Dena Designs and Pretty Little Things!

Editor's Note: Dena Designs recently introduced a new FreeSpirit Collection called Pretty Little Things (24 SKUs, 100% cotton, available June). Fun and whimsical, this collection features a combination of hand-painted florals with fresh geometric prints in aqua, pink, yellow and orange. Inspired by sweet hand-made projects, these are perfect patterns for creating pretty little things. Enjoy this post from Dena!

I have a small stash of inexpensive photo albums and scrapbooks that I bought years ago. They make really special customizable gifts for close friends and family. You will be pleasantly surprised how easy and fast it is to cover one of these books in your favorite fabric.

Gather:
• An inexpensive scrapbook or album
• Enough fabric to cover it, plus 1” extra all around

• Patterned paper for the interior front and back cover

• Scissors

• Small decorative frame to attach to the album cover

• Photo for the frame

• Paper or fabric tag

• Ribbon

• Hot Glue

• Spray Adhesive

• Sizzix Die Cutting Machine and Dies (optional)
Create:
1. To cover your album with fabric, you can often disassemble the albums to separate the front and back cover, but we think that takes too long! This is the easy-breezy way to get the job done. Begin by cutting your fabric that you will use to cover your album.

2. I like to use spray adhesive to cover my album – just make sure you spray outside! Lay both your fabric and album open face down on a clean surface. Spray the back of the fabric and the front and back of the open album. Then, pick up your album and lay the sticky side down centered onto the flat fabric. Apply pressure all around the edges to adhere. Close the album. Smooth out any wrinkles – if there are big ones you have a few seconds to reposition your fabric before the glue dries.

3. Open the album again, and cut the corners of the fabric ¼” away from the corners of the album on the diagonal. This will make neater folds when you’re wrapping the fabric around to the inside of the album. Also cut two slits along the edge of your fabric the same width as the spine of your album. This is so you can fold this flap of fabric into the spine of your album for a neat edge.

4. Spray more adhesive along the interior edge of your open album cover, and begin to fold the extra fabric up, so it’s neatly wrapping from the outside to the inside of your book. Do this for all the edges on the front and back cover, as well as the little tabs on the spine.

5. Now take some patterned paper and use that to make neat end pages for the front and back covers of your album. This will cover the frayed edges of the wrapping fabric. Simply cut it about ¼” to ½” away from the interior edges, spray adhesive the back, and stick it down. Do this for both the front and back.

6. Now, to embellish the front cover, I had a little gold frame that I found at the flea market, and I printed a photo to fit perfectly inside it. You can use a frame like this, or a die cut paper frame for your photo – whatever you have on hand! Hot glue this to the center of your cover.

7. Die cut a tag in white fabric with a Sizzix die cutting machine, or with scissors. Make holes or slits in either end and string a thin ribbon through. Hot glue one end of the ribbon under the front cover, and the other end of the ribbon around to the back of the album.

8. Take a marker and write the name of the person that your album is for. Now you have a totally unique album or scrapbook!

I love using this fabric covering method for all kinds of projects. Try it on journals, address books, boxes, and more!