Saturday 20 March 2010

A little nothing...

I have made a little book. It is currently sitting here, empty, just waiting to be filled with wonderful memories. I don't know what that is. For now, I am calling it "A little nothing" hence the title of the post.


I started with a sheet of Prima paper ( Shabby chic morning poetry ), a Hambly overlay ( big vintage circle ), 3 sheets of Bazzill Cardstock with an edge ( Small rectangle ) and various embellishment. Some embellishment from this stage made it on the minibook, some didn't but plenty more appeared!


I started by marking holes for the cover. I marked a line right in the centre of the Prima cardstock. I marked at 1" interval along this line, starting 1" away from the top edge and ending 1" away from the bottom edge. So there should be 11 marked points along the centre of the cardstock. With some paper clips, clip the clear overlay under the cardstock. This enabled me to punch straight through to the overlay without having to mark out again plus the overlay would have been too slippery to work with independently. Punch out those 11 holes. I've used a Clikit hole punch but I guess you lucky owners of the BigBite would be laughing LOL.

Then I did the same to the centre of the Bazzill cardstock with an edge. These are 6" tall so I made 6 holes on each.

Next comes the binding. I have used a thin ribbon for my book. It helps if you have an emboidery needle with a large eye that you can thread the ribbon through. Unfortunately I couldn't find mine and had a torturous task of threading the ribbon through each holes. I got there in the end. You ribbon needs to be about 30" ( 2 x12" plus a little bit extra! ).

If you havent, fold the pages and the cover in half. Arrange the pages inside the cover. You might notice that the overlay doesn't really want to fold...that's ok, it is quite nice as it is.

Starting from the inside, push the ribbon through the top hole, leaving about half the length of ribbon on the inside. Your needle should now be on the outside at the top hole.

Push the needle through the second hole, go over the ribbon on the inside and push out again. In the photo above, can you see the loop over the ribbon ? Continue like this until you have all sewn through all holes.

The book now looks like this. I simply tied the two ends at the bottom. Can you see in the photo above ?

I then added some pretties to the front of the overlay. I have been unsuccessful in the past when I've used glue on overlay so I resorted to a stapler. If you think stapler is too harsh, you could also sew with a sewing machine or by hand. I have used a Prima canvas tag, a little flower and a Tim Holtz ticket.

On the flower I added a little bit of Prima lace, a sparkly buckle, and a little red leaf ( previously, looking unloved and lonely ).

I don't often get the chance to do pretty so I am a bit stumped as to what I could fill this book with. Leave a comment for me here with some suggestions, please. I will put all your names in the hat and draw out one lucky girl who will get the book ( I will make a duplicate! ) plus some more pretties to finish it off, some Cavalini butterfly stickers, some frames, some pretty brads....you can check them out below.


Happy birthday Rebekah. Laura Godfrey is next in line. Please check out what she has made at Talking Scrap.

37 comments:

Rebekah said...

Wow! It's stunning. I love it :) Can't wait to have a go at this. Thank you for joining in x

Rebekah said...

Although I might wait until you make the draw ;) x

Anonymous said...

I looooove the album! I'm definitely making it, as soon as I have a little extra time :)

You could make it YOUR book about your life, your family, your dreams, Kind of like "Celebrate Life" but from your point of view, the girlish and romantic papers are just perfect for that.

jay670120 said...

Love this little book . Perhaps you can just go around taking pictures of things you think are pretty and add them in the book, be it kids,a piece art,a flower,a ornament or anything that randomly catches your eye in the next week or so ?!

VickiA said...

Oh, that is soo lovely.

I'd use for photo's of things I love just because they look nice and make me smile.

Unknown said...

This book shouts out 'Nature' to me, so you add photos of your garden, visits of a nature reserve/ butterfly house or something similar. I LOVE this book! Thanks for all your amazing Inspiration! Keep up the good work.

Nic said...

Love the book - so pretty. I would use it to record all my scrappy inspiration - ideas for LO's, sketches, colour combos, quotes etc

Unknown said...

