Hello crafty people! Who’s ready for a show-and-tell? I’ve got a mini album to share that I created using empty paper towel rolls and the Wildflower collection. Spring is a time of renewal and for me it’s also a reminder to try to find ways to reuse and recycle. This project was a fun way to challenge myself to do that.

I swear this mini album is the cutest thing I’ve created for a long time. I am obsessed! The tube of the paper towel roll creates a handy pocket that fits tags and adds a layer of interactiveness. At first I tried just flattening the tubes with a bone folder, but I found they maintained a lot of bulk that way. Instead, I ran them through my Big Shot manual die cutting machine a couple of times and they flattened out nicely.

Patterned journal cards work great for this scale of project and the leftover pieces turned into a great binding material. I originally planned to use a binder ring to clip the individual pockets together, but realized my small hole punch was not up to the task. I’d recommend using a tool that’s heavy duty; like a crop-a-dile (which is going on my wishlist stat!)

I love the woodgrain paper included in the collection. For my square photo mats I just sized down a ‘12x12’ digital paper to a print size of 2”. When I add my photos I’ll crop them at 1.75” to allow for a border to show.

Because the trimmed pieces I used from my journal cards are not double sided, the binding was looking pretty plain where it shows on the inside of my album. So, I tied some black and white twine with the bows facing in for a bit of added decoration. I like the dimension and texture it adds.

Be sure to measure all your paper towel widths before you start trimming papers. My middle roll turned out to be 1/8” smaller in width than the other two, so I had to trim just a bit more off my papers and tags to achieve the same border look and fit. Since my base material is not of archival quality, I used regular white glue to assemble the pieces.

I just printed and fussy cut all my embellishments so they don’t look perfect like they would if I used a Cricut or Silhouette machine. I do like the whimsy the imperfect edges add to this recycled project. The Wildflower collection comes with two tag embellishments so I disguised the daisy heart tag when I used it the second time. Before I printed the tag, I layered the journal box overtop, but if you already have printed your elements out, you could and layered stickers after.

My tags are also single sided, so I added some more leftover pieces of journal card as decoration on the backsides. The backside of the tags make a great spot for larger rectangular photos like 2x3” or some of the Instax photos. This whole project came together quite quickly since the size of each page only allows for 2-3 elements.

Now I just need to make some spring 2026 memories to record in this mini album! In total, including the backsides of my tags, I’ll be able to add up to 8 photos to this album while still having room to journal a bit. Thanks for joining me for this flip through and I hope you’re feeling inspired to try out a new style of mini album!