, ribbons, buttons, tags, chipboard pieces, alphas, and other embellishments in "real life" you would pay WELL over $40!!):


Next, I needed a template (yes, I could have designed my pages from scratch - but let's face it - I'm waaaay too lazy for that!! LOL). I decided to use the new CD Album 4: Stars by Janet Phillips (Sweet Shoppe). Take a look:


I simply "clipped" my papers, photos and embellishments onto the layered templates using my Clipping Mask Tool in Photoshop Elements, added some journaling with DJB Print font by Darcy Baldwin (Sweet Shoppe), then printed out the album pages at home onto some Matte double-sided presentation paper. I cut out the individual album pages and used Mod Podge to attach them to the front and back of my recycled CDs. I punched a hole in all of the CDs using my Crop-o-Dile and used a book binding ring to hold all of the pages together. I added some bits and scraps of leftover ribbon to the ring for added embellishment.
And there you have it! A very special "Green" keepsake photo Mother's Day Gift from start to finish in a single afternoon. How are you going "Green" this Spring?