Mini books for my Book Club buddies!! We are meeting to make vision boards for the New year and I thought it would be good to have a few affirmations to go with them. So I made these books for each of us to record them and any goals or resolutions we are making for 2011. Started with a 4.25" x 11" piece of heavy weight cardstock, scored at it 5.5" and 5 5/8" from the right hand side and folded the back on the fold lines. Then I cut it at 4.75" from the left hand side. I decorated the cut off - cover - using bleach and some of my embossing folders!! I added a little epoxy sticker with our initials to finish them off. I lined up the decorated cover with the little portion of the back that folds to the front - it left about an 1/8" gap - and reattached it using black fabric tape. Cut some 4" x 5 3/8" pages for the inside (25 sheets of bond pretty well fills the 1/8" spine) and used my Cropadile to make two holes - one 3/4" from the top and one 3/4" from the bottom about 1/8" from the spine. I used elastics (hair ones) to bind the book along with a wooden stir stick which was cut to the right length and shaped with sand paper to be nicely rounded like the other end. To bind simply put a loop of the elastic through the top hole (back to front) and insert the wood piece and then make another loop with the elastic and put it through the bottom hole (back to front) and push the wood piece down far enough to insert in into the loop. Center the wood piece on both loops. Because my binding was not as tight as I wanted it to be I pulled one of the long sections from the back tight and then brought it to the front and placed it in the trough of the fabric tape hinge. Nicely tightens the binding and also highlights the cover!!
Had a wonderful Christmas with my family out west and counted my blessings that we still have my parents with us and that so many made it to my sister's house on Boxing Day!! Loved playing in the snow with my grand daughter too!!
A new year begins and I am letting go of some things and looking forward to some new ones in many areas of my life!!
Therese