Friends.....A Book of Secrets

Hello again!

I have been crafting nearly all day today (blimey, it is almost tomorrow!!)

I have had this project in my mind for a few weeks now and decided to sketch out the design last night. As there is so much in the book, I wanted to be able to take my time with it and savour the crafting!! :O))

Whilst there are only five actual pages in the book, each one has different elements to it. The covers and pages are actually by Bind It All and I have been saving them for a special project. The quality of the pages was wonderful, they are really smooth and take the ink really well. The covers are also great, but a bit too shiney for my liking, so I had to put several coats of ink onto the surface to make the colour more prominant. I wanted to go all out with this book and make it special and also like none other that I have done before as I feel like I stuck in a bit of a crafting rut!

The front and back covers have just been inked and then stamped with Tim Holtz Collection stamps. I made a little aperture for the title and stamped "Friends" in to the middle of it.

Page 1




For this page, I took a 12 x 12 piece of cream card and cut it to the size of the main pages and added a few inches on to the measurement. I then scored a fold to be in line with the main pages, so I had made a flap of card. I cut the corners off the flap over bit, making it look like a tag. I then took one of the pages, scored down the left hand side about 1cm in from the edge, to make a neat fold. I took a spare piece of cream card and roughly tore down the right hand side and scored in from the left by 1cm again. I then stuck some DS tape to the scored piece of card and hey presto! I had made a little booklet.









I then used Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress pads and coloured all the pages and their backs. I then got to work with the stamping, using pieces of mountboard to add a bit of dimension to the stamping. I used a few DooDads to make a few words on the pages and finally, I added a lovely little jewel box clasp that I bought in the local hardware store. I attached the clasp with brads..but I had to chop of the legs off each brad as they were too thick to go through the tiny holes already in the clasp! I used some tape on the back of the pages to secure them properly and then added some card that I had decorated, over the top of the brad legs, so as to hide them.




I then stuck all the pages together and there was my first page, completed and exactly how I had planned it!!




Page 2

I designed page two with "secrets" in mind and wanted to make little secret folders and tags for it. So, I took two of the pages and coloured them with Milled Lavendar, Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans Distress Inks. I used a water spritzer to make a mottled effect on the pages and then I began my stamping. For the front of page two, I wanted to have a fairly simple stamping layout as I wanted to have a focal point in the centre. I made my own file folder, using a piece of scrap card, then colouring it to match the colours of the page. I stamped "Look" all over the front of it, adding a little magnifying glass to the folder and covering the "glass" of this with Glossy Accents so I got a shiny finish to it. Inside the folder, I used a Diamond stamp by Catslife Press and randomly stamped the image on the folder. I then used a Penny Black sentiment stamp to make my little message in the folder. I stuck some self adhesive velcro to the page and the folder to make a little fastening.




For the back of page two I randomly stamped my images, most of the stamping is using Tim Holtz collection stamps and I took a small piece of mountboard and coloured it, stamped a decriptive stamp on it and then adhered it to the page.




When I stuck the two pages together, I left one of the sides unstuck so I could slide a little tag into it ...another hidden element of the page. I took some cream card and cut out two tags shapes. I then decorated the tags with the inks and randomly stamped images onto them. I finished the tags with an eyelet and some gingham ribbons and then slid it into place inside the page.









Page 3


For this page, I used something completely different! I took an ordinary C6 cream envelope and stuck the flap down. I then coloured both sides of the envelope with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Inks. I then cut the top of the envelope open so I had an opening for more secret things :O))





I used a Penny Black Brushstrokes Iris stamp on the front of the envelope and then used a piece of mountboard which I had also coloured, stamped a Tim Holtz quote stamp onto it and then stuck this to the front of the envelope.

For the back of the envelope I wanted a bit of a grungy feel to it, as if the envelope had been sitting on my desk for years, so I stamped the new Tim Holtz stamps, the cup rings and the "Embrace Perfection" sentiment.

As I was inking the envelope, I had insdvertantly ripped a piece of the back of it off...whoops!! So I made a feature out of it and added the little sentiment stamp onto the torn bit!





Inside the envelope are two more smaller envelopes. I had coloured and decorated both of these and wanted to hide a few things in them. In the largest of the two, I hid a teensy envelope I made, coloured and stamped and inside this envelope is a tiny piece of mountboard that I decorated and stamped on. Also in the bigger of the two envelopes are two more mountboard decorations that I made. In the glassine envelope is a little mini book that I made; I distressed a few tiny pieces of card, stamped on them and then stuck them all together to make a little book. I have taken a few photo's of the contents ...it would have been a mare to photograph them all, so I have done them as a collection! Much easier to display in here too!





Page 4

Page four is a bit more simple than the previous pages! I used Weathered Wood, Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress Inks to colour the pages. On the front of this page, I made a little lift up flap with a secret message underneath it. I stuck the card-flap to the page and added a couple of brads for decoration. I then stamped the front of the flap with Friends sentiment stamps and added my "Look" stamp to the bottom of the flap. Under it, I stamped my little bird stamp and added the Friendship along its wing. On the underside of the flap, I used a Tim Holtz sentiment stamp about friendship.....the theme for this page was Friendship ...but I know you will have guessed that by now!! LOL






On the back of the page, I made a mini card, coloured it and stamped on it and then added a little mountboard placque I made. I used the bird stamp on the back of the page aswell, as I wanted it to tie in with the overall theme.







Page 5

For my last page, I took two of the pages and instead of sticking them together all the way round, I scored into the top sheet and stuck this to the bottom sheet, so I had a little lift up flap. I then tore a piece of the front flap off to make the two pieces contrast.




I used Old Paper, Fired Brick and Aged Mahogony Distress inks to colour the four sides. I then used Tim Holtz collection stamps on the first side, adding a little Wax Seal (7Gypsies) to the top of the stamped image of the Eiffel Tower.

Side two is all about Mona! I have the Tim Holtz Mona Collage stamp and I used this along with a little "postoid" Cherry Pie Art stamp of Mona...I added a little sticky paperclip to the postoid and Glossy Accents to the "Journey" stamp to give it a little more definition.


For side three, I kept the stamping simple. I have a lovely big Paris Map stamp (Tim Holtz..again) so once I had stamped this, I just added a few DooDads and the bottom corner, thelittle Catslife stamp of the car.


For the final side, I stamped the Tim Holtz Vintage Car and the sentiment. Then I tore a few pieces of Tim Holtz collection papers and stuck them to the page. Finally, I edged all the pages with black to give them a better finished look.






This book has been made especially for a dear friend but I have not written on the cover yet...so it remains a secret for a while! ;O))

Thanks for looking...and sorry it is such a long story...lots of different elements in the book though!!

Hels x