Rustic Birthday book

When I found out a colleague at work was raising money for three charities and is planning on trekking in the Himalayas later in the year, I went to her and offered to help.  I donated some handmade cards for her to sell, and I decided to make something for her to raffle off as a prize. 

I made this birthday book all from a K & Co collection which my lovely friend Moira gave me for my last birthday. 

The colours are very subtle on the cover, and unfortunately don't show up too clearly.  There is a lot of stamping on the cover, which I then covered with Eucalyptus stickles, so it does shine and sparkle quite a lot.  The title is "All Mixed Up" cut using the Cricut.  The letters were cut from Kraft card, which were then glossy accented and outlined with a dark brown pen so you could actually read the title. 

Apart from organising the papers so that the colour flows through nicely from one page to another, it's taken me many many tries to get the binding punching right.  With this book, it all finally came together, but then I quashed the wire badly in a few places, so it is a bit wonky! Oh well - the quirks and charm of a hand made article, I suppose.  

I didn't change the light settings, so unfortunately all the photos are overexposed.  Still, hopefully you will get the picture - ha ha!  I have popped six coordinating cards, made from the scraps, in the first lot of monthly pockets. 

  Here's just one of them to look at.  No doubting that these books are fiddly to make and time consuming, but they make very pretty and practical gifts and help to use up some of the patterned paper stash!  Using mount board for the covers has been the best material I've found thus far - both light weight but sturdy. 

Send me your details if you fancy a go at making one, and I will send you the full instructions.  Let me know how you've gotten on.  :)