Wedding Guest Book Album - Hidden Forest

Hidden. From the Secret Bird Society of Kasier Paper. It's a two tone ivory with bronze embossed thistles, butterflies, and deer.  On the back side, there's a bird and a dandelion.  It's a breath taking scene for the front of this wedding guest book album created for this special couple on their wedding day today.

The inside pages are stamped with gold ink and a floral acron border stamp.

Photo pages are stamed with this closed thistle on the bottom right.

Here is the back side of this wedding guest book album with a bird and butterflies. A truelly unique book that could be opened from either end.

What keeps my book proportioned?

Whenever you buy a commerically made book, you never question if the book is going to retain it's form when you add your photos and other memorabilia.

However, an important factor to know when ordering a book from a craftsman who creates handmade books is how they create their binding.

I, like many other book binders, cut small slivers of card stock and place between the pages in the bindings of my books. These small slivers of card stock are called "spacers".

Spacers build up the binded edge of your book. When you first buy a handcrafted book, you might noticed the binded end of the book is thicker than the outer edge of your book. This is because those spacers are the same thickness as a photograph. Until you place your photographs inside your pages one side will be slightly wider then the other. But, once you place those pictures inside the pages, the good thing is that your book will remain it's proportioned size.

Really, it means you won't have a book that looks like a triangle from the top when your done. I'm sure you've seen those kinds of books before. The pages become thicker than the binding and doesn't hold the books shape so it feathers out at the end.

So that my friends, is why you'll find spacers in all my albums and guest books.

Teacher Appreciation Albums

Teacher Appreciate week starts May 2nd and ends May 6th.

So, whether your a parent, or a student, I'd like to encourage you all to write a special little note to your teachers this coming week and let them know they're appreciated.  I say this not only as the wife of a teacher, but as a parent who appreciates everything my children's teachers do to help them learn new things each day.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation I'm featuring these two albums I created themed "Back to School."

Wedding Guest Book and Pen Set

This is a 8" x 10" wedding guest book album that I custom made from one of my daughter's preschool teachers to give to her daughter. I know, too many daughter's in that sentence!

Anyway, this couple choose steel blue and lime green for their wedding colors.

As you can see, it came out very lovely.

Inside are formal lined pages, entitled "Friends & Family".

I made a ribbon pen, and instead of the traditional feather style, I added a second color ribbon and tied it with a bow. The one end of the pen has a matching rhinestone. It all comes together quite nice with the rhinestone trimmed heart pen holder.

Book of Potions

Harry Potter never went anywhere with out his book of potions. Now, you too, can have one of your very own!

Whether you're cooking up some new concoctions in the kitchen or keeping track of those experiments in the lab. This scrapbook journal is the perfect place for all those notes and results.

Hand bound so it will never fall apart...unless you cut the ties.

Gray signature pages for all your writing and recording and hot pink pages made of card stock for photos and newspaper clippings.

Got any recipes brewing?

Three Little Friends

So our Owl had a few friends that came with him from the scrapbook supply store. Meet Mr. groundhog. He's holding up this cute little flower and looking at you with big black eyes. I turned him into a baby shower guest book album.  Inside, his pages say, "Advice to the new mother".

He's definitely a fun conversation piece to be passed down the table while you wait for that new arrival to come.

Along with him is this jutting red sunflower on brown whimsy design. I turned the cover paper into a bridal shower or wedding guest book. Inside here the pages say, "Advice to the Newlyweds". A fun loving couple with a fall wedding were dancing in my mind when I created this guest book album.

And last but not least.....

Love stinks!  You can read my post about skunkie here. He'd make a great couples firsts album for almost any occasion, not excluding a shower or the big "stink day". Okay, weddings don't stink they're flowery and wonderful and a celebration of the union of two people.

I'll be counting 11 years of marriage here in a few short months.

So these are Owls friends. I guess I kinda went backwards from baby to relationship, but I didn't want you to think the skunk was a rerun from another post.  They're all available in my shop. If you can't find one and you'd like a custom guest book album made just drop me a line.

But before you go... which album do you like best out of these three and why? Do the covers fit the themes?

Guest Book Album - Purple and Black Damask

Purple and Black Damask Guest Book Album

The Ivory and Black Damask Guest Book Album was such a big hit, that I decided to go ahead and create this one purple and black damask print guest book album. I used white ribbon to stitch the binding, and give it an accent away from the purple.

Inside I stamped the pages with the floral corner stamp, which has also become requested most often since the feature of the ivory and black damask guest book. I haven't been able to put this stamp away since I got it out!  It's such an elegant design it doesn't surprise me that I've had so many request for it lately.

Since the stamp is designed for the corner of the page, I've been alternating corners to create the signature pages.

The inside pages of this purple and black damask guest book album are gray and black. There are 40 signature pages and 20 photo pages.

You can see from this angle the different layers of the covers and papers binded together.

To complete the set I placed the guest book album and it's matching pen inside a felt sleeve with little snaps to hold the flap closed.

So what do you think? Does purple work for this book? Or did you prefer the ivory?

Paperbacks Just Got Bigger

I've been pondering the idea of making some bigger sized paperback guest book albums this past week. The smaller paperbacks (5.5" x 8.5") have been growing in popularity lately. It seems they're being used most often for baby showers, bridal showers, and retirement albums (in place of a card).

Where as the hardbound guest books (small and medium size) are more popular with weddings.

I've had some 8 x 8 paper stacks sitting on my work counter for a few months now and haven't been sure what to do with them. Sometime I cut them down to make the 5.5" x 7.5" albums but got to thinking I'd add a new size and style to the shop this week.

So, I put together this 8" x 8" paperback guest book album.

