Junk Mail Envelope Accordion Album Tutorial!

How many of get junk mail? I am not talking about spam either, I am talking old good ole' fashion unwanted snail mail. Over on the message board at Scrap Attack Scrapbooking Lauri got us talking about junk mail and what we all do with it. My mouth hit the floor to find everyone either shreds, recycles or just plain tosses it...I was like for the love of all thrifty scrappiness stop! I vowed to make a tutorial to share how to make an accordion junk mail envelope album that I had learned to make a while back. I literally had an hour to make this and no one to take pictures but it is so easy you should have no problem following along if you do just let me know and I will explain further!

Alright then here we go!

You will need: 5 Junk Mail Envelopes (same size)
Scrapbook Kit Cardboard or Chipboard (2-5x5)
Coordinating Paper
Ribbon
Adhesive

First, you will need to seal the envelopes with your adhesive. 

Then using a ruler mark the half way point on your envelopes, because they come in many sizes make sure you check yours as measurements can vary!

Now using your half way mark as a guide line it up on the 4" mark on your cutter and trim each "side" to 4" making your envelope now 8"

Now that your trimmed you will want to fold your envelope in half it doesn't matter which way you fold it can be flipped everything gets covered.

Once you have them all folded, you can begin adhering them together in an alternating format. *Notice on the first picture I labeled the folds where the envelopes crease is, you want to alternate the side the fold is on right, left, right*

Continue alternating and adhering until all 5 are together making your accordion.

Now we will make your cover by taking your board and cutting it to 5" by 5".

Pick out your paper for your cover and back you will cut this to 6" by 6"

Once your paper is cut you will adhere your cover to the back leaving equal amounts of space on all sides.

Carefully cut each corner at an angle leaving only a tiny piece of paper at the 4 points of the cover.

Repeat steps for back cover.

Using a glue runner, run along the complete edge of the back of the cover and don't worry if it is thicker than the fold it will all be covered.

Once you finish putting glue on fold each side over to cover the sides of the board as in the second picture.

Now you will cut out your backing for your cover. I like for some of my cover to show so I cut mine 4 3/4" by 4 3/4" you can do it this way or cut it 5" by 5" just like the cover. Adhere to inside of cover.

Repeat steps for back cover.

Now you need to measure your folds, mine were roughly 4" by 4 1/8" you will need to double check yours. If you only used 5 envelopes you will need 10 pieces to cover you pages. Adhere them in alternating fashion so each page is distinct from the last.

Take your ribbon and cut it into equal lengths, the thicker you plan to make your album the longer it needs to be. If you plan on doing any bluky embellishments like flowers I suggest no shorter than 20". Glue the ribbon either from top to bottom or side to side.

Once you have the ribbon down you can adhere your front page to the front cover and your back page to the back cover.

You now have an accordion album! The best part is it doesn't stop there! You now have pockets on each side to add tags or pictures to, the possibilities are endless!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, I know there are a million out there and each a little different from the last, this is the easiest for me and I hope it was for you as well! I would love to see what you make if I perhaps have inspired you to make one!!

Thanks so much for reading!