Album of Birds and Bird Poems - Eileen Hull's Pocket Notebook

Today I'm sharing a project using Eileen Hull's Sizzix Pocket Notebook die. 

I have always loved birds.  Growing up, my mother would always point out the different birds around our home and she would hear their song and say "oh, there's a cardinal or a bluejay".  To this day, I keep year round birdfeeders in our backyard and love to identify the birds that come to feed.

So I decided to make a notebook of birds!

First I will share photos of the covers for my Pocket Notebook and all the pages inside.  

Then I will share a few process photos.  

WARNING - lots of photos to follow!

I used papers from Wallflower Paper Stash by Tim Holtz/Idea-ology for the covers, using the pieces that featured birds.

The finished Pocket Notebook measures 6 1/4" x 4 1/8" - this one is 3/4" deep because I cut off some of the binding and used just 2 signatures, it can be 1 1/4" deep with 3 signatures.

Front cover.

Back Cover

I stamped 'of birds' on this vintage Album image for the first page.

I used free vintage bird images from The Graphics Fairy.  They are on the right side of each page.

I Googled bird poems and found lots of free images with quotes and poems about birds. They are on the left side of each page.

I added vintage lace and die cut scallop edge strips to the images

I layered various shaped die cuts behind many of the bird images.

This quote says "I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on the earth.  Then I ask myself the same question" - Harun Yahya

This quote says "Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird, that cannot fly." Langston Hughes

This quote says "So I let her go, for it was unfair of me to keep her. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done but I knew it was right. She was a bird I caged that had forgotten how to fly but dreamed of clouds when she closed her eyes." Atticus

This poem says: "Be like the bird, who pausing in his flight on limb too slight feels it give way beneath him, yet sings knowing he has wings." Victor Hugo

I stamped and die cut various feathers for the last page.

And now here are some photos of how I put my Album of Birds Pocket Notebook together.

I cut the Pocket Notebook cover twice and the latch pieces once out of matboard.  I ended up using the piece on the top right for my closure.

I squeezed some of Eileen Hull's Blends 2 ink colors onto my craft mat - Bay, Nutmeg and Gold thinking these would be good bird egg/nest kinds of colors.

I sponged the mix of colors on the inside of both covers and along the binding areas on the outside of the covers.

I cut and adhered pieces of patterned paper on the outside of the covers not covering the bindings.

I cut off one section of the binding on each cover since I just wanted two signatures in this Notebook so the binding didn't need to be so wide.  I punched another hole in the center of the left piece to line up with the center hole on the right piece. 

I  thread a loop of gold elastic cord through these center holes for my closure.

I used a piece of gold elastic cord to hold the signatures in the Notebook

Here's how the cord looks on the outside.

This shows the piece of gold elastic cord I knotted through the middle hole for the closure.  I cut a piece about 9" long, folded it in half,  made a double knot in the middle so it wouldn't pull through the hole and put the two ends through the hole to the outside.

Here's the closure loop on the outside. I added a bird charm on the cord and then thread it through the holes on the closure piece.  I stretched the cord  around the cover to be sure I had enough to go around but still hold it tight and then knotted the cord to the other other end.

 The sentiments stamped on the front and back of my covers are from Fine Feathers, a retired set from the now closed Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Now to the pages - I cut 7 pieces of patterned paper 8"x6" folded in half to make 4"x6" pages.  I made 2 signatures - one with 4 folded pages one with 3 folded pages.   I used Tim Holtz Wall Flower Paper Stash papers choosing papers with bird images and pattern images in blue and green colors.

I sprayed the front and back of each of the pages with Ranger Distress Oxide Spray in Vintage Photo.

I downloaded free vintage bird images from The Graphics Fairy and copied them onto a Word Document resizing each one to fit on  my 4" x 6" pages.  I printed them on white card stock.

I also did a Google search for "free bird poems" and found lots of bird quotes and poems that I downloaded, copied onto a Word Document and resized to fit my pages.

I die cut various frame shapes out of Rustic Cream cardstock and sprayed them with Ranger Distress Oxide Spray in Vintage Photo.  I placed these behind most of the vintage bird photos.

I die cut lots of strips of a scallop edge out of Rustic Cream Cardstock and sprayed them as well.  I added these, along with some vintage lace I had in my stash, to the edges of the bird quotes and poem images.

I love looking through my Album of Birds and reading the bird quotes on the pages.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at all my photos - I hope I have inspired you to make a Pocket  Notebook featuring something YOU love -  maybe fill it with family photos, images of flowers, horses, dogs, or cats.  Perhaps you would make a Pocket Notebook full of favorite quotes or Bible Verses or just blank pages to record your thoughts! 

It's a lovely size of 6 1/4" x 4 1/8" so easy to carry around with you.

Stamps:  Fine Feathers - Waltzingmouse (retired), Mini Formal Snap Stamps Alphabet - Karen Foster (retired)
Ink:  Obsidian - Altenew, Versamark, Soft Stone - Papertrey Ink.
Paper:  White Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix, white cardstock, Rustic Cream cardstock, Vellum card stock - Papertrey Ink.
Accessories:  Pocket Notebook Die - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, Noted Scalloped A2 die, Noted Pinked Die - Papertrey Ink, Mini Cabinet Die, Large Oval Die - Movers and Shapers/Tim Holtz/Alterations, Stitched Mats Rectangles - Lil Inker Designs, Fine Feather Die set - Waltzingmouse (retired), lace edge die - no name brand, gold elastic cord, vintage lace, Ranger Distress Oxide Spray Vintage Photo, ScorTape, Tombow Glue, Eileen Hull Blends 2 Color Box Inks Bold, Bay, Nutmeg, bird charm Adornments: Treasures -Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, gold embossing powder - Ranger, free digital images - The Graphics Fairy,  Googled free Bird poem images, water mister, craft mat, sponge.

