Birthday Book

Happy, Happy Monday!  Today I want to share a book I made to keep track of birthdays.  I sent out cards to friends and family and to the kids in my class at church on their birthdays.  Last year, I had this tattered list that I kept in my desk and I decided I was sick of looking at that junky piece of paper, so I wanted to make a book.

I bought a bind-it-all last year after months of debating whether I wanted to spend the money or not.  I used it a lot last summer and then went through a spell where I didn’t touch it.  I figured I’d try to make my first book.  Here’s what I came up with...

I am really pleased with it so far.  It's so nice to look at a pretty book when I'm sitting at my desk getting ready to make cards for the month.  Here's how I did it.

**Disclaimer - I have to apologize ahead of time for the pictures of my nasty cutting mat.  That poor thing was worn out and filthy.  I am really bad about getting glue and ink on it, then it won't wash off.  I have a new, lovely pink mat now!!**

For the cover of the book, I used cardboard from the back cover of a 12x12 stack of paper.  I cut it to 8.5" x 3.5".  I lined the cardbaord with some double-sided super sticky tape to attach the patterened paper.

The picture on the left is the inside cover and the striped on the right is the outside cover.

For the pages, I created a document on my computer.  I put the month at the top of each page, and then did a list with a number for each day of the month.  I can then write each person's name by the day their birthday falls on.

After printing all my pages, I trimmed them down with my trimmer.

To make each page, I cut some plain white cardstock to 8.25" x 3.25".  I also cut a piece of patterened paper to the same size and adhered it to the white.  I did this to add extra stability to my pages.  I then cut a piece of solid cardstock (to coordinate with the pattern for each page) at 7.75" x 2.75".  I adhered the printed page to this and added to the page.

I used a stack of paper from Hobby Lobby called "Seasons" and tried to use paper for each month that was festive and matched the holiday/theme of that month.  Here are a few of the pages...



Once all the pages were done, I bound the book together and decorated the cover. 

The candles are from Birthday Bash.  Once I assembled the layers, I put them on using foam tape.  Later, I added stickles to the flames to make them sparkle.

The sentiment is handwritten.  I just cut it with my trimmer, added a black mat and some brads and put it on using foam tape as well.  The book is really simple, but I enjoyed making it.  I'm loving having all my birthdays written on pretty pages!!

That's all for today, folks!  I hope the rest of your Monday is fabulous and blessed!

Blessings,

Cheryl