I stamped some pre-printed paper

I cut up lots of sheets of plain paper

I printed out one of my favourite images onto material and mounted it on colour co-ordinating backing paper

I assembled all the sheets of paper, the back and front covers added the friend embellisment and popped it in to post to a very kind friend.

Bind it All - Tag Book

I decided to spend a little bit of time making something for ME today.



I am accumulating some lovely works of art and although I find ATCs easy to store - I have a folder for them - some of the other swaps I have received have been on my 'Inspiration' Boards in my studio





Some were stored in a shoe box which I get out and look through, but after all the work that has gone into them, they deserved better than that, so I am going to make albums for all of them.

I have put a sheet of acrylic in front of the first page.




This is the first of many to come. It has my collection of tags in it. I need to make another one to accommodate the bigger tags too - for the ones I have and those which might come in the future.



I have purposely mounted them on totally plain card pages - to accentuate the tags.


They are all so beautiful - aren't they?



All different styles.



Because I made the book using a Bind It All machine, means that if the tags have embellishments on them, I can still put them in a book without any problems.



Almost all of them have wonderful embellishments, and ribbons.



The one above has a tag inside an envelope.


And this one, by the same artist is made up of several layers on a brown envelope, and threaded either side.


These two little ones have lovely fibres as well as stamping



I wish you could see them all in real life - they are all unique and just beautiful - each artist has her own style.
I have put the artists names on the back of each page.

I have more blank pages in this book to fill - for future tag swaps.

My next book project is to make a book for my 'Gothic Arches', another for the 'House Swaps' and in fact I think I will make books for any future swaps.

Trying something new

I haven't done any crafty work for a little while - been too busy up my allotment and harvesting - but now hat we have stormy weather I have been trying out something new.



This is my first attempt at a photo album which I will compile then put together.
The front cover is above. It is lighter and brighter than the photo shows.


With close ups of colouring, embossing, and antique gold rub and buff


The photography lets it down somewhat.

Here is the back cover


And a corner of the back cover.

Its thick card and looks better in real life.

Zutter - my new toy. My first project

I treated myself to a toy - a Zutter - a little binding machine




Here are the binding wires. And together with some papers I cut out, I made simple little book for my 7 year old granddaughter's birthday.

This is not meant to be 'arty' but just a little book for a little girl to draw in, write in, stick photos, in - just a bit of fun.


The front and rear pages I cut using thick card and stamped and embossed and inserted a favourite photo of her. The pages all line up but as I was taking photos - in a rush - some will look a bit askew.

I cut a 4" x 4" piece of plastic to protect the front cover as it has the photo on it.





For the internal pages I cut quite a number of plain card - coloured one side only, so that my little granddaughter can write or draw on them.

This is a photo of her chicken Lucy who lives with me. She can write or draw on the plain page opposite telling a bit about her chicken.




Interspersed between the plain pages I have insert a few decorated ones - just as a surprise, and flowery sheets.



Little touches to make it look a bit pretty, but still with room for her pictures.




More pages



Some printed pages to mount things on or to leave as they are.



I made a page with a little pocket - this has some tags inside which can be used, then other little 'treasures' can be put in there.



Pages in between - then a fancy little page at the end.




The rear page of the book. The inside cover of which has been embossed with a little message from me.

Once I had cut, decorated and assembled the pages, I put them in the Zutter machine to punch out the holes, then inserted a length of the binding wire which I had previously cut to size. inserted it through the pages in one go, then put them in the machine to squeeze it together.

I finished it off with lots of fluffy wools and ribbons in her favourite colours which I fluffed up after taking the photos - to hide the wires