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So, on Sunday I showed of my puffer print, and I also I said I had an idea for what I would do with it. This is not a project for those who hate scrapbooking, and I know there are many, many crafters who simply do not accept the pastime as a valid form of art. I used to not, myself. I began scrapbooking projects to document my wedding. I started out doing cutesy things like everyone hates, but I (think I) have learned to use it as more of a design to accent nice photography or artwork. Anyway, here is a little do-it-yourself album, but not the cutesy stamps and all that. (Except for the puffer print.)

Materials:

If you’re anything like me, you have a gigantic bucket of scrap paper. You’ll need that.

Chipboard or non-corrugated cardboard

Binding material (I used embroidery floss, but you could probably use just about anything)

Sewing needle

Get started!

1. The cover.

For this cover, I used pre-cut chipboard, but you can use anything that’s sturdy. I have made other books (and boxes) by using the backing of empty legal pads. I do love recycle-crafting, after all.

Decorate the cover however you want. I used my puffer print and several pieces of scraps from my big ole bucket. You could draw on it, paint on it, decoupage, or if you really wanted to, you could leave it completely blank and make your very own Kraft cover book.
I used a glue-tape runner like this to stick the stuff to the cover. These things are great for making cards or gluing paper to paper, but they run out of tape pretty fast. Another option (that I wish I had done on this book) would be to actually decoupage the stuff to the cover. (Decoupage = gluing stuff down with a glue like “Mod Podge,” waiting for it to dry, and then painting several layers of glue on top to seal it.)

2. The pages.

This step is super easy. Just cut a nice little stack of paper, but make them all slightly smaller than the cover. If you’re making an album, you can use any paper you want because it will be covered up anyway. Old magazines, old schoolwork… Recycle to your heart’s content. But, if you’re making a journal or a sketchbook, use plain paper. Of course.

3. Prepare for binding.

You’ll have to punch holes through everything. This is where the Crop-a-Dile from the last post comes in handy. It’s so heavy duty, it will punch through chipboard (or… as the package claims… METAL.) without breaking your hand or your regular old hole punch. I always take a scrap and make a template for the punches, because otherwise I (without fail) make one punch that is completely out of line with the rest. See?

But once you’ve gotten the holes right on the template, the rest of your book will be perfect.

At the last minute, I decided to put eyelets in the holes. I can tell myself this step was for hole reinforcement, but really it was just another thing that the crop-a-dile does, and I just had to use it.

4. Binding the book.

Thread your binding material (embroidery floss, or another fancy word: “string”) through the needle. Pick a hole to start with, making sure the string goes through all of the layers.

Leave about two inches hanging loose. You’ll tie that piece off at the end.

Now go back through the next hole, basically weaving until you get to the end.
When you get to the end, you can repeat the exact same process going back toward the first hole, or you can wrap the string around the binding for a prettier (and sturdier) look.
Once you get back to first hole where you left the two-inch tail, you can tie the pieces together and trim it down.

This is the most basic of stab binding, but there are all sorts of ways to make them very pretty. For example, Transient Books has quite a large display of decorative bindings. I’ve done a few small journals that were fancier.

But here is the finished edge of my puffer book:

Now I’m going to use it as a little tiny album to have a place (besides the computer) for all of our really cool aquarium photos.
Like…

These:

So, that wasn’t too scrapbook-ish, was it? I mean, it was a book made of scraps, but there was no ribbon or glitter or cutesy puns involved.