Creating a mini scrapbook album is a great idea for a beginner scrapbooking project.  It also works well for items and mementos that are a bit smaller and so are out of proportion with larger pages.  It’s also a great project for those that want something easy and direct, or a very focused theme for a scrapbook like a military scrapbooking album. Actually, there are many different reasons why you may want to choose a mini scrapbook album instead of a larger traditional album. But no matter what reason you have, you will want to consider a few things before you start to make your albums look their best. Smaller pages cannot be composed the same way you do larger pages. Let’s take a look at what this means.

For one thing, you may need to trim or crop your photos when working with a mini scrapbook album. If a photo is too large, it can easily dominate the page and look out of place. In addition, if you think that smaller is better and choose items that are way too small, it can look disproportionate too. Consider using many different sizes to see what looks the best, but be ready to crop your photographs. You might also think about using other types of mementos in your mini scrapbook album, like postcards and tickets stubs for example. Because these albums are on a smaller scale and usually have fewer pages, they are perfect for tiny mementos and souvenirs from a special occasion or trip.

Your embellishments will also need to be in proportion when making up a mini scrapbook album. For most layouts, you just need one large item combined with a group of smaller items. You’ll also need to use some discretion when adding in scrapbooking borders and patterned papers. If you have a lot of elements and contrasts, it will seem busy and crowded. Remember that a mini scrapbook album is not just a shrunken version of another full-scale page but it needs to be cleaned up and much less busy.

When you are designing the layout for your mini scrapbook album, try taking out all of your page elements and embellishments and then move them around, adding and subtracting items until it looks balanced and well-designed. Once you do this you will begin to realize that less is more on many page layouts and being selective with your page elements and embellishments gives a better overall look to your pages. If you do, mini scrapbook albums may just be your new favorite kind of scrapbooking project!