I Love You MiniBook

Valentineproject

This weekend I'm bringing you a little valentine book, complete with a how to & downloadable interior pages (includes handwritten "i love you" and lines for journaling). Here's to working ahead a bit rather than scrambling the night before! This is a book focused mainly on words but could be easily adapted to include photos as well. Make one for a spouse, partner, child, parent, friend - anyone you love.

Right now I am really into my sewing machine + I have had this big piece of felt just sitting here waiting to be used for something (purchased it with good intentions for something else over the holiday). I've been inspired by a lot of things Emily Falconbridge has been creating with fabric and stitching and such - she is so great at putting all kinds of different elements together. She, along with Rebecca Sower, continue to teach me that my sewing machine and paper and fabric can be very good friends.

So here's to a creative weekend + making simple handmade things for the people we love most.

Let's start with the end in mind with a look at the completed project:

V_1

V_2

V_3

V4

V_6

V_lastpage

Supplies:

• 2 pieces of red felt (9.25 x 5 was my end result - I started with a bit bigger pieces and then stitched and trimmed to the final size)
• 5 pieces of cream 8.5x11 cardstock
• chipboard heart accents (K&Company Smitten Chipboard Box Glitter Icons)
• 1 sheet of red patterned paper (Anna Griffin)
• red felt flowers (Making Memories Noteworthy Embellishment Jar)
• adhesive (Therm O Web Super Tape - love this stuff + have been using it a lot lately)
• sewing machine or needle + thread

How To:

This book can be made without felt if you are just not into the whole fabric + paper thing. Simply download the PDF cover and interior pages and adhere them all together (see tips below):

DOWNLOAD COVER | AEvalentines2008_cover

DOWNLOAD INTERIOR PAGES | AEvalentines2008

If you want to play around and create the felt cover you will need two pieces of felt. My finished felt size is 9.25 inches x 5 inches. Cut your pieces a bit larger than that to begin with and then trim down after you have stitched (I found that a bit of shifting happened while I was stitching so I was glad to have the excess I could trim off). Using a sewing machine (or by hand) stitch the two pieces of felt together.

Valentineflatcover

Lay a felt flower and a button on the cover (I used Making Memories Noteworthy Embellishment Jar for the felt flowers). Hand stitch button and felt flower (or use adhesive) directly onto/through the felt.  For right now ignore the stitching down the middle.

Next I printed out the interior cover (AEvalentines2008_cover.pdf) and the interior pages (AEvalentines2008.pdf). Each one includes trim marks so you can see where to cut the pages to size (8.5 inches x 4.25 inches before folding). I printed one interior cover and four interior pages (you could definitely do more if you wanted).

Work with the interior cover first. After printing and trimming, fold in half. I used a bone folder to get a nice even fold.

Valentine2

Turn the interior cover over and lay in the middle of the felt cover. Using your sewing machine or hand stitching, sew the interior cover right onto the felt cover.

Valentinesewingmachine

This is what it should look like when you are done:

Valentineinsidecover

Next fold all the interior pages in half with the printed portion on the inside.

Valentineinteriorpage

Valentinefoldedpages

You will now be adhering these pages all together back to back to create the inside contents for the book. For my adhesive on this project I used Therm O Web's Super Tape.

Valentineadherepages

Valentineadhesive

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This is what you are going for as you are adhering:

Valentineadherepgvisual

Valentinebooklet

After adhering those pages together you will create an initial cover using patterned paper. This part came about because when I went to add the pages into the cover they stuck out due to not coming to a point when they were adhered together (they did not fit into the stitched seam). To get around this I cut two pieces of patterned paper (9 inches x 4.25 inches) and glued them back to back (so that you see pattern on both sides).

Fold the patterned paper in half and adhere the booklet into the patterned paper. I left a bit of room near the fold of the patterned paper. This whole part took a bit of messing around and trimming edges, etc. Just go with it.

Valentineadheringtopp

This is what it looked like when I was done:

Valentinelookingdowninterior

Now you are ready to adhere the booklet into the cover page. Lay the booklet in, match up the seams, and adhere.

Valentineppintocover

There should be a bit of patterned paper sticking out of the edge of the cover page. Add a felt flower inside the cover to hide the stitching from the front.

