In collaboration with Canon USA, today I'm going to be sharing some tips for creating a mini accordion photo book. While regular paper mini albums will always be my premiere choice, often I don't always have the time or if I'm traveling, the means to make a complete mini album. Enter in an accordion photo book! It's perfect for putting multiple photos into and you've got a cute little album in a snap.
The Canon PIXMA iP8720 is the perfect go-to guy for this kind of job. It prints wide format, which means you can print up to 13"x19" (and it's great for printing those 12"x12" digital layouts.) One sheet of paper for this project and you're all set! The bigger size paper equals more photos, which I like for this kind of project when you can't narrow them down. I chose twelve of my Instagram shots from our Sur la Route trip to make up the album.
Getting the photos laid out in Photoshop is what takes the most time, but once you have a system down you'll fly through it. My number one tip is to start by creating guides for where you photos are going to go. I opened a new document that was 13"x19" and began to place guides onto it. I knew I wanted the pages to be 3"x3" with a small border around the photos, so I sized my photos down to 2.5"x2.5" and centered them in between the guides.
Voila! After printing I just cut down the two strips and glued them back to back. I recommend using a scoring blade or bone folder to help create the creases in the pages. But simple as that, you've got a photo album.
These little albums make great gifts and are easy to stick in an envelope + send off to a friend in the mail. Keep your eyes peeled, you never know if my next accordion album shows up in your mailbox.