This is soooo gorgeous Ifa- love it!

Tracie said...

I am totally in awe of your work Ifa and this is no exception! It's so gorgeous I have to keep coming back for another look!
Thank you for the inspiration!
Tracie x

Amarilys said...

this is so pretty!

Unknown said...

great album,i love it :0)

Anna said...

Gorgeous book Ifa! Really lovely :)

ScrappyDandyDoo said...

Its beautiful :D
My suggestion would be quotes or sketches for future LO's :D

Julie xx

Anonymous said...

Oh wow! I just bought those papers today! I may have to make one!

Sarah xx said...

What a stunningly pretty book - almost too lovely to use for anything? xxx

Carole said...

This is gorgeous, would love to have a go! Thanks for posting! You could fill it with things that inspire you, pretty embellishments, photos etc. Carole

Maria McPherson said...

Oh my word! Ifa this is just beautiful. Am bookmarking it so when I have a spare afternoon I make this. Love it :-) x

Natalie Jane said...

simply beautiful!!! I am def going to try this!!!

I love all your creations after your class with Claire in Exhall.

Nat xx

hlcarroll said...

wow, this book is gorgeous!! My only suggestion that I can come up with is to fill it with pretty pictures of all the lovely things in your life! Hannah xx

Unknown said...

Ifa, this is absolutely gorgeous!

Rosie
x

Rebekah said...

I've been thinking about this. I think I'd use it to keep notes about the really special and important things that happen. The little things that make life great, but get forgotten in the big picture :)

tea_bag said...

Fab book I Would love to see it filled with photos of everyday objects the bring us comfort, joy, a visual experience, a sensory experience. Photos of sections of items would be fab alma xx

Sian said...

This is absolutely beautiful Ifa! I'm loving this size at the moment so I would love to have a go at making one. So pretty.

Unknown said...

Had a go at making my own yesterday! Had to change the sizes but was pleased wth the results. You can see my attempt on my blog terriann87.blogspot.com. Thanks Ifa for a great tutorial.

Amanda said...

That is such a gorgeous book Ifa and thanks for the details I'd like to try the ribbon binding. It would be shame not to use it and there would the temptation to just admire it as it's so pretty but maybe use it to make notes before, during and after an important occasion to remember the little things.

Anonymous said...

this is gorgeous!!
I'd fill it wih all the crafty people i know-with details of all their crafty techniques :D

Tink said...

I would fill it with memories of your childhood (and photos, obviously, if you have any here)- not only will it be nice for you now, but some day your sons can look back and appreciate that the creature they know as "mum" was little too... particularly since you grew up in a different culture.

Hilary J said...

Ifa - that book is really gorgeous. What a beautiful giveaway.

TracyW said...

That is a gorgeous book Ifa. Agree with someone earlier who said the book screamed 'nature' to them - do you have photos of pretty things, places that you visit on days out etc.?

somebody who needs to love herself said...

Its lovely fell in love the first moment I saw it.

You could write down your feelings about your journey as a mum perhaps? or a book for quotes you love.

I definitely would love to try this out hope you don't mind me copying your idea..would make a nice lil book for me to journal.

Kelley said...

Beautiful book! I would use it to record prayer requests and answers.

Claire said...

That is absolutely beautiful! I would love to fill it with my thoughts and some pretty photos :)

Kelly Massman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kelly Massman said...

I almost missed this one. I'm glad Rebekah had a summary! It is so beautiful! I would use it to put very special photos with very special memories in it! You would have to peel me off of the ceiling if I won this! It is so GORGEOUS!

Anonymous said...

Mine is here with a hambly I have had for ages, thanks for the great inspiration!
http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=208209&ppuser=33796

Anonymous said...

Ifa, this little book is stunning!!! Love how you bound it with thin ribbon and all the pretty embellies. What to fill it with... childhood memories? the story of you and your husband's 'courtship'? beautiful things that take your breath away? It has to be something special to match the beauty of the book!

yvonne said...

ifa your little book is gorgeous