Everyday Photography Mini Book Kit

Update: This course is no longer available, but you can view the rest of our courses here!

If you’ve already purchased ABM’s newest e-Course, Everyday Photography: 52 Weeks of Documenting Life, you have likely already received a fun mini kit in the mail that includes a mini book with a fun cover for you to color in as you please, a set of stickers to add to your photos, a set of six illustrated icon stamps, and a surprise ink pad. Apparently coloring is a great way for adults to relax, so we’ve designed a cover that can be customized according to your color preferences or left blank! Use it as a notebook to jot down your great ideas or add in instant photos with washi tape or staples. You could even pull out the staples and replace a few of the pages with colored card stock or patterned paper made with the stamps included!

I decided to play with my new Fujifilm Instax Mini and add in the photos of our family at the start of the new year. The mini film is the perfect height for this album with plenty of room for journaling on the same page. I knew I didn’t want to add in a lot of embellishments to this mini book because the spine is so thin. So I made good use of my ink pad, colored pencils, and stickers.

The inside pages are a small grid pattern, so I took inspiration from mid-century tile patterns and colored in a few random squares on all pages. It offered a subtle pattern to help fill in some space but didn’t make it hard to read my journaling. I also flipped my ink pad over and just pressed it down directly on to a page to create a colored journaling spot. It showed up nicely but did bleed through the page, so be warned! Best to use it on the other side of a page that will have a larger photo or piece of card stock covering it.

Another quick way to add color and a bit of journaling is to cut up strips of colored card stock in coordinating colors and use double-sided tape to stick them to your graph paper.

I used the eye stamp to create a subtle pattern with my ink pad and then added alpha stickers on top for some detail on this page, and I can see this technique being utilized in the Pop Art and Printable Calendar DIY projects that are also included in the e-Course! Mini Book Kits are only available while supplies last, so get yours ASAP!

If you’re looking for more great ideas for documenting life this year, this is the e-Course for you. If you’re ready to get your favorite photos off of your camera and onto your walls, we have twelve easy and fresh projects that’ll help you do exactly that. Head over to the course page for full details and enjoy this self-paced course designed to guide you through the most photographed year of your life. –Rachel

Credits//Author and Photography: Rachel Denbow. Photos edited with the New A Beautiful Mess Actions.