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Add chipboard hearts (or photos or anything you have on hand) and journaling and you are good to go.

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Enjoy!

I also wanted to let you know that I did set up a Flickr group for sharing photos and creations that come about through these weekend prompts. You can access the weekend creative Flickr group here.

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169 thoughts

  1. Kim Bolyard says…
    01/25/2008

    this is so cool...thanks for the instructions...will be making this soon
    peace
    Kim

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Marty says…
    01/25/2008

    very cool idea. Thanks for sharing! I am going to play with this over the weekend :)
    Have a great weekend!
    Marty

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. Jess S says…
    01/25/2008

    Wow, this looks so cool. I don't have access to a machine. I will have to finger something out. I love this idea and I am going to look at your templates. You rock Ali:) Thanks, Jess

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Penny says…
    01/25/2008

    Oh this is the sweetest. My husband will love this.

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. manu says…
    01/25/2008

    I totally love it!! Thanks so much, Ali!

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Lezlie says…
    01/25/2008

    simple and sweet, yet super creative. That's love. :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. jenn says…
    01/25/2008

    Oh well love it Ali! thanks so much for sharing the downloads and how too's!!!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Julie says…
    01/25/2008

    So fun! Thanks for taking the time to share, Ali! Now, to dust off that sewing machine! :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Patti says…
    01/25/2008

    Wow! Very cool Ali! I wonder how to do this with no sewing machine (mine broke) there has to be a way.

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Jennifer says…
    01/25/2008

    This is way too cute :)Thank you so much Ali!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. mary jane says…
    01/25/2008

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU SERIOUSLY ARE SO KIND!!! I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO DO IT!! CAN YOU TELL I AM EXCITED??!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Ingrid says…
    01/25/2008

    Perfect! My husband HATES it when I buy him stuff ("we have too much stuff, stop spending money!"). I know he will love this. Thanks, Ali!

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. mary jane says…
    01/25/2008

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU SERIOUSLY ARE SO KIND!!! I CAN HARDLY WAIT TO DO IT!! CAN YOU TELL I AM EXCITED??!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. Mary Rogers says…
    01/25/2008

    love you Ali!
    this is fabulous....I am sure Chris is going to love, love, love it!!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. cathy walters says…
    01/25/2008

    I can't believe you are just sharing this!...thanks so much. Can't wait to do it. :) hugs and blessings!

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. Jen K says…
    01/25/2008

    I love this so much. Thank you for sharing!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. Therese Bradley says…
    01/25/2008

    This will be the perfect gift for my 4 1/2 year old son to give to his big sister who is away at college. He can dictate to me, and add some artwork, then I can find photos of them together to add in here and there. Thanks Ali.

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Zarah says…
    01/25/2008

    Wow... This is the sweetest thing I've ever seen. Thank you EVER so much for sharing this!! <3

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. Stacey says…
    01/25/2008

    I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!!! Thank you! I will be making this for my sweet Beloved this Valentine's Day! And I love that you shared it with us well in advance!
    I think I may make one for my kiddos, too. Then they have a sweet keepsake from Mama!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. Gioconda says…
    01/25/2008

    AMAZING!! Perfect activity for this rainy weather. Something to keep us busy while we are indoors.

    Reply 0 Replies
  21. carol says…
    01/25/2008

    Thanks Ali! I already printed the pages and can't wait to fill them on my creative weekend!

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. Molly says…
    01/25/2008

    Ali: this is adorable. I happily just brought home a well-researched second-hand machine that is AWESOME! However, your readers shouldn't rule out hand stitching the book as an alternative. Don't let no machine stand in the way of making this cute project, or any adaptation thereof. Happy weekend to you.

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. melissa deakin says…
    01/25/2008

    you are amazing.
    this is so fabulous!
    thanks so very much for sharing this and for the wonderful tutorial.
    :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. Jenni says…
    01/25/2008

    TFS Ali- love it! I think I will do one for my husband AND one each for my boys as well. Excellent idea, keep posting em!

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. janaina oliveira says…
    01/25/2008

    Thank you !
    Can we share the challenges of you book on this group, I intend to do them.

    Reply 0 Replies

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