Last year my husband gave me a Cinch binding tool as an anniversary present. I love making books and the Cinch makes it a lot easier. My first project was an inspirational book for Brittany. The book contained inspirational quotes, poems and pictures. She loved the book and keeps it on her nightstand. The book was such a hit that I decided to make one for Michelle as a Christmas gift.
Michelle's book contains inspirational quotes, poems and pictures of her cats. I can not thank Brandon enough for supplying pictures of their cats. Without his help there would have been no book. Getting the pictures was the easy part. I spent hours cropping and printing the pictures and then matching them to the quotes. There were so many design decisions, book size, paper for the book pages, decorative accents, etc. Each page had to be hand made but the end result was worth it. Once the book pages were finished, I turned my attention to the book cover. I used chipboard for the cover and covered it with card stock. I found a picture on Pintrest and printed and matted it for the cover. I then hand lettered the title (from the Yeats poem by the same name that I used in the book) with black Sharpie. Once the cover was in place, I covered it with two coats of Mod Podge. I wasn't sure how this was going to work but it ended up giving the book cover the look and feel of a commercial book.
This was a fun but time consuming project.
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| Book Cover- The title is from the Yeats poem, picture from Pintrest. |
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| I used the Art Impressions stamp for this page. |
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| One of the decorated pages. |
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| Page embellished with paper punched butterflies. |
Directions for Inspirational Book:
Chip board- I used two 12x12 pieces
Light grey card stock- 8 1/2 inch x 11 inch from Staples
Cinch 1 inch Antique Brass Binding Wire
Wire Cutters- I used the Cinch Wire Cutters, but any wire cutters will work
Cinch Binding Machine- the Zutter Bind It All will also work
Martha Stewart Butterfly Paper Punch
Assorted card stock and black card stock for matting photos
Assorted ribbons, trims and stickers to embellish the pages and the book cover
Mod Podge
Foam craft brush
Hot glue gun
ATG tape runner or similar tape gun
Scotch Scrapbooker's glue
Brayer
Photos printed with a laser printer
Quotes and poems printed with a laser printer
Notes: Personalize the book as much as possible. Use what you have on hand to create the book. Embossing folders, distress inks, stamps, sticker, scraps of paper. Except for the Crazy Cat Lady stamp, which I purchased specifically for this project, everything else came from supplies I had lying around my studio. The butterflies were punched from a left over scrap of card stock that was used on one pages. Do not use dimensional embellishments such as buttons or flowers because they will keep the book from closing properly and give it a lopsided appearance.
1. Cut two pieces of chip board to 7 inches wide by 10 inches high and set aside.
2. Cut 15 pieces of grey card stock 6 1/2 inches wide by 9 1/2 inches. These are the book pages. With a pencil lightly mark about a 1/2 inch border along the edge of the page. The border will be on the right edge of the left book page and the left edge of the right book page.
3. Cut a piece of patterned paper of card stock, leaving at least 1/4 inch top, bottom and page edge margin. Print photos on multipurpose paper using a laser printer. For this size book I printed the vertical photos using the 4x6 inch option and the horizontal photos using the 3x5 inch option. Trim the excess white paper away from the photos. The decision to mat some of the photos was based on the background paper used. Some photos looked better when matted, while others didn't. Print the picture for the book cover using the 4x6 inch option.
4. Type the quotes and poems for the book in Microsoft Word. Use varying font styles and sizes. Print the quotes and poems using a laser printer. Cut out each quote and mat it with card stock.
5. Use the ATG tape gun to adhere the photos and quotes to the decorative card stock and to adhere the decorative card stock to the grey card stock book pages.
6. Use the Scrapbooker's glue to adhere the embellishments to the book pages.
7. For the book cover, use two pieces of identical card stock. I used medium slate blue textured 12x12 inch card stock. Lay the textured side of the card stock face down on the work surface. Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to the chip board with a foam craft brush. Center the chip board, Mod Podge side down, on top of the card stock. Press down, brayer the chip board in place, then turn the card stock over and brayer the textured side. Trim the excess card stock from the edges, leaving about 1/2 inch of card stock around all of the edges of the chip board. Fold the bottom edge of the card stock over the end of the chip board and crease with a bone folder. Open the folded edge and fold the corner of the card stock over the chip board corner. Fold the bottom edge of the card stock back over the bottom of the book cover and glue in place, using the Mod Podge.. Repeat this along the top edge of the book and then the sides. Book Play by Margaret Couch Cogswell has detailed instructions on making book covers (and hand made books).
8. Center the picture on the book cover. Keep in mind that the wire spine will take up approximately 1/2 inch of the left edge of the book cover. Hand letter the title on the cover, using a black Sharpie. Go over the lettering , with the Sharpie, two or three times. After the Sharpie has dried apply Mod Podge to the book cover to seal it. Let it dry and apply two more coats. After the Mod Podge has dried, attach decorative trim around the picture using a hot glue gun.
9. Put the book together in the order that you want to present it. Punch the pages with the Cinch binding machine. Punch the front and back covers separately. Cut a piece of binding wire to fit the length of the book and place on the side of the Cinch machine. Remove the front and back covers and set aside. Starting with the last page, place the pages on the wire. The first page of the book should be on top. Now place the front cover on top of the stack of pages and then place the back cover so that the inside of the back cover is facing up. Use the binding bar on the back of the Cinch to crimp the wire. Press the handle down slowly and crimp the wire just until the front and back coils meet. Remove from the machine and adjust the covers.
