Thursday, July 12, 2012

My Sister's Book ~ The Tutorial {kind of}

Thanks so much for your sweet comments on yesterday's post about my sister's book.
I figured a few of you might want to know some construction details, but I also know there are some of you whose eyes are already glazing over, thinking, "Ugh. Crafting."
I love how life isn't perfect like that.
:o}


Cheri asked about the size of the pages - they are 3"x3". I made them that size only because I really wanted to use that chipboard "V" square I've had forever, so 3x3 it was.

I gathered up 50 photos of my sis {thanks to Carrie for scanning a bunch of them for me} and I cut 50 pieces of white cardstock and 50 pieces of patterned paper. Oh, and a bunch of wax paper squares too.


Favorite paste ever for making mini-books? YES! It's awesome. I put it on with the end of a credit card and then use the credit card like a squeegee to remove all but just a thin film of paste. Slap your pieces together and roll with a brayer {ok, so you don't have to use a brayer, but if you do invest in one of these tools you'll love how pressed your pages will look as a result}. I stack all my pages with wax paper in between and put a heavy book on top of the stack. Then the hard part? Walk away for a day or two. The longer you leave them pressed under the book the better because the paper kind of shrinks with the glue and can sometimes curl on you. But I love YES! paste because when it's dry the pages are really stiff, and I find that the edges stay bound much better than a glue stick would.

For this book I glued the photo to a piece of white cardstock, then I glued a piece of patterned paper to the back of that. So, each page was 3 layers thick, and I must that they were nice sturdy pages. I rounded three corners, punched a hole in the fourth, and used some black ink on some of the edges to blend that center core piece. Then I started embellishing with punched shapes and a few flowers {most fun part}.


Yeah, so, about that 3-layer sturdy page I'm so proud of... Turns out that makes for a hefty stack of photos! I had in my mind from the beginning that I wanted to bind it with a wire spine but it ended up being too thick for that - plan B was to put it on a ring instead.


In the end I was actually really happy with the look.
I think it made it a bit more girlie.



This was a fun and fairly simple project, and I can see that it would be fun to do these photo books for other milestone birthdays as well - 21 photos, 30...

Rinda wanted to know if my sister cried when she saw it.
:o) Yes she did. In a good way, you know?

10 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

Of course in a good way!
Rinda

Charlotte said...

Thanks for the tutorial. This would make a great gift for anybody.

helena said...

having recovered from the shock of anyone thinking craft is yuk ! I love the 3 rounded corners, 1 punched corner - subtle elegance and attention to detail as always (and loved the shocking pink hearts on the blog post)

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

It really came out so beautiful! Great job deb!!

debs14 said...

My sister is 8 years older than me so her book would be REALLY thick ;-) {sorry Gill!} This is a fab project. so much thought and preparation has gone into it, and like Helena I love the way you rounded off three of the four corners, little things like that make a big difference.

Irene said...

Hey Deb:I like black and white photos. Your book is very classy.

Abi said...

This is so lovely! I hope she adores it as you have put so much love into it!

Alison said...

Still love it!!
Alison xx

tainted with a positive view said...

I really love the look of this book - and such a great gift idea. The rounded corners really make it.

Mom said...

Even old mom cried in a good way! Seeing this book in real life is amazing! A true work of art! Love you! xo

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