Quick and Easy Gift Idea: fabric covered photo album

Photo albums make great gifts, and making them yourself adds a personal touch that your friends and family will really appreciate. You will only need a small amount of fabric!!

Materials:
1/2 yd. decorative fabric
tacky glue
notebook or photo album – plain
scissors
thin cardboard
ruler
thin quilter's batting (just enough to cover the front and back of the book)
hot glue
fusible webbing
optional: silk flowers, ribbons, scrapbook embellishments

1. Glue the batting to the front of the album. Trim around the edges of the book to remove any excess batting.

2. Begin with clean and pressed fabric. Lay the fabric wrong side up and position the opened book right side (batting side) down on top of the fabric. You'll need to place the book 2" from the edge of the fabric (this allows the fabric to wrap around the notebook).

3. Trim the fabric around the notebook, leaving a 2" border. Apply a bead of glue to the inside corner edge of the notebook and begin at the corners by pulling the material over the corner edges of the notebook cover.

4. Apply a bead of glue around all the edges of the notebook and pull the material over the edge.

Note: Make sure you fold up the notebook at the center, because it takes more fabric than you think to make your way around the spine. When you reach the spine, depending on the notebook, you may have to trim away a bit of the fabric.

5. Measure the inside covers (as close to the edge as possible) of the notebook and cut the cardboard to that measurement. Iron the fusible webbing to the back of the extra fabric (you'll need enough to cover both pieces of cardboard). Lay the cardboard on the webbing and trim around it, leaving a 1/2" border. Attach the fabric to the cardboard by using a hot iron and first pressing the top of the fabric to the cardboard, turn the cardboard over and press the edges of the fabric over the edge of the cardboard.

6. Use hot glue to attach the fabric-covered cardboard to the inside of the notebook.

7. Use hot glue to add additional details or embellishments to the front cover of the book: silk flowers, name plaques, ribbons -- the sky's the limit.