Friday, June 4, 2010

Tutorial: Postcard Album Makeover

I love collecting postcards.  I don't love letting them sit in a drawer/box/basket somewhere where I can't look at them.  So I decided to make myself a postcard album.


Time: 30 minutes

Supplies: 

  • 1 yard of fahhbulous fabric
  • 1 photo album 
  • Spray adhesive
  • optional: Stitch Witch (or any other iron-on hemming
Cost:  around $4

Obtain a photo album with inserts that will fit most 4"x6" postcards.  Make sure the photo insert pages are removable, like a binder. This is the one I found *shudder*.  Find some awesome fabric, preferably of a weight that won't show the hideous design through one layer.



Take out the photo inserts.


Measure a length of fabric to fit 2" overlap on the top and bottom, and enough fabric on both sides to fit all the way to the middle.


Optional: I wanted clean, nice edges, so I decided to hem them with Stitch Witch fusible webbing.


This is what it ends up looking like:


Everything nice and neat :)

Align the album where you want it on the fabric.  I used a blue pencil to lightly draw guide marks.


Here's a random picture of my ShihTzu, Teddy, wondering what the heck I'm doing.


Treat the spray-on adhesive like you would spray paint. Use painter's tape to cover the areas you don't want sticky yet.  I recommend doing this outside.  Spray the adhesive on the inside of the fabric.



Using the guide marks you made earlier, stick the outside of the photo album to the inside of the fabric.


Using the same method as before, spray the top and bottom edges with adhesive and affix to the album.


Spray and adhere each side panel to the album. For the side panel that was to cover the ugly metal part I simply cut lines where the rings would poke through.  If you wanted to be more classy, you could probably cut tiny holes instead, but that is too much work for me.  Oh, and I used that roller to make sure every nook and cranny was stuck to the album.


Here it the inside of the album with both side flaps affixed.



Here it is closed once it's done:



And a side shot:


And voila! You have your very own custom-made postcard album.  Enjoy!


5 comments:

SparkGirl said...

OMG so simple even a craft-tard like me can do it! Totally stealing THIS idea! Thanks Jenny!

thisisbeautiful said...

Holy crap, love! I can't wait to try this out and amaze all my relatives come the next gift giving season. Last year I came up with the brilliant idea to sew everyone aprons but then didn't have the time so I made these little teeny tiny aprons out of fabric and glue instead with cute little notes saying, "May appear larger in real life," etc. with the FULL INTENTION of giving the *real* aprons later on.

...and now it's June. A mere six months later. And I'll be damned if I've started on a one of them.

THESE, however, are genius. And something I can see myself actually accomplishing despite my obvious slackerdom state. Thanks so much for sharing! Fantastic!

Jenny Lou Who said...

I know! Isn't spray adhesive AMAZING?

Jenny Lou Who said...

thisisbeautiful, I WANT to take a look at your blog and comment back but I'm too tired/dumb to figure out your blog. I even googled it. Help a sistah out?

Christine H. said...

I have lots of postcard albums, almost all ugly. I wonder if this spray adhesive will adhere to ugly vinyl?

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