To visitors from www.thelongthread.com, welcome! Here's the mini felt album referenced - feel free to comment on the project in the comments section. Cheers, Grace
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For Valentine's Day this year, I made Noah a little book using felt and paper. I was inspired by Ali Edward's mini felt valentine's book and now that I have a new sewing machine, I took the opportunity to make my own interpretation of the project. Here's what I did:
I bought standard letter-sized pieces of felt and sewed around the sides - I used a contrasting thread color and the zig-zag stitch to make the stitching stand out - it is part of that hand-made charm.
I also cut up paper twice the internal width of the pages so that I could sew down the middle (through the paper and felt), to create a blank book. I interweaved pages of different heights at different height positions so it had a peek-a-boo book feel.
Here's the blank book. With some remaining felt fabric, I cut out a heart-shaped piece and sewed just inside of the edges. I did not fuss too much about making it perfect - really, it gives it more interest.
I used PhotoShop to resize photos into 3.75" X 3.75" squares with a think white border. Then I printed them as the standard 4 X 6 photos at the printers'. That way I only needed to crop the right-side of each photo.
I did about 20 photos I believe. I selected choice photos from when we first met to present day. It was great to be able to work with the digital files. We recently make a small investment to scan a large number of our film negatives into digital files. I think it was over 800 photos for about US$60 - TOTALLY worth it.
Then I laid them out in the order in which I wanted them used. There was no storyline to the process, I just used them as I saw fit and to emphasize anything that I wanted to write on the pages.
(i-love his smile - it still brightens me when his face lights up)
I used cardstock stickers from Karen Russell's Narratives line in Antique Cream to decorate the pages and used the journaling blocks to write down what I wanted to say. Here are some of the pages inside,
Noah was really pleased to get this - I think it may be one of his favourite handmade "cards" from me of all time. But I suspect too that this Valentine Day's gift made his day:
He has me addicted too to this short-lived TV series (Firefly) and the movie Serenity. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise and he has played it almost everyday since he received it so we did good this year!
What a great pressie! You truly have been busy.
Posted by: Gee | February 19, 2009 at 05:27 PM
This is totally for my own sanity. For some strange reason, sitting down and doing something creative and with my hands, is a total stress-reliever and takes my mind off of the tedious aspects of work-work. You know what I mean?
Posted by: Grace Hester Designs | March 01, 2009 at 01:39 AM
Wow! What a beautiful gift you made! (Love Firefly too: )
Posted by: ducky | April 29, 2009 at 11:58 AM
That is just beautiful!
Posted by: bekah | May 02, 2009 at 08:00 AM
this is SO sweet! i feel so inspired to make something similar now :o)
thank you!
Posted by: robin | February 23, 2010 at 02:50 PM
I liked your site, you are very interesting to write. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Posted by: JOBS_frend | December 27, 2010 at 06:09 PM
Interesting site, always a new topic .. good luck in the new 2011. Happy New Year!
Posted by: school_dubl | December 30, 2010 at 09:54 AM
Happy New Year! Happiness and success in 2011.
Posted by: Rental | January 21, 2011 at 04:21 PM
Interesting site, always a new topic .. good luck in the new 2011. Happy New Year!
Posted by: Hotjobs | January 26, 2011 at 11:43 AM