The Hand Made Memories Album - another fairly hefty post so you might want to put the kettle on first....

Again, apologies for a bit of blogging silence.

But again I have been packing in the creativity with a tight deadline so something had to give.  Blogging v creating.  Creating won! 

And again ( too many agains, but bear with) said creativity has involved a Boneo box - but shhh - don't tell anyone since this is another present.  Am I developing a Boneo obsession?  Well as it is the lovely Chris Gray called me Boneo Bird when we met at the NEC.  You decide ( though I suspect the next post won't have a Boneo theme, not least because the dog has moved onto Gravy Bones!) 

You might want to grab another brew as another bit of a tutorial on how I did this one coming up. Settle down everyone. Are you sitting comfortably? 

Right - I'll begin.

And in the beginning there was, yes, you've guessed! A Boneo Box! 

And a page from my sketch book.

Back to the boxes - in fact there were 3 boxes and I covered them all at the same time.

Brown paper and PVA glue (spread the glue all over the paper - I used an old credit card - and then smooth it down with your hand.  You might have a few wrinkles, but that is not the end of the world).

Then, small calico squares (backed with Bondaweb and ironed on to the covers).

Then I applied a coat of white acrylic paint to give me a decent background to work with.  I could have used gesso, but the gesso I have has a certain grainy texture which I didn't want.  I also did not want to get involved with any sanding between coats.  So a white heavy body acrylic works just fine.  (I used Daler Rowney)

Then paint - again those lovely Fresco Finish acrylics from Paper Artsy. Pink for a girl.

The background is Blush with a touch of Very Berry.

I used a sponge. Here I am getting the next colours sorted out (Claret mixed into some Blush).

And here is a fab stencil I bought on my last outing to the NEC (which you can read about here).

I have no idea who the retailer was who had this stamp.  It was all a bit chaotic. They were in the Hobbycraft gallery, rather than the textiles one.

(Sorry about the colour changes here - some photos were taken in daylight and some under artificial light).

Next up a bit of coloured grunge paste.

And the stencil I cut for the last 'Book' I made.

Then I added some detail to the leaves with silver acrylic and a Pistachio green from the Fresco Finish range.

Then I cut out tiny silver foil leaves - it's the silver side I wanted.

And a button/ribbon combo to the front.

I should say that the silver leaves were stuck with matt medium and the whole cover was given a good coating of matt medium.  It makes everything feel finished and gives a good finish.

Then I turned to the pages and tags.

I used rag paper for the pages and the same paints as before.

I added pockets to some of the pages.

Then I bound the pages.  I had 8 pages and 4 signatures.

I wanted a different binding to the previous book, which had very loose bound pages so the recipient could, if wanted, actually slip a page out. 

I actually did quite a bit of research into page binding techniques, before settling on this one which also uses ribbon.  The book had much more stability with the ribbon - which is so pretty and girly.  At this point I decided against beads. 

Here are the book innards - looking a bit like a book (albeit a random book!)

And the book is a Christening present, for little Charlotte Rose (well, not so much her, but more of an album for her parents to record some happy moments. But drat! I forgot to take photos of the lovely day.  Hope others did to stick in the book.) 

And a recycled envelope for a pocket.

OK - so now I am getting very ambitious (and this is where I was having all sorts of technical difficulties - but as they say, live and learn) I made a little video of a flick through of the book. First of all I hope this technology works and second of all I hope you appreciate my droning on.  Let me know what you think.  I cannot promise to do loads of these unless I crack the technical difficulties, but I could try a few more if you like it.

As always, dear reader, thanks for dropping by and I do hope that your tea hasn't gone cold!