This is Me Book and Case - Eileen Hull's Tiny Book and Tiny Book Case Dies

Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team is continuing to create with her new Chapter 2 Sizzix Dies - Tiny Book and Tiny Book Case.  

In the past, I have made small photo albums for each of my grand nephews and nieces and they love to look through them when they come to visit.  

Recently, when Madelyn was looking through her book she said 'Look!  There's a photo of me on a horse!  Can I take this book home?"  She had obviously forgotten the occasion when the photo was taken and wanted a book she could look at over and over at her own home.

So ....  Eileen's new dies gave me the perfect inspiration to create another book for Madelyn that I will give to her on her 6th birthday in April and she can keep at home to look at whenever she wants to!

Here are photos of the Tiny Book Case decorated in colorful bright papers (Madelyn LOVES Pink).  I personalized the little closure with an M and added a Metallic Stickers/Quotations that describes Madelyn to a T - fearless!

Here's a view from the back

Just remove the elastic cord and we find the Tiny Book inside.  I tied a piece of ribbon around the book so it's removed easily from the Tiny Book Case

I adhered some patterned paper on the inside of the flap and along the tab edges that show above the bottom flap.

I personalized the binding with her name made with my Brothers Label Maker.

I put a photo of Madelyn on the front and back covers as well as on all the pages inside.

Here are all the photos on the pages.  I show below how I resized them. I printed them on a piece of white card so they almost look like paintings without the gloss of photo paper.

 How I put this together. 

First I gathered 10 photos of Madelyn over the past year or so that I had saved on my computer.  Working in Micro Soft Office Word, I created a document with narrow margins and inserted one photo at a time.  I clicked on each photo to change Size/Position, resizing each photo to 2.5" height  and clicking ok -  as long as the width was 2" or less it would fit the pages of the book.  This resizing worked for most of the photos I chose.  If the photo was an odd size - I'd resize the width to 2" first and as long as the height was less than 2.5" it would fit the page (see middle photos on 2nd and 3rd rows and photo on last row).  Then I just hand cut the photos leaving a 1/8" border around each photo.

 

I die cut the Tiny Book out of white matboard.  Then I cut strips for the pages out of a piece of  12"x12" Bazzil dotted paper.  I cut two strips 2 7/8" x 10 5/8" and then scored each strip at 2 1/8", 4 1/4", 6 3/8" and 8 1/2" and folded them fan-fold on the score lines creasing with a bonefolder

 

I glued one strip to the other to make one long strip.  I'll be gluing the ends to the cover so they need to be an 'up' fold so I cut off one piece on the right end as shown below.

Then, leaving the end pieces clear, I put glue on 3 sections as shown and pressed the pieces together

Here's how it looks at this point - 2 end panels to attach to the cover and 3 glued together pages.

Using the Tiny Book Die - I cut a piece of patterned paper to adhere over the cover.  There is always a little shrinkage of the paper you cover a book with if you use one piece of paper.  When you fold on the score lines it pulls the paper back a bit.  If I had thought about it - I could have hand cut the cover and made it a little bit wider than the cover - but I'm happy with this clean line.

I added a piece of Red Line Tape on the inside binding of the cover, but I don't think I really needed it.  Gluing the end pages will hold the pages inside the cover.

I added glue to the covers and some over the center section where the pages are and I pressed it inside the Tiny Book

I die cut the Tiny Book Case out of matboard and then cut  pieces to fit the sections (remember to think of which way is up if you are using a paper with a direction like the hearts below.  I didn't cover the tabs where I will be putting Red Line Tape when I put the Case together.

I used 3 separate pieces of paper to cover the Book Case to avoid some of the pulling back when I bend on the scorelines.  I always start bending as soon as I've adhered the glued pieces to help ease the paper over the bends.  If you wait until the glue dries completely it can cause the paper to tear.

 I die cut the little tab piece out of matboard and patterned paper and knotted a piece of white elastic cord through each end. This will hold the Tiny Book Case closed.  I tied a piece of wrinkled seam tape around the book using a single knot before inserting it so it's easy for Madelyn to pull the book out.

 

I'm pretty sure she is going to love her fun Tiny Book Case and Tiny Book with pictures just of her!

 Please check out Eileen's blog every Wednesday to see what new creations the Inspiration Team have made using Eileen's wonderful Sizzix Dies!

 I'm linking my Tiny Book Case and Tiny Book to:
Mini Album Makers

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge
Anything Goes

Stamps:  Fresh Alphabet - Papertrey Ink

Paper:  Little Sizzles Matboard - Sizzix, white card stock - PTI, Playful Patterns: Valentine - Taylored Expressions Dotted Pink - Bazzil

Ink:   Obsidian - Altenew

Accessories:  Tiny Book and Tiny Book Case Dies - Eileen Hull/Sizzix, white elastic cord, Metallic Stickers/Quotations - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, photos printed from computer, wrinkled seam tape Tombow Glue, red line tape.