Tutorial - "Me & You Year Book"

As a follow on from the "Conservatory Makeover" I thought this would be a good time to post a couple of Tutorials to get you making for those special occasions.So here's the first one...the "Me & You Year book":

To start either buy a notebook or source one second hand (take out any used pages)...and don't forget you can completely change the front cover so don't be put off by the original look.  I bought this one from a charity shop for £1.50 and it has lovely thick cream card inside for the pages which are sturdy enough to take photos and mementos including hand written notes of events through the year.

 Strip off anything on the front cover which is not needed to give you a smooth surface to work on... be careful not to rip off the covering paper at the edges or you will have to completely re-cover it.

Take a piece of coated white board or slightly shiny card stock (not glossy) and cover with Tim Holtz Distress inks in your choice of colours ...here I used Black Soot and Fired Red. Be careful not to overlap the colours but ensure you colour it all.

 Take a spritzer (spray bottle) filled with water and give the card a spray from quite a good height (do not have your spray bottle too close to the card or it become too wet and the ink will just run. (it will bend slightly, try to keep it as flat as possible.

Dry with a heat tool and watch it craze to a beautiful soft background. You my add more ink if it is too light or you sprayed too much water on it and then re-spritz and dry.

Add a bit more ink blended softly onto the edge of the panel with a blending tool or a soft sponge (here I used Black soot) Gather the stamps you want to use and stamp your wording and images in Black Momento ink for a rich dark crisp look (you can use a black Stazon but mine is getting a bit dry now)  At this stage the panel has not been mounted on the book...although it appears so in the photo this is just to give you an idea of how it will look.  Ensure the stamped images are dry then stamp the corner detail with either a black pigment ink or the black Momento ink if its a fairly wet ink pad then immediately sprinkle with embossing powder in just the areas you want embossed.  Do each corner at a time and shake off excess then turn the card round and repeat on the other corner and heat to melt the embossing powder. Mat and layer onto a piece of white card.

Place some acetate in an embossing folder and emboss the clock (Couture Creations, Renaissance). Carefully cut out the clock but do not to cut into the outer embossed ring (you can use a circular die for this).  Using the Black Stazon and either a brayer or a small shadow stamp apply the ink to the raised areas ensuring you don't press too hard. (the ink catches the raised areas only). Remember to clean off the ink with Stazon Ink Remover. Punch a black disc to glue under the centre of the acetate and another smaller silver disc to to attach on the upper side.  (to get this washer effect punch a small hole in a piece of silver card, place your circular punch upside down and position the card in the punch so the small whole is in the centre and carefully push down to punch or use a die (but still make the centre whole first).   Die cut Letters in black card and apply Glossy Accents and leave to dry. (alternatively add clear ink then clear embossing powder and heat)

I decided to add a black mat and cut the white card to size then added the black panel behind. Attach to the front of the book. Finally add a red gem to the centre and tie a variety of ribbons and lace to the spine and cut to length once tied so as not to waste any.

The heart attached to the side is a beautiful accent which is made from imprinted velvet...a tutorial for this will follow.

It's amazing what you can do with an unloved mini book with a bit of creativity.  My year book will be filled with photos and mementos of our life in 2013 which is a great reminder of what life is all about.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial ....follow me on the blog so as not to miss the next one or you can click the like button for Facebook or click on the Twitter link!

Happy crafting.