Difficulty Rating -

A special memories album is an ideal Christmas gift because it is a collection of special memories. The album could include photos, poems, certificates, concert tickets, and newspaper clippings, scraps of fabric or anything else that holds sentimental value. It could be a kind of "This is our life" album.

This special gift is easy to make, all you need is... Glue, double sided sticky tape, ribbon, a hole punch, memories and contents and some multicoloured thin card (ring binder dividers are cheap and ideal, just cut of the holes and tabs).

Cut the sheets of card to the size you want the album to be.

Choose a coloured card for the front and back cover. The front and back covers need to be double thickness card to give the finished album some rigidity. Stick two sheets of card together, one on top of the other for the front cover and do the same for the back. Set to one side to dry.

The front cover will need a title of sorts, you could name it "Special memories album" or "An album for Mum" or "Grandad - This is your life". You could create a title page on a computer with images and a decorative font and print it out and glue it to the front cover of the album. Alternatively you could paint or draw the title. You could cut out flowers from some wrapping paper to make a small collage to decorate the front of the album.

On the front of the front cover rule a pencil line 3cm in form the spine edge of the album. With a pair of scissors score this line, so that the front cover will open with ease.

Sticking in your memories...
Cut some strips of card, 1cm wide on assorted colours.

Take one strip of card and a piece of card and lay the strips diagonally over one of the corners and fold the excess strip behind the sheet of card to form a triangle. Remove the triangle from the sheet of card and trim away the excess strip of card. These are the "Photo corners mounts". Make a set of four (one to fit each corner of a photo or document). Put some double sided sticky tape on the back of each photo corner mount and stick the memories into place in the album.

Between the memories can be decorated with stickers or more wrapping paper decoupage to form some continuity throughout the album.

When your album pages are complete you need to mark the centre along the spine edge of each page and also the front and back covers. This mark is used as a guide for the hole-punch to ensure all the holes are central. Hole-punch each page.

Put all the pages in order and thread the ribbon through the holes to tie the pages together, making sure the ribbon ends are at the front of the album. Tie a knot in the ribbon ends and then tie a bow for a decorative finish.