Furry Friends Mini Book

Last year my aunt would go into the hospital every month or so with her health issues.  She had gotten quite close to some of the nurses.  It's really sweet of them to spend extra time with her.  One of the nurses gave her a canvas "hootie" owl bag since my aunt asked where she bought it because I LOVE OWLS.  Jennifer just gave it to her - such a sweet gesture - so Auntie could give to me.

I decided to make Jennifer a mini book so she could put pictures of her dogs in it.  

I really like the book look & feel of these modified accordion minis I've been making lately.  The fact they have no rings or coils gives a clean look.  To add stability I sandwich each page in between front accordion fold & then glue together the backs of the empty accordions so they are not flopping around.  It looks more like a book spine.  The paper covering the outside is slightly loose and not adhered to the spine so it opens easily.

Since the cover is chipboard and pages are actually pocket/envelopes that I made using thick cardstock folded & there is a piece of cardstock inside for journaling so I wanted to use thinner scrapbook paper to cover each page.  I found a beach themed tablet at Walmart from Colorbok that was very un-themed and versatile.

 The cover is just a collage of different Unity Stamp Co stamps from my stash & the letters were cut with an old set of Sizzix individual letter dies I picked up on clearance at Michaels for 90% off years ago.

most pages have a photo mat for 4x6 picture along with minimal embellishing 

(diecuts, stamped images & tape) 

I didn't know her well or what style she likes so I went with clean & fun

A reason to use one of my favorite old Jenni Bowlin 

dog journaling spot stamps

Here is one of the full size kraft cardstock journaling cards

pulled out of the book.  It can easily hold more photos.

There was dog theme stamping at bottom of each.

I used the Martha Stewart button punch that embosses & punches

to make a "tab" at the top of card to pull out easily

Note the half circle punched out of each side of envelope page

it allowed the "tab" cardstock button to fit perfectly in the page.

More of the pages.....

I tried to keep it simple & uniform throughout.

Envelope for more ephemera or photos 

Don't you love these cute dog brads that I found at

Scrapbook Expo last July? 

There are 4 different dogs scattered thru the book

They really made the rosettes fun & appropriate for a dog book.

I made them with Tim Holtz rosette die - so much easier than scoring board & a scallop punch

The back page has another eyelet and ribbon knotted thru

it so it can be tied closed 

Forgot to take a picture of the top & was delivering to hospital

lol sorry for blurry car photo but you get the idea. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope I inspired you to make a mini book gift for someone special in your life.