Wood Look Yule Book

Hello all, and welcome to December... proper countdown time!  It's the first of the month, so it's time to begin a new challenge over at Mini Album Makers.  But not only at Mini Album Makers...  This is already my second post of the month because there's also a new challenge at A Vintage Journey which happens to fall today.  I hope you'll have time to visit my Winter Woodland Wonderland and check out all the details. 

But back to the Mini Album Makers.  Your handmade books were glorious all through November, and we're looking forward to this month's creations too.  Before you hop over and check out what my fabulous team-mates have made, here's my inspiration offering for you this month.  It's a Wood Look Yule Book (which is really fun to say out loud!).

This is a simple, rustic mini album, made from those small money envelopes you can get in cheap shops - 250 of them for about £1 usually.

I started by giving my envelopes a rough swipe of gesso.  I didn't want complete coverage, as I wanted some of the envelope markings to show through.

The construction is pretty simple.  You fold the envelope flap in the wrong direction, all the way over to the front side of the envelope, apply glue and just keep going until you have the book pages all in place.

It's easier to watch than to describe.  I used this great little how-to on youtube by the wonderful Ruth of Love to Create... she gets it all done in the first two minutes of the video, and it makes it all very simple and straightforward.














I cut my covers to fit from some heavy greyboard...














...and used some strong canvas ribbon to create the spine. This is just before gluing the greyboard pieces in place, hence all the squiggly glue!














At this point I went in with a second layer of gesso for a whiter background...

... and then started smooshing on some Distress Ink in Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky and Iced Spruce.
















I added some snowflake/starlight stamping, also done in Weathered Wood.














Some of it got a touch of clear-embossing powder so there's a bit of subtle sparkle around.














And I added some of my favourite winter greenery stamps in places... this Tim Holtz fir branch...















... and these wonderful tall trees (though this is the small stamp version, so they're not quite so tall!).















I was happy to keep it all quite rough and soft.















If you're going to be adding lists with paperclips, or gluing in photos or ephemera, or writing over these pages in pen, then this all needs to stay pretty much in the background.












I added the same Distress colours to a sheet of the Ranger woodgrain paper, and used that to cut some cover papers which I stuck on to the greyboard.















Again, just a simple, rustic look.












I cut lots of these adorable tiny deer, using the new Thinlits die from Tim Holtz...

(If you've visited my Winter Woodland Wonderland, you'll know I'm rather fond of them!)













... and started to glue them in various places through the book.















They turn up in different positions as you turn the pages.














The final pair take their place on the cover along with lots of die-cut greenery.















There's also a Muse Token and some frosted berries to zhuzh things up just a little bit.















I wound some twine vertically around the spine and the page creases.  It's for decoration - the book doesn't need it, but I like the rustic finishing touch of it.














I like that you get the twine on the inside as well as the outside - it's only on alternating page spreads, so not everywhere.












Some of those wonderful greenery die-cuts found their way inside too!















And of course there's plenty of white spatter to finish things off... even on the back cover.










So that's my winter mini for you.  I hope you like my Wood Look Yule Book.  My fantastic team-mates are offering up lots more inspiration for you if you hop over to the Mini Album Makers blog.

Our sponsor this month is the fabulous Eileen Hull.  She's offering up one of her amazing dies as the prize, so do come and play along.  Check out just some of her designs here. 





And don't forget the Winter Wonderland challenge starting at a Vintage Journey too.  Perhaps, as I seem to have done completely accidentally with this mini album here, you could combine the two!

I hope this sneak peek will tempt you to check out my inspiration for that challenge too.






Thanks so much for stopping by.  As you can see, December is about new creations rather than Encores, and I also hope I'll have some time for repaying your generous visits.  Good luck with the Christmas countdown everyone!

Winter giveth the fields, and the trees so old,
Their beards of icicles and snow...
Charles duc d’Orléans, translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow