I decided that I could jump on this bandwagon and started looking around my house to see what I could recycle and turn into a fun project. I didn’t have to look far since I had just arrived home from shopping at Costco. In the corner of my kitchen was a large pile of boxes that I had used to tote my groceries into the house. Specifically, there was the box for my containers of milk. I was curious to see if I could make enough pages from that box to create an entire mini album. I was happily surprised to see that I could easily come up with eight 5” x 5.5” pages. Join me below for the cutting directions and my sample patriotic mini album using the brand new “Bottle Rockets” line by Rusty Pickle. Going green has never been so easy or so cute!
1. Start by opening up the carton. The box I used had one seam that was glued together. Simply tear open that seam and your milk carton will almost lay flat for you.
2. Using a ruler and exacto knife, cut the box at the seams. Be sure to cut the seams as straight as possible.
3. Once you have your two large pieces cut (finished size will be approximately 13” x 12”) it is time to cut out your mini album pages. You will be cutting 4 pages (5” x 5.5”) from each of the two large pieces of the milk carton. CUTTING NOTE: You will want each of your mini album pages to have straight edges, so you will want to cut off the sides that were originally bent as seams. I suggest you take the 13” x 12” sheet and cut it straight down the center horizontally and then cut each of those pieces in half vertically. You will now have 4 pieces that are 6.5” x 6”. Cut these pieces down to size making sure to cut off the side that has the bent seam edge. 4. Cut down the second 13” x 12” sheet from the original milk carton. You will have eight sheets (5” x 5.5”) when you have cut down both of the 13” x 12” sheets.
Binding your mini album:
You now have all of the pages you need for your mini album. Decide how you want to bind your mini album and punch your holes. I bound my book on the left side with two circle rings that I purchased an office supply store. You could bind your book at the top edge or even one ring at the top left corner. Be sure to punch your holes in each page before starting to design your book. This will assure that your pages are all lined up the right way. (I pass along this tip after making this mistake myself!)
Protecting your album:
Be sure to spray your cardboard pages with a deacidification product before starting to design.
Tips for designing with cardboard:
Here are a few ideas you can use when designing your cardboard mini album. Tear it: stick your fingernail into the groves of the cardboard at the edge and tear back the top layer of the cardboard. You can tear as much or as little as you prefer. Once it is torn, you can ink or paint the cardboard to help the distress appear more visible. Cover it: you will have several sides of cardboard that have the milk product label on it. Unless you tear off the whole top layer of cardboard, or paint over it, you can simply cut paper and cover the whole page.
Now go plan a trip to Costco or any store where you can obtain clean cardboard boxes. (Make sure the cardboard is free of stains and smells… ick!) I guarantee you will never look at cardboard boxes the same way again!
Supply List:
• Brads: antique copper mini (Making Memories)
• Buttons: Rusty Pickle
• Cardboard from milk carton box
• Chipboard: stars (Heidi Swapp)
• Fabric
• Flowers: silk (Heidi Swapp)
• Ink: Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress (Ranger Industries)
• Key
• Patterned Paper, Quotes, Tags, Stickers: “Bottle Rockets” by Rusty Pickle
• Ribbon: Rusty Pickle and open stock
• Straight pins
• Tags: walnut stained
• Thread
Tracey lives in Escondido, California with her husband and three children. Although she has been scrapping for about ten years, she admits that she has only been seriously scrapping since she became a SAHM (stay-at-home mother) almost four years ago. Tracey spends a good portion of her time volunteering at her teenagers’ high school with activities such as team fundraising and being team Mom for several sports/groups, serving on the Athletic Boosters Committee, being the Volunteer Host Family Coordinator for the Australian Exchange Program and Chair of the Grad Nite Committee. Add to that taking care of the family, carpooling and her scrapping and she is one busy mom! Tracey is proud to be a member of the design teams for Rusty Pickle, Ever After Scrapbooks in Carlsbad, CA, and Crop Addict. You can visit Tracey at her blog called, “Wooooo Hooooo…”
To find the products mentioned in this article and shown in these layouts, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you.
