Handmade Baby Shower Scrapbook: Tutorial

Last week I received an e-vite to a surprise baby shower for not one, but two, new moms.  Can I tell you how excited I was to have a reason to make not one, but two, scrapbooks???!!!  I'll ignore the fact that the invitation didn't arrive by snail mail.  I was too tickled to care about that!

I found these great chipboard scrapbooks on clearance for ...get this... 33 cents each.  Yep, that's right.  Only 33 cents each!  How could I not buy them all? 



The only problem I had with these books was that I didn't like the fact that they only had one hole.  I don't know why.  For some reason I just thought they looked tacky with just one hole.



Enter the Crop-a-Dial. 



Having a Crop-a-Dial on-hand meant that I could go from a tacky and boring chipboard book, to this:



... and this:



The first thing I did was make 6" x 6" scrapbook pages.  To adhere the scrapbook pages to the chipboard, I used another necessity, the Anywhere Glue Stick.

 

This is by far the best glue stick I have ever used.  (When my girls were in elementary school, I would buy these glue sticks for their school supplies.)   I love the "Anywhere Glue Stick" for several reasons.  First, the glue is shaped like a rectangle.  No big deal, you say?  Well, having a glue stick with right-angles is better than using a round glue stick because you can add the glue "anywhere," (hence the name,) particularly in the corners of the project.  The other reason I like this glue is because it is affordable...only $3.95 for TWO.  Finally, and most importantly, this glue stick really works.  Not only does it work to adhere cardstock to chipboard, but I have also used it to adhere paper to composition books and clipboards. 



Okay, back to the scrapbooks.  When you cover each piece of chipboard with the scrapbook page, ignore the hole that is already punched in the chipboard piece.  Just cover it over with the paper.

Once you are done, use the Crop-a-Dial to punch new holes wherever you would like to.  Notice the white arrows in the photo below...



I also made a front and back cover for the book.  To do this, I cut two pieces of chipboard (that I already had) 1/2" bigger than the album pages.  I lined up the holes and used the Crop-a-Dial once again to punch the holes where I wanted them.



Here's a look at the inside pages.  Notice that I decorated the inside of the front and back covers, too.



I used rings to hold the book together.  Make sure you add a fun variety of ribbon to the rings.  It's a great way to use those small pieces of scrap ribbon that you felt too guilty to throw away.



I think each scrapbook cost about $2.50 to make.  The most important thing about the books is that the ladies loved them.  Neither of the ladies are scrapbookers, so they were both thrilled to have a place to begin.