Mini albums: practical considerations

I agree - gathered in a basket they might be fun, but I don't know how well they'd hold up to a lot of handling, and also DUST. Anything on display in a basket is going to get dusty in my house. If you're Paige Evans and you have a glass display case (and a house cleaner??) maybe...

I think some of these kinds of projects are more about the joy of making them.

I made minis for years and have a variety. I store them loosely in plastic tubs and pull out a group to display in a basket, especially for holidays when I’m hosting family get togethers.

Right now I have Easter and spring out. I’m ready to put them away and maybe closer to summer bbq weather, I’ll bring out big family beach vacation albums when everyone went.

Some albums don’t come out for display any more, like my daughter’s dance minis or vacation albums that were just our little family. She knows where they are stored and could look at them any time she’s home.

i used to display a few minis on my coffee table in low ceramic bowls. i love to have people pick them up and flip through. i don’t mind any quick repairs. i learned to make them sturdy and fortified with extra adhesive. i want my albums to be viewed and enjoyed.

I made mini albums when my youngest daughter was playing sports. Made them out of paper bags!

I don't know what she's done with them. She has them in her possession. Probably has them packed away and only looks at them occasionally. They were fun to make, though!

I've only made a few that I've kept (the rest given as gifts). I store mine all flat/jenga'd in a plastic container. One I even gave in a storage container, just to help keep it safe. It's true that they feel more exposed to hold up without protection. So fun to make though 😂

Right. For things in the past. But my point is I’m no longer doing that for new product. I’m not signing up events that include a mini book bc it’s wasteful. I won’t use it. It’s a waste of my money. If I know I won’t use it now, it’s really dumb to pay for it anyway just to give it away the next week.

Nothing about this hobby is practical. Giant albums needing a home. An entire room filed with paper and stickers. Thousands of dollars invested. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Includes mini albums which I still do make. In general, I feel like the industry is offering less and less for those those types of projects. Remember when October Afternoon had all the adorable shaped albums? So cute!

In any case, I store my mini albums (I have a lot), in baskets next to my regular albums. Keeps them fairly well protected and I can just tend the whole basket out to look at them. They tend to be my most looked at books, easier to handle than big albums.

I’ve gifted some albums, always a hit. And also done silent auction baskets with. Few coordinating cards. People LOVE those.

So no, not practical. But so much fun, I love making them.

TOTALLY hear you on the tchotchke-type projects! Remember when altering muffin tins was a thing?! Poor muffin pan 😂 I feel like in general I wouldn’t make them.

I do like altering some things that can serve a purpose or to hang on a wall or a bookcase - like their framed kits are fun to do and switch out for the season in my scrap room. I also have some seasonal decor like fake mini pumpkins I embellished and put out each year. Stuff like that is fine with me. It sits out for a limited time and then goes away in storage. But to do that stuff all the time, nope.

So I love mini albums! It’s practically all I do now and I consider 6x8 to be a mini album.
I do random larger layouts here and there but I like to do minis because they are great for travel projects or just fun random stories. I recently did one using all the Snapchat filter pics my daughter and I have taken together and she loved it!

I store some in a low basket on a table in our living room. Then I rotate them out depending on season but a few stay in there all of the time.

I’ve only had one lose a piece on the cover, but for the most part people are really respectful handling them. And they are much easier to look at then the big bulky 12x12 albums stored on the shelf. People are always looking at the minis and rarely pull out the big albums.

I like this style a lot and have made several in the past. I just chuck them all in a basket/bin. They don't get rifled through all that much so I haven't been worried about how they will hold up. They mostly just sit there so they do get a bit dusty but I haven't noticed anything too bad yet.

While I love the idea of mini albums, I fear keeping them out for people that might not be so careful with them. That probably sounds silly, but most of my albums have page protectors, and mini albums that have all those “pull tabs” and hidden pockets seem like an accident waiting to happen. Maybe I’m too cautious, lol

I have maybe 10 of them. I keep them in a basket.