Lunch Sack Album

Lunch Sack Album

First take 3 lunch sacks, & fold each one in half...It does not matter which way you fold them, meaning with the bottom flap on the inside or outside. I just prefer having the flaps all on the inside so that my front & back are smooth. Pic #1...

Now you have your 3 sacks all folded...Pic #2...

Next, stack them all three on top of one another...Pic #3...

This is what it will look like...Pic #4...

Next, take it to your sewing machine & prepare to sew down the left edge of your "album". This will be your binding. You can use a straight stitch or a zig-zag stitch for this. Pic #5...

Oh yeah, I sew the seam about 1/4 inch from the side....Pic #6...

I also sew back down the same seam again just for reinforcement.It doesn't matter if your seam is not perfectly straight...after all you can see mine isn't...Pic #7

Now, from here on out is where it gets your own personal touches. I am reposting this next pic to show the main colors of cardstock & a couple of the tools I used. Pic #8...

Next, measure what size to cut your cardstock to glue on your album cover & pages...mine were approx. 4 1/2 x 4 1/2.Pic #9...

The next pic is of some double sided sticky tape I decided at the last minute to use for the cardstock instead of the glue stick. But, YOU CAN STILL USE THE GLUE STICK! Please do not let this upset or discourage you....I just prefered using this tape to cover the pages. I still use the glue stick for a lot of the embellishments.Pic #10...

Now this is the pic of the front. As you can see, I covered my seam with ribbon. I covered my front with the pink cardstock. I tied two pieces of ribbon into knots & glued them onto the top corners. Across the bottom I hole punched across where the cardstock meets the brown paper & took three strands of colored string & weaved them in & out of the holes, twisting it as I went & then tying the ends in knots.I took a piece of sponge & dabbed on a black ink pad & then dabbed around the edges & on the pink cardstock. I ran apiece of ribbon diagonally across the pink cardstock & reinforced it with a "fastenator tool" that uses decorative staples. (This is the first time I had used this tool & I really need to practice more.)Then I placed the "girls night out" on top. This is a 3-D sticker I bought. Pic # 11...

On my first page I used brown cardstock & glued a pic across the top. I typed our names onto white cardstock (or paper...your preference) & attached them by using decorative brads. Pic #12...

Okay, now notice on this pic how I have my hand slid inside the pocket between the front of album & first page?...what was originally the top of one of the lunch sacks? To attach the brads, I pierced tiny holes in where I wanted to place the brads & I hole punched holes into the tips of my name tags then slid my hand in there to fold back the tips of the brad to secure.Is that clear as mud? Across the bottom I used a decorative punch to make the little curley cues & then glued them onto the page. Pic #13...

On this second page I typed (since I do not have pretty handwriting) onto paper the story about this album, adding a few decorateive stickers...Pic #14...

On this next page you can see I have come to my first "flap" or bottom of a sack lunch.I chose to cover just the flap or bottom of the sack with brown & pink cardstock. added ribbon across where the the colors connect & a "friends" sticker.then on the inside of flap I put down blue cardstock & put a translucent sticker that says 'guess who?" Pic #15...

As you can see, there is a little pocket I made by glueing 3 sides of a piece of cardstock into the inside of the flap...As you can also see in pic# 16, I glued a pic onto a piece of cardstock & put a small hole in it & tied a piece of cord onto it so you can slide in & out of the pocket. Pic #16...

Another pic of pocket...Pic #17...


page four. Pic #18...

page 5....as you can see in pics #18 #19, I had "pocket pics" in there too..Pic #19...

Page 6....Pic #20...

Pages 7 & 8...On page 8, it was another "flap" page, but I chose just to cover it up with cardstock & make a regular page. Pic #21...

I skipped the last 2 pages, due to the fact there were a couple of personal pics on there...but I am sure you get the idea of how to decorate your pages.Here is a pic of the back of my album...I just used a large tag sticker & the paragraph at the bottom was a rubber stamp I have & then signed my name. Pic #22...

As you can see, I also covered the back seam with ribbon.

There are many other ways to bind your sacks together. Instead of sewing them, you can put hole punches down the seam area & thread ribbon thru the holes & tie. Here is one more pic I will show...the white sack albums in the top of pic are some I bought pre-sewn at a scrapbook convention.The brown one is one that I made using a strip of tooled vinyl & then I used decorative eyelets & eyelet setter to hammer the eyelets into the side to bind them together. I never finished this one...but liked how the cover turned out. Oh yeah, I also added jute down the edge to cover the edge. Pic #23...

WHEW!!!Thanks goodness, after FIVE long hours & numerous computer crashes I am finished!!THANK YOU ALL for hanging in there & not giving up on me or my computer & having MUCHO patience with me...I will be happy to answer any & all questions you may have. I see I already have a couple to answer onother posts.

Oh! One more thing...I had a brainstorm while doing all this...the cute cheap-o Christmas treat sacks you can get for 25 cents at Wally World would make cute Christmas themed albums!

Thanks again to everyone...Carol in OK

*DO NOT take photos/directions from this site and post elsewhere without permission from the author!! You may link to this site, but please don't take credit for another person's work. ALL lessons are the author's copyrighted property and not intended for mass marketing.Thank you, & have fun crafting!