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Recovering an album

26 years ago

I got a 12 x 12 post bound album in a kit and I want to use it for my London trip. Trouble is, it has a heart on the front and all these quotes about love. I need to recover it so I can use it for my trip. What is the cheapest, simplest way to do this? I was thinking contact paper. What do you think?

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Comments (11)

Penny
26 years ago
Carla,
I tried to recover an album for my daughters wedding album and I used regular cloth material and a hot glue gun. Well I looked great till the first cold day and the glue unstuck. I was so disappointed! So I had to put it back together with a glue especially for material. I should have thought and used a heat and bond type of stuff, that is available from the fabric dept. As for the contact paper, as long as you can make the corners look neat, I don't see why not. I would however be careful and make sure what ever contact paper you choose is darker than the print on the album, other wise you will be able to see through the contact paper. I screwed up with contact paper like this before :( , the contact paper had a nice pattern and looked thick enough to cover the area, but after it was on, it showed through in some places. Thankfully it wasn't at a very noticable point. Good luck! Penny
Julie
26 years ago
How about using velvet? It would be very elegant compared to the contact paper. You shouldn't need a large piece of velvet, but it probably will cost more than contact paper. There are instructions (easy) for embossing with rubber stamps on velvet (fabric & paper) in the latest Making Memories magazine. That is something I'm definitely going to try! The Hot Potatoes site has stamps, ideas, examples...

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.hotpotatoes.com
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Carla
Original Author
26 years ago
Velvet would be very neat, but how would I adhere it to the album? Would I have to buy a hot glue gun? I am not very crafty and can't do anything complicated.
Carol - OH
26 years ago
I wouldn't recommend contact paper. It will eventually come off and you'll have a sticky mess underneath. Look at your craft store for a no-sew book on covering albums. The directions I have uses a thin piece of batting cut to the size of the photo album and glued on. Then cut material about 2 inches bigger on all sides. It is folded over the front and glued to the inside of the cover. Cover a piece of cardboard (cardboard is about 1/2 inch smaller length and width of the inside of each side of cover) then glue on the inside of cover to cover up raw edges and give it a finished look. I've never had any problem with the glue coming undone. I have some from about 7 years ago.
Carla
Original Author
26 years ago
Carol, does it require a hot glue gun? I don't know anything about them or how to use them.
Julie
26 years ago
Carla, using a hot glue gun probably would be easiest. You can find very inexpensive ones at any craft store & they are fun (quick!) to use!
Prissy LA
26 years ago
I used wallpaper to cover a couple of my albums. Actually, they weren't even albums, as I bought inexpensive 2" ring binders in white at WalMart. We have a store where wallpaper sells for $1.49/roll, so I got a couple of patterns that were perfect for my albums. Looks as good as the 'spensive one my sis gave me. (I'll use the rest of the wallpaper to line my kitchen/bathroom drawers.)
Carol-OH
26 years ago
Yes, it does require a hot glue gun, but they are not hard to use. Just be careful not to stick your finger in the glue or you'll get burned. I use the high-temp hot glue gun. Maybe Penny had a problem with her because it might have been a low-temp gun. (???)
joelle from France
26 years ago
Personally, I don't use hot glue gun for cloth material or fabric, because it makes spots and it is not very neat (in my point of view). I covered an album with fabric (I used a design like patchwork fro my american memories album, it is great!), and I used a special glue for wall_paper border. I think special glue for fabrics would be OK too. Once dried, it is impossible to remove, and ther are no spot at all. (My fabric was rather dark, I would be prudent with a lighter one!)
The albums I use are easy to cover, because you can separate the front and back to cover them separately, and put them together when finished.
I 'll probably cover more albums, because it is more personal. I was thinking too, to try to sew the fabric without using glue. Maybe it would be more neat.
My father had some old school books covered that way with fabric sewed.
hello from France!
Joelle
Carla
Original Author
26 years ago
Joelle, how did you finish the inside covers? Did you just glue on a sheet of decorative paper or did you cover a piece of cardboard with cloth and glue that on?

I went to Hobby Lobby Saturday and walked around looking at material, but I couldn't find any that seemed "London-y" if you know what I mean! Any suggestions in that regard?

At this point, I am thinking of just leaving the stupid album the way it is and people will just have to deal with it! Maybe I can tell them I went to London and I loved it. Ha!
joelle from France
26 years ago
Carla, I just cut the fabric very neat with a pair of cranted scissors (for fabric, not the same than my scrapbooking one), about 1 inch larger and glue it inside. But you can glue a sheet of paper, why not?
One idea: I don't remember if your journey is already done or not, but if not, wait and try to find something in LOndon. there is a famous cloth material store in London called Liberty, they have really nice thing, (a little bit expensive, but you don't need a lot!) and it would be really great!
good luck!
joelle

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