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:

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V_2

V_3

V4

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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. Jessica says…
    01/26/2008

    so cute Ali - I will definitely have to make one. :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  2. Maureen F. says…
    01/26/2008

    That is so pretty - and looks pretty simple to make - can't wait to try it, you have beautiful handwriting !!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  3. shannon j says…
    01/26/2008

    ..*"..+*This is very cute!*+.."*..
    shannon :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. Janine B says…
    01/26/2008

    This is just beautiful and the journalling is even more important than the book...love it! Thanks for sharing

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. SylvieL says…
    01/26/2008

    Ohhh! This little mini book is just too cuuuute!!! How adorable! Love the red felt cover and I will certainly try that! Thanks!

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Jill says…
    01/26/2008

    Thank you so much for the fun idea! I can't wait to make it and use these fun Cupid tags I got on etsy here:
    http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9163757
    Thanks
    Jill

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Amanda Newton says…
    01/26/2008

    That is gorgeous! I am going to have to remember that! Thanks for the idea! xoxo

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Kristi says…
    01/26/2008

    Ali - this totally rocks. I just printed it all, and I am going to make three pages for each person in our family and one about why I love them all. It will be our family gift for valentines day. Just seeing these printed out sitting on my table makes me so happy. Thank you for putting this together for us all to so easily make - that is just so cool of you. It makes me so happy.

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. Nanette says…
    01/26/2008

    I love this book!! Just adorable. And simple enough to be very elegant. Thanks for sharing. :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. pipw says…
    01/26/2008

    Ali, thank you!. I love this little book. It is beautiful, genuinely heartfelt (truly! so please forgive the pun) and perfect for all 3 of my sweethearts - my 17 yr old son, my 4 yr old son and my big sweetheart.
    BUT HELP!! I just can't work out how you complete that last step when you attach the "i love you pages" to the patterned paper and then to the "i love you" paper cover. PLEASE can you explain that bit again?

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Karen says…
    01/26/2008

    I am so going to try this!

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Kia Gregory says…
    01/26/2008

    thanks, ali.

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. kate Shuttleworth says…
    01/26/2008

    what a beautiful gift

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. Erin Glee says…
    01/26/2008

    Thank you, Ali! That beautiful little book will make your Sweet Husband fall in love with you all over again(for the third time this week?)...and a big YES to getting it done early, not the last minutes of the night before.
    I purchased wooden letters of my word today and I'm going to play with posing them around for a photo shoot...I KNOW they will be more patient at sitting still than my kids, so I'm looking forward to it!...Erin : )

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. Heidi Bell says…
    01/26/2008

    This is gorgeous Ali! Thanks for the weekend creative. I'm really enjoying setting aside a bit of time to do your wonderful prompts. What a great way to start the year.
    Heidi

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. Heidi Bell says…
    01/26/2008

    This is gorgeous Ali! Thanks for the weekend creative. I'm really enjoying setting aside a bit of time to do your wonderful prompts. What a great way to start the year.
    Heidi

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. Kristine says…
    01/27/2008

    Thank you thank you thank you. Love this project--ordered a couple items on two peas to complete for my hubby for valentines day. You are oh so generous!

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. Jane Schneider says…
    01/27/2008

    You are so good to us : ) Thank you! I will be running out for felt this week. And I started to check out the Shutterfly book and will be all over that very soon. How do you do it? Amazing.
    Jane

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. rachel carlson says…
    01/27/2008

    ali, thanks TONS for sharing your project and elements! i don't sew but i do own a bind-it-all and i have thoughts brewing in my head now. and CHEERS to therm o web, i'm on their paper design team and just taught a class at my LSS yesterday using tow products, super tape being one of them and used on felt! happy weekend hugs, rachel

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. laura r. says…
    01/27/2008

    thanks so much for the idea and templates. this will be a cute, easy project for me to put together. by the way, how magical was it to wake up to snow this morning in eugene? i don't know if it snowed in your area, but it's really coming down here in north eugene.

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  21. Chere' says…
    01/27/2008

    This is so simple yet so perfect! Love it!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. Michelle Jacquemet says…
    01/27/2008

    Thank you for such an inspiring post. And thanks for providing the pages too! You amaze me. I get so excited at the thought of meeting you at CHA in two weeks!

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. anna tremblay says…
    01/27/2008

    very cool book - i am always looking to incorporate my sewing machine into paper arts - you are such an inspiring person! thanks for sharing :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. revlie says…
    01/27/2008

    wow Ali! Thank you sooo much for this gorgeous book. It looks awesome. I ADORE felt, and this is just perfect. thank you so much for your ongoing inspirations
    revlie - the netherlands

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. Catherine M. Scanlon says…
    01/27/2008

    I love your book, but wanted to comment that I also love the sign behind your head, "Keep Calm and Carry on"....I need one of those! Have a lovely day!!

    Reply 0 Replies

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