Secret Hollow Book

Hi friends and fellow crafters!  I have a project to share today that is truly unique and really fun to create. Back in November, I was visiting one of my favorite crafting blogs, With Glittering Eyes and saw this amazing project created by my crafting friend, Nadia. Nadia found the project idea here and there was a YouTube video here showing the book fully decorated. I knew I had to try one of these faux books out. This Christmas season was pure chaos. My Mother In Law's QVC gift card didn't arrive on time for our visit, so we improvised a gift and card for her, and then let her know that we were waiting for her "real" gift to arrive. Since my hubby hasn't been to see her in few weeks, it gave me the chance to try to create one of these unique vignettes for her.

I followed Nadia's measurements and also her scoring. So I also cut my card stock at  5-7/8" x 10-1/2".  As per Nadia's measurements, I scored the 10 1/2 side at 4-5/8", 4-7/8", 5-5/8", and 5-7/8".

If you would like to try this, I would recommend visiting Nadia's Blog or Tracy's Blog. Again, following Nadia's measurements, I cut card stock for the cover and back of the book at 4-1/2" x 5-7/8" and a piece for the spine at 11/16" x 5-7/8".  I used a Tim Holtz Alterations Embossing folder to emboss the pieces of card stock. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Vintage Photo to add color to my book's cover and spine.

I added two pieces of ribbon between the cover and embossed layer. They started out an eggshell color, but after I added them, I didn't like the it, so I used some Tim Holtz Vintage Photo to the ribbons to change the color. I liked it much better. 

 

I followed Tracy's instructions to make the page frame. I cut 2 pieces of beige card stock at 5-3/8" x 9" and 2 pieces at 4-1/2" x 9".  I scored the pieces at 3/4" all the way across. I didn't think to take any pictures while I was scoring, but Nadia has some perfect shots of how it should look on her blog. Here is what my pages looked like when I put the frame together and inked the edges.

I used my Swiss Dots, Cuttlebug embossing folder to add some interest to my background for my vignette. 

The cuts are from the Christmas Cards, Seasonal Cricut Cartridge. I used some dimensional paint on the tree and Church. 

 I used a piece of blue card stock to make the frame, then embossed it with a Sizzix folder. It was a frame type of folder, so it worked out nicely on the card stock.

I tried to glue the frame to my spine, but I made the mistake of adhering the frame to the back of the book first, newbie mistake, LOL! I improvised and added some ribbon to the second scor for aesthetics,  LOL! I printed out a sentiment with our computer and let a space to adhere the gift card to it. I hope my Mother In Law enjoys the "book" as much as I enjoyed creating it!

If you haven't stopped by Nadia's blog yet, you have to go and see the little works of paper art that she has created. She also has more Secret Hollow Books on this post. I am planning on making another book for my Father In Law's Birthday. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!

Happy Crafting!

Colleen