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Idea of the Month Creative Spine Covers for Scrapbook Albums
Here's a great way to further customize your scrapbook album: create your own coordinating spine cover! Whether your scrapbook album already has a removable spine cover (ie: a piece of material that covers the posts, or inner workings, of the album), or none at all, you'll have fun creating these customized covers.
Left Photo: Completed album shown from the side. I made this spine cover for my Alaskan Cruise scrapbook.
Right Photo: Stamped spine cover before assembly (see below for instructions).
Step 1: Choose your Materials NOTE: These instructions assume you are using one of our post-bound My Legacy TM or Simple Legacy TM albums, though you may be able to adapt the idea to other album types. Your album needs to come apart completely so that the front and back covers can be separated. You can create your spine cover from cardstock or even from fabric. (Note: if you choose fabric, you'll want to use fabric inks for permanence). For stiffening and further protection, I used our Adhesive Sheets (double-sided adhesive sheets) to adhere a piece of a plastic page protector over the top of my stamped design.
Step 2: Measure Width: The spine cover needs to be wide enough to cover the spine and to extend far enough inside the album to catch the posts on both sides. (Note: It's best not to create your spine cover until you have finished filling the album. These covers will not be expandable, so if you ever add to the album, you'll need to make a new spine cover). With the album still closed and assembled, measure the distance between the inside edges of the front and back covers. Mine was about 1.5 inches. Then, I needed to add 1/2" to each edge so the spine would wrap into the album cover and allow enough room for the posts to go through it (you'll want to measure how far in your posts are from the edge of your album). Now I was up to 2.5 inches. Finally, add 1/2" to 3/4" of "play". My final width was 3 inches. Length: Cut the spine cover 1/2" shorter on each end than the length of your album. This will keep the spine cover from "catching" on anything. For our 12x12" Simple Legacy TM albums, a 12" piece of cardstock worked just perfect, since the album cover itself is about 13" long.
Step 3: Stamp and Assemble Decorate your spine cover as desired. At this point, you'll need to totally disassemble your album so you can figure out where to punch the holes for the posts. Then, just put everything back together, including your new spine cover, and enjoy!
Click Here to return to the Past Ideas page ©Linda Harrison 2003
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