"It looks just like a REAL book!"

I am in a book binding group that meets the last Sunday of the Month and is led by the amazing Tim Ely!  Today we made our first ever hard bound books all by hand!!!  Yes, I made this book from scratch.  I can't believe I did it.  Last month we learned how to sew our inner segments together and over the next few weeks I worked on making the inside pages for my book.  I got a bit creative and used water color paper, scrapbook paper and even a few shipping tags.  I also pre-stamped some pages before sewing them in. 

Here are a few of my inside pages:

We also made our own fabric spines by adhering fabric to paste paper.

Here is a photo of Tim using his home-made book press and gluing the signatures together along the spine.

Here is Julie's finished book!

Here is Kristi's finished book!

It was an amazing process and I can't wait to do it all over again.  My book is going to be used as an art journal and will be filled will lots of paint, collage, stamping and journaling!

(And a quick WW Update - down 25 pounds and still going strong!)

Scrappin' in the Mountains

I am at a scrapbook retreat this weekend at The Palouse Divide Lodge with 30 other amazing women.  This is my most favorite place to be!  The proprietors, Shirley and Lane, are such gracious hosts and make us feel like we all own the lodge!  

I completed an 8x8 album of my childhood photos with my siblings.  I made two of these books several years ago to give to my Brother, Mike and my Sister, Sandy.  I never got around to making one for myself and am so thrilled to have gotten this project done. 

I also got 3 sets of Artist Trading Cards made for our upcoming ATC meeting this month.  The theme is Love and/or red.  I went with Love and found some really fun vintage images to use.  Now I am on to making scrapbook pages of photos from 1990 - 1993!  Yes, I am really behind!