Tutorial Tuesday- Make A Custom Smash Book

Hi, it’s Mindy and it’s my turn to host Tutorial Tuesday.  Smash Books are extremely popular lately and Cutters Creek has a great selection of books and products.  The books are full of great designs, but sometimes they’re just not what you’re looking for.  I’m taking a vacation to Disney World in a couple of weeks and I thought a smash book would be perfect for keeping memories and memorabilia from the trip.  A Disney themed smash book does not exist (yet), so I decided to make my own.  All you need for this project is a binding machine like a cinch or bind it all, some chipboard for your covers, cardstock, some smash supplies and embellishments. 
The first thing I did is to cover the edges of my raw chipboard covers with sharpie.  This makes it look like I’m using black chipboard for the covers and hides any raw edges. 

My covers are 8 1/2 by 11.  After I had my edges inked up, I cut some paper for the cover.  I cut my paper at 8 3/8 by 10 7/8 so I could center it in the middle of the cover and not worry about it hanging over the edge. 
This is the outside of the front cover and this is the inside of the front cover
Next it was time to move on to my inside pages.  The smash book pages are made of really nice strong cardstock.  To recreate that feel, I covered some white cardstock with patterned paper. 
Some of the pages I covered completely with paper and some of them I layered with scraps leftover from another project.
  I had Kim special order me some awesome washi tape in different Disney patterns and I used a strip of that down the middle of this page. 
Next step was to start on my smash supplies.  Some of them will work as is, but some of them just don’t go with my color scheme.  I found some 6x8 mailing envelopes and turned them into smash pockets.  I took one of my smash pockets and laid it down on the envelope and traced the outline.
  Then I layered it with patterned paper and more great washi tape and cut along the diagonal.  Now I have a pocket that coordinates perfectly with my theme.
  It’s perfect for holding daily schedules of maps of the park.  The smash pads are perfect for jotting down notes and memories.  There is no need to recreate the wheel on this.  I dressed them up with some more washi tape and stickers to give them a Disney look.
      
I also gave the little smash calendar pocket a Disney feel with you guessed it- more washi tape and stickers. 

Just because a Smash Book doesn’t have the exact look and feel you need doesn’t mean you can’t make it your own.  I only have 2 weeks, so I need to get to work!

Get your Smash supplies at Cutters Creek