Northbrook Designs

Natural History Mini Book

Boy it’s been a long time since I posted. I have been busy with projects, just haven’t been able to get things posted. I’ve taken a step away from doll making to give my poor aching hands a rest. I decided to work on some paper art projects and am really enjoying that. I’ve also been doing some knitting not with needles, but with looms. Later for that.

This is the first paper art project I’m going to post, I have done others and will post them another time. This is a design by Alexandra M. There are so many wonderful kits to purchase from her site and she offers many tutorials to show you how to put those projects together.

Alexandra M’s Etsy site                              Alexandra M on You Tube

So this is the project. it’s titled Natural History Mini Book. I will show you the individual pages first, that make up this book, the kit is available on her Etsy site. There you will see a number of pictures of everything contained in her project, and again in the accompanying YouTube videos. Make your way over to Alexandra’s You Tube channel where she has generously taken the time to do 7 videos explaining how to put this all together from start to the finishing details. It may seem daunting, but once you start the process is not difficult at all, Alexandra has a well thought out teaching process.

Each of the five pages is embellished on both sides and each has a large tag with beautiful art on each side. The flip side of the large tags are pictured below. When you watch the video’s for the kit, Alexandra shows you all the gorgeous details, there are so many.

These two pages are the front and back inside covers.

                 

These are all extras, embellishments, envelopes, small tags, fussy cuts and cards. Alexandra fills each printable page with all kinds of great extras as she doesn’t like to leave a lot of wasted space on the paper. These can be used to fill up the notebooks that you will make as well, applying them throughout the pages.

And now these are the pictures of my finished version of Alexandra’s design. It varies from her finished book slightly. I have used some silk flowers on the top corner. On the spine I added a couple of the extras and a bit of bling for the top just below the flower. I added a tab to hold the book closed, but I may have to add an eyelet and cord to wrap around as the book has gotten quite full and the magnets I used are just barely able to hold back the flood of pages. ;o)

On the spine and the tab to hold the book closed, I used a product called Kraft Tex. I buy mine from Black Rabbit Fabric here in British Columbia, also the colour I used, on Amazon.ca, but you can find it easily in many places. Click on any colour on the Black Rabbit Fabric page and you can read the description of the product. I am going to use it for journal covers, I think it would be perfect for that, but it has so many applications.

A TIP: use a glue such as Aleene’s Tacky Glue or Weld Bond, something that will give a sturdier hold. This is a heavier product than cardstock and requires a little extra holding power. The colour of the Kraft Tex I used, is called Saffron. When I got to the stage of covering the chip board pieces for the front and back covers, I used a cotton fabric with a tiny checker board pattern. The tab is fastened on the back with a brad, the front has magnets.