‘Soundtrack of My Summer’ Mini Album

How often have you been cruising down the road in your car and a song came on the radio? Not just any song, but a song that instantly transports you back to a wonderful summer day somewhere in your past. This happens to me all of the time and to my daughter as well. So she and I decided to use that momentum and make a mini album based on summer memories, complete with song lyrics, photos and a CD. Sound like fun to you? Give it a try; this is how we did it:

Plan

1. Identify whose album it will be. Is it for you or someone else?
   • This one was for my teenage daughter.
2. Select ten songs that represent a certain summer.
   • My daughter picked ten songs from last summer.
3. Select papers that would appeal to the owner of the album, or use summer- or music-themed paper.
   • For us, teenage daughter = We R Memory Keepers “Teen Angst” paper line.
4. Pick a mini album to use.
   • We used a winter -themed 6” x 6” album and altered it with papers to match her theme.
5. Find a paper CD sleeve.
   
   • We altered it and then attached it to the front inside cover to hold our song CD.

Organize

1. Decide how to number your pages. Use 1 to 10 or go countdown-style from 10 to 1.
2. Go online and find the lyrics to your ten songs. There are several lyrics websites available. Here are a couple options:
   1. www.lyricsmania.com
   2. www.songlyrics.com
3. Print the lyrics or partial lyrics as we did, trim them down and set aside in the order you want to use them. Be sure to list the song title and artist separately and trim out separately (as shown in the photos).
4. Find a photo or memorabilia to display with each song. Print them, trim them and set aside in order with the lyrics.
5. If you are altering your cover as we did, you will need medium-sized letter stickers, summer- and music-themed paper (we used We R Memory Keepers Teen Angst, Making Memories Basic Black and White and  BoBunny Paradise), heavy-duty adhesive such as Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provo Craft, a computer- printed subtitle and some rub-ons like the Pink Paislee border ones that we used.
6. Decide what you want on your cover page. We paper-pieced sunshine and used some of the matching patterned paper to frame a title of “Top 10.” Add a couple border pieces and you are all set.
7. Select a die-cut paper, or use a punch to make your own edged title pieces for the song title of each page. (We used a We R Memory Keepers Teen Angst die cut.) Using either rub-ons or stickers, add the numbers 1 to 10 to each title piece. (We used Pink Paislee press-ons.)
8. Select your patterned papers for your base pages and calculate how much you will need based on your album size. The 6” x 6” size is helpful because it allows you to make one sheet of 12” x 12” into four pages. Cut your base pages and set aside. In fact, the Teen Angst line was heavy enough that on a few pages I actually used both sides.
9. Select some coordinating cardstock and patterned papers to use as matting for your lyrics and photos.
10. Select papers to use to alter your CD cover.
11. Find a title strip for your inside cover to put over your CD sleeve. We used Cosmo Cricket Get Happy.

Make

1. Alter your cover and design however you like. We used the title, “Soundtrack of My Summer.” If you need tips on how to alter an album cover, read more here.
2. Lay out your base pages including front and back inside covers and arrange in order, paying attention to color combinations.
3. Sort out your lyric and title cutouts and lay them on the corresponding base pages.
4. Sort out photos and memorabilia and lay them on the corresponding base pages.
5. Sort out die-cut title pieces and lay them on the corresponding base pages.
6. Attach title cutouts with adhesive to die-cut title pieces (see photo).
7. Cut mats for lyric and title cutouts and attach with adhesive.
8. Cut mats for photos and memorabilia and attach with adhesive.
9. Arrange matted lyrics, titles and photos on base pages in order, using two pages per song.
10. Once you decide on placement, attach pieces with adhesive to base pages.
11. Attach your inside front and back cover pieces to album. When adhering patterned paper to the inside front and back covers be sure to use a lot of adhesive especially on the edges and corners .If your album has ten pages like ours did, then your last song’s lyrics or photo will be attached directly to the back inside cover (see photo).
12. Take your CD sleeve and flip it over and trace it onto the paper you want to use to alter it. Trace and cut out, and then adhere to CD sleeve with adhesive. Do the same process for the fold closure of the CD sleeve.
13. Adhere the CD sleeve to the inside cover of the album using the heavy-duty adhesive since it will need to hold the CD.
14. Using 3D pop-up dots on the ends, add the title and border strips over the top of the CD sleeve in the inside cover (see photo).
15. Using your computer’s media program create a CD with all ten songs on it in the same order as the album and place it into the front CD sleeve.

That’s it; those are all the steps. Now enjoy your fabulous new custom album!

Here are a few close-up photos of our album:

materials used: We R Memory Keepers Teen Angst Line  - Punk, Rebel, Rage & Chill (2); BoBunny  Paradise - (palm trees, bird & sunshine), BoBunny Paradise Cutouts (cover title border); Making Memories Embellishment Paper -Black & White ; BasicGrey Scarlet’s Letter - green on CD cover; Cosmo Cricket Get Happy 8”x8” pad  - “Get Happy” border strip; Pink Paislee Vintage Moon Accents Black Press-ons (cover border & title numbers); G.C.D. White Glitter Letter Stickers (“Summer” & “{Top 10}”); Sticky Thumb Adhesive; Terrifically Tacky Tape ProvoCraft; Fiskars border punches - Effervescence, Apron Lace & Upper Crest

My guess is that you are humming a favorite summer tune right now. Capture those melodies and memories and create your own “Soundtrack of My Summer” album. If you do, make sure to share it with us here at www.scrapjazz.com and upload it into our gallery. I must give special thanks to my daughter, Aspen, for helping me with this project. I could have never created something so “cool” on my own. After all, we are just moms, right?