It's all pretty in pink with it's floral print and glittery highlights.  I used pink signature pages stamped with a floral swag.

 For the photo pages I added yellow card stock (acid and lignin- free) in the back and stamped with this cute flower bouquet stamp.

Then I couldn't help but thinking that stab stitch wasn't going to work for this book. It needed something more feminine, so I used my zutter bind-it-all (affiliate link) and punched the binding holes. then using one inch wide satin pink ribbon I laced the binding and double knotted it with a bow.

It almost reminds me of going to one of those fancy tea parties, all pretty and dressed up and totally girlie.

What do you think, does the size work for the cover style?

Paper Gallery

I've been spending some time over on my website trying to remodel the site and make it easier for you all to navigate. But the main purpose of my site is to allow you to browse all the options of being able to create a book for your special occasion.

Originally, I loaded all my paper choices over on flickr and ran out of space. So, I've moved the paper gallery over onto my website at www.mrschadt.com.  You'll find it under the custom order tab.

I'll try to keep the paper designs updated frequently. But in the meantime, feel free to stop over and browse the paper gallery.

I'm working on getting the custom order form back up on site, but until then please excuse the inconvenience of using the contact page. 

If you have any suggestion on how to make the paper gallery or custom order process more user friendly, I'd love to hear them.

Black and Ivory Damask

Black and Ivory Damask Guest Book Album

I pulled out this paper from the new paper pack along with the pink from the Think Hot Pink post yesterday. The black damask is glossy and I think it makes a sophisticated statement.

I slipped in paper for a matching RSVP pen for those using it as a guestbook or even a journal.

I tried to match the damask print as closely as possible in this book. Since the print has a floral design I decided to go with this corner stamp. Each alternating page has the stamp in the upper or lower corner of the signature pages.

On the card stock pages I used just the flower. Simple but gives it just a little bit of something elegant to grace the pages along with those photos or extra notes and signatures.

I stitched the book using ivory ribbon in the traditional four hole Japanese stab stitch technique.

And of course, it wouldn't be a MRsCHADT book without it's felt protective sleeve. This sleeve has two snap closers-- one on each end of the inside flap to hold it closed.

You can find it and long with my other books in my shop on etsy.

Friends Forever Guest Book Album

We're calling this album "Friends Forever"

I say, "we" because it was a team effort of myself and my two daughters. My youngest daughter picked out the cover design. I have to admit it was challenging thinking of what to put inside this book in order to create something totally unique and extra special.

What I like about this album, as are most of my books, is that you can use it as a photo album or a guest book.

Here are some of the pages. Like my previous albums you can side a photo right into the designated areas without glue or tape. I put little paper inserts that say "YOUR PHOTO HERE" to use a template, but mostly a regular photograph fits right in.

In between the photo pages I put ivory card stock pages that are punched down the edges that are acid and lignin free for more photos or signatures as a guest book. 

 And of course I stitched a felt sleeve with ribbon closure to protect the book when it's not being shown off or passed around.

This size book (5.5" x 7.5") is the perfect sized album for use as a coffee table book. I think the blue ribbon and green mesh ties on the coil make it an interesting conversation piece, don't you?

Simple Punched Pages

Brown is one of those soft warm colors that make the warm winter season seem so much more cozier. I love this textured paper with just the tracing of a flowered branch across it.

When I first started putting together this cover with paper I couldn't decide if I wanted to keep it simple or give it a little punch.

Of course, I was in my local craft shop and I came across this edge puncher and knew I had to have it. I used a EK Success border punch (affiliate link) on all the pages of this guest book album.

Here's a close up of the page edges below.

I got so excited by this punch that I didn't think to add any scrapbook photo pages inside the guest book album. I guess it could also be used as a journal, too.

The pages are simple, yet I think the punched border gives it a simplistic elegance of all it's own.

I slipped it into a brown felt sleeve with a piece of ribbon to hold down the flap closure.

What do you think, to punch or not to punch pages?

Amore Album Video

So I uploaded a new video of the Amore Video. I tried something different with videoing this album. No song or dance, just me, the pages, and a commentary of the book.

So compared to the A Lifetime of Love Video, what do you think? Song and dance or Commentary through pages?

Leaf Guest Book Album

Normally, I like to give my albums a title. What's a book without a title right? This album we're simply going to call "Panda". My oldest daughter said the designed reminded her of Pandas. Her best friend likes Pandas and everyone knows Panda's like to eat bamboo leaves. That's what reminded her of the Pandas...the leaves.

I thought they looked more like palm leaves, but who am I to argue with the mind of an eight-year-old?

So.. PANDA it is.

As you can see, once the parchment paper dried, it came out very nice. I cut it to size and laid it in as our first page. You can see through the parchment paper to the next page of the book. I actually did a cut out of  leaf and the green you see is the next page attached.

It's a perfect page for writing in the name, date, or event of this album.

As you can see in these two photos, I added some special photo pages. Like my other albums, you can slide a 3.5" x 5" photo graph into the rounded corners of these pre-designed areas.  I added some dimensional and stamped and glittered leaves along with some simple word usage like: believe, hope, cherish.

In between the green photo pages are ivory card stock pages stamped with a single leaf.

Since all the pages of this album are acid-free and lingign-free. These blank pages can be used for signatures and well wishes for a guest book or additional photographs for a lovely album.

And it wouldn't be a MRsCHADT handcrafted book without my new signature book pouches.

This one I stamped with the same green leaf that I used in the album. I took some green netting for the closure and a simple white bead.

My favorite feature of this album is the see through parchment page stamped and traced in glitter. What do you like best?

You'll find it, along with many of my others in my shop at http://www.mrschadt.etsy.com/