Thursday, August 13, 2009

Minibook Madness

I love minibooks. They are my favorite thing to make.

It's funny... I remember when I started scrapping I thought that minis were not really appealing and that I would never make one. Boy was I wrong. In the last two years I think I have made about 30 minibooks. That mosaic above is a nice collection of some of the minis I have completed.

Due to various deadlines and bouts of Craft ADD, I also have about seven more books that are unfinished/unphotographed and still in progress. I also keep a running list of minibooks that I would make...and right now the list is running about two pages long... with no signs of stopping anytime soon. (Some of them are ideas for classes. Some for kits I would like to make/sell. But of course, I would need to make a sample project or two..)

I think that time management is key when working on a project like a mini-book. Especially for me. Most of my "mini" books are more like full albums with 10-20 pages per book. You must have a plan. Also, you should have all of your photos printed in advance. I think editing and picking my photos is the most difficult part of making a mini for me. And it is so very easy to get distracted from that process.. as it doesn't really feel like I am crafting until I have glue and paper in hand.

I am most inspired by other artists when it comes to minibooks. Thanks to google reader, Here are links to some of my very favorite projects out on the web (in no particular order).

Ali Edwards
Daily December in July
Transparency Album
Summer is
September KOTM
January Cocoa Daisy
Inspired Project
Perspective book
Quotes book

Amanda Johnson
A personal mini-album
Road Trip
Actually, all of her minis are pretty rockin

Celine Navarro
Inspiration Tuesday #3
Inspiration Tuesday #2
Inspiration Tuesday #1

Denise Laborde

Dina Wakley
Wings
My Loves

Donna Downey
Creative Play

Elise Blaha (via Ali's blog)
Small Blank books tutorial
NY Trip
Lots of little books
Art Journal


Janet Hopkins (via Ali's blog)
Baby Milestones

Jamaica E

Tina Aszmus
Click (Studio Calico)

Shimelle Laine
Summer Reading

Stephanie Wheeler
5 Year Secret Keeper book

Sadly, most of Kristina Contes' stuff is gone from the web now.. but she had a ton of minis that were just fantastic. Like this one.

Oh, and here are some links from my favorites at 2 Peas in a Bucket:
Summer vacation album class
Repurposed book tutorial
Full of It

And some from Flickr:
Autumn Loves
Vee Jennings' Mini set

And I always love what Kim and Jenn come up with. And Kara's minis are always super cute.
And I loved this book that Melissa did.

I am sure I have forgotten some of them.. but we can always just do another post! Hope you're inspired to make a mini-today. I'll be working on one tonight. :)

If you have any good links to share, or want to send me a link to one of your mini's I'd be happy to go check it out.

Happy Thursday.

19 comments:

bethchien said...

thank you so much for sharing all those links. I, too, am a mini-maker. They just make sense to me...so much more than random layouts.
thank you for this post. I am saving it to my favorites, as it is full of inspiration.
:D
B

LRH said...

Love this post! I've become obsessed with mini-books lately. I've seen some of these, but always on the look out for what is inspiring everyone else!!

Melissa Mann said...

GREAT list! And I agree - SO sad that most of Kristina Contes' mini's are not available to view anymore - I absolutely adored her minis...

I'm in the middle of making a new one right now..! Hopefully will finish it up today!

Jenn said...

thanks so much for these links and I would so love to take a mini album class from you. Here's a link to a mini I just made from my CHA trip. Hope you like it. http://www.amillionmemories.com/forum/viewlayout.php?id=14408

jen geigley said...

you, are amazing, my dear. and this is such a fantastic list - great to find it all in one place. (I'm a huge fan of so many of the same ones you mentioned!)

Bekka said...

This is such a great post, one that just might help me get over my mini-fear. I love it when I get to see the stuff that slipped under the radar. Thanks!

Michelle said...

very awesome & inspirational post! I think I have most of those bookmarked somewhere, but how nice to have them all in one place.
I found your blog via Shimelle the other week...I love love love your style & that you live in Seattle (I grew up there, but live in Wenatchee now). You're Alki mini makes me miss home.
Awesome work! :)

Mandi Johnson said...

Awww, thanks for the shout out, girlie! I'm gonna have to check out all those other albums you've linked up. :)

Shaz said...

Hi there! I'm new here checking out your blog nearly every other day now. You have great stuff!! I also once thought mini books are, well, not my kinda thing. But boy was i wrong!! I'm like you now Lovin' it!!

Hagit said...

These are all fantastic. Celine Navarro has lots of other minis on her flickr as well, all of them really great, and I love Kara and Elise's style. I recently did a mini using Elise's tutorial, you can see it here:
http://hagit.typepad.com/blog/mini-albums/

kinsey said...

thanks so much for the shout out! what a huge compliment! you totally made my day :]

xo, kins

Anonymous said...

I LOVE mini books too...these look awesomly yummy...so many links to minis..wow.

*krystyn* said...

What a great post!! I love minis too and I was unaware of some of these links, so I'm really enjoying checking them out!!

Are you still putting a kit together?

Anonymous said...

ooooo you rock for posting all those fab links!!!!

Nathalie said...

I just discovered your blog through Shimelle's "No place like home" pool on Flickr... I loved your mini so much there that I had to stop by...and what do I find?More about minis! :D I just finished one that I posted on my blog: http://anounceofcreativity.blogspot.com/

Vee said...

thanks for the love and what a grand list!!! :)

peata said...

love the minis!
making mini albums
mini album blog

Coloribus said...

thank you to share with us these links it's a great list :o)

Cara-Mia said...

WOW! I'm new to your blog & have found it to be SOOO inspiring. Thanks for sharing even more inspiring sites with us. I can't wait to make my own mini book! :)

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