Olive Swirl

I had one piece of this olive swirl paper left and couldn't think of a better way to put it to use than to create this elegant guest book with matching pen.

The binding is wrapped in a bronze fabric that gives a slight shimmer in the right light.  I binded the edge in a 4-hole stab stitch with white satin ribbon.

The pages are white heavy weight paper and ivory card stock.

Instead of stamping these pages, I predesigned them using my Microsoft Publisher Software with simply the word "Guests" at the top of every other page.  So when you open the book, you have guest written on the top right of the right page and the left pages is completely blank.

Wedding, Bridal shower, Baby shower? Or how about graduation? What would you use this guest book album for?

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?

What a Hoot!

My high school mascot was an owl.  When I came across this textured card stock I knew I had to make a book with it. All I could think about was my high school graduation -- because of the owl.

Isn't he adorable?

I created pages using Microsoft Word that put the phrase"Hoot...Hoot..." across the top of the pages, just like the little owl is saying on the front cover. Since the book is small (5.5" x 8.5") it can be taken to school on the last day or passed around at a graduation party for friends and family to sign and write notes.

In the photo pages in the back, I stamped them with a cute little owl. He doesn't match the owl on the cover, but hey their friends and they like to hang out. Who else belongs on a photo page than an owl, right?

Although, high school was quite a while ago.... I can just imagine the fun graduating students will have with an autograph album like this one. In 50 years later, after their grand kids are graduating it will still be fun to pull out and remember the good ole days.

What a hoot!

Journal Album? or Guest Book?

Formal elegance in all it's splendor!

I've had these papers dangling in my DCWV Luxury Stack (affiliate link) for quite some time now. Because of the print it was hard for me to cut and waste a lot of the paper to make the 5.5" x 8.5" guest book albums and the positioning of the paper for the larger 8.5" x 11" wouldn't work.

Then it occurred to me these were perfect pages to create more 8 x 8 journal albums. I know.. I know... more 8 x 8 soft covers.

After I put these precious journal albums together it occurred to me that they could be more than journals. I used the scraps to create a book mark for each and included a matching pen for a complete gift set. But, I can't help thinking that these journal albums could also be used as Bride's Journals, Wedding Planner, and most of all a guest book for a wedding or shower.

The covers make them very formal and elegant. So, I went ahead and stamped the corners of the pages with coordinating colors. Pink and Gold, Navy, and Blue. The photo below is the pink and gold journal album, and I used the corner floral stamp.

I have three different colors available:

Pink and Gold

Navy and Silver

or

Baby Blue and Silver

So is it a Journal Album or is it a Guest Book?  What do you think?

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?

Fairy Tale Dreams

Unicorns and fairies....what is more mythical and imaginative than these?

I know... I told you just two days ago I was on a kick with these paperback journal albums. My oldest daughter loves purple, loves unicorns (so does her mom), and was totally bummed when I told her these were going into the shop.

The covers come from DCWV Fairy Tale Pack (affiliate link). I had the 8 x 8's left over from working on a scrapbook with my oldest daughter and recording our many adventures through out her many surgeries since birth.

The inside pages of these journal albums are grey and purple.  Like the Pregnancy & Mommy Journal Albums, there are 100 pages for writing and 18 pages for photos. The unicorn journal has deep purple card stock for photos in the back and the fairy journal album has lighter purple card stock pages.

I was inspired by the glitter floral design on the fairy cover and had a stamp that was similar, so I stamped the journal pages.

 I apologize, it's hard to see the stamp at the top of the page. I've been trying hard to create better photographs, but my camera didn't seem to like me pushing all it's buttons...lol... so I settled for this photo. :)

Can you imagine creating your own fairy tales in the pages of these journal albums?

Pregnancy and Mommy Journals

I was quite impressed how yesterday's paperback book came out so well. I guess you could say I got carried away. My paper cutter is probably happy to have a breather after all the cutting and scoring I've done to create this last bunch of books.

I really like these 8 x 8 sized paperback journals. I've also been on a pink kick lately and have noticed that my shops are low on baby themed guest books.

I've always been one to journal, journal almost every day if I can. But I remember journaling through my pregnancies and even after my babies were born Chad bought me this "mommy journal". It was just a simple wire bound book with blank pages and it was divided into three sections on each page and each section had a place for a date. Inside this mommy journal you'd write things like miles stones, firsts (words, steps, etc...), and even funny things or just something your child did that day you wanted to remember.

I enjoy filling out that journal and alot of time I'd tape picture inside it too.

So when I created this last batch of paperback journals I decided to put photo pages in the back. I've officially named them "Journal Albums". 

With the sweet pink and nursery rhyme theme they'd make a wonderful mommy journal or even a pregnancy journal.  There's 100 pages for writing and between 14 and 20 pages for photos (each book varies due to book colors).

The photo above is the Strawberry covered Journal Album . It has pink writing pages and red photo pages.

Just like yesterday's paperback book, you could also use these journals as guest book. I left most of them blank, but stamped a few, like this floral one. I got carried away with flowers.

And I stamped this one with the cute little chic to match the little chic cover on the front

Can you imagine your little one reading this and looking at all the photos when they're ready to be parents?

And yes, for all you mothers of boys, I can create them with boy theme colors and prints too. :)