I am back to share the book from my When I See You project.
To begin, I painted the chipboard binder first with gesso to prime it and then with yellow. I painted the yellow on so that it was very streaked and would look like the whitewash effect on the lunch box. I accented the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.
I layered a strip of patterned paper along with a slightly larger strip of Sticky Back Canvas. I inked the edges of each with Vintage Photo and then machine stitched the two together.
Before adhering them to the cover of the book, I layered two ribbons on the cover and then applied the Sticky Back Canvas/paper strip over it.
I am so in love with the vintage cream ribbon. I bought a mixed lot of vintage ribbons on eBay and totally lucked out with a box full of amazing ribbons, including a whole roll of this beauty.
I wanted to be very simple on the front of the book. I primed a Maya Road chipboard frame and center with gesso. I colored the scalloped frame with Bundled Sage Distress Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Ink. On the center piece, I simply added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the gesso.
In the center, I added a grungepaper heart that I colored with Aged Mahogany and Picket Fence Distress Stains. I brushed a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink onto the edges for added definition. I adhered the heart to the frame and added staples. I used sticker letters to add "my heart". As I did on the cover, I outlined each letter with a 01 Zig Writer pen.
On the first page inside, I simply added a heart, colored as before, and a fabric flower with the word "is".
On each page I selected a photo from this year that I really loved and paired it with a word that seemed to go with the photo. I wanted one word that would continue with the theme "When I see you, my heart is. . ."
When I do mini books, I really love sticking with a formula to make the project faster and keep the focus on the content. For this book I decided that the left page would be a solid with a heart and a banner with the word on the banner using the same sticker letters. I alternated between green and red letters. Each word banner is stapled onto the heart.
On the right page, the base is a patterned page that coordinates with the solid on the left, a solid color photo mat, and a photo.
My girls are so silly! When I was editing photos I realized that "laughs" doesn't really work with "my heart is. . ." It isn't "right" but I am going to leave it because it doesn't have to be perfect and really, how can you not laugh or giggle a bit at those two in their balloon crowns?
Melted, truly. Emma nose to nose with her doll Emily telling secrets.
{giggle} That puppy has the best faces.
I love the way following the same formula through the whole book gives cohesive feeling. I think it helps you not think about the individual pages as much as the project as a whole.
To finish it up, I added a little note from me to summarize. Full indeed.
To create the notebook paper, I cut a piece of BasicGrey Basics paper to the size I wanted, punched the edge with the Fiskars Notebook border punch (a must have punch by the way) and then inked the edges with Vintage photo.
I included a bit of my handwriting that I wrote using a 03 Zig Writer. I accented the writing with a super subtle grey shadow with a Moonlight Zig Color Brush Twin. I love that it is so subtle that you almost don't notice it, yet it adds a bit of depth to the letters. (Sorry, I tried to find a link to these, but they are hard to find since EK Success stopped distributing Zig products. If your store still has lots of EK/Zig stuff you will probably find them if you are interested. Otherwise, a super light grey marker with a brush tip should give the same effect.)
