Mini-Book Time!

Anybody who knows me knows how much I love to make mini-books.  More than anything.  Layouts? Cards?  MINI-BOOKS!  They're so much fun!

I recently made a blank book for my boss, for her birthday- for her to put photos in, after an upcoming trip.  She loved it so much that she begged me to make one for her to give, as a gift, to her daughter.  She emailed some photos of her grandsons and I got to work-

First, I used PIXLR to edit the photos.  What's PIXLR??!  It's a terrific and FREE editing website (also available as an app for Android, Apple's app store- I have it on my iPad, too- f'realz, I like it that much).  I added effects to all of the photos, added borders to some and uploaded the photos to Walgreens.  It is convenient to upload pics to Walgreens and just go pick them up on my lunch break.  No, I'm not being bribed by Walgreens to say that-  I really do!

I'd recently found the "Journey" collection of papers from AUTHENTIQUE and knew they'd work well for this mini-book.  With two of the 1.00 packs of blank chipboard book sets from the dollar bin at MICHAELS, I was ready to get to work!

I'm sure it's no surprise that there will be plenty of product from Tim Holtz in this book!  On the outside, right away you can spot the Philosophy Tags and the beautiful 'wings' stamp, which I heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The metal frame/file-label tab-thingy, is from Hobby Lobby.  They have a box of ten for two or three bucks.  They look even better when sanded a bit!  Inside is a ChitChat sticker that says 'journey.'  The closure is made with a Hitch Fastener, string, and a Hinge Clip (all from Tim Holtz.  Well, except the string, which is DOLLAR TREE!).

How about a look inside?

Here's my favorite part of the book.  The page above was made by embossing a piece of plastic (leftover packaging material from a set of Spellbinders) and rubbing some paint on the 'back' side after I scratched it up with some sandpaper.  And there's one of my favorite stamps from Catslife Press!

And there's the back of the book.  Pretty anticlimactic, but it didn't feel right- all that and not showing the back of the book!

My boss was totally thrilled with the book.  She spent most of the day, running around the building to show it to people.  I'm glad she liked it!

And now- to clean up the mess I created while creating this book.  Looks like a bomb went off and then a tornado hit!