Happy Friday!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  We had Christmas Eve here with my family and lots of food.  Once again we over did it with the food . . . but oh my was it good!

As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, I had made some gifts for my sister, aunt and mother that I couldn’t show until after they had received them.  Today, I get to show you!  You have to bear with me though, there’s a lot of info to share.

These are the notebooks that I made for them.  Each one has their initial that was covered in Ranger Glossy Accents and then sprinkled with glitter.  Once the first layer had dried, the initials were covered again with another layer of Glossy Accents.  I love how it made the initial thicker and more durable when the books are handled.

I used heavy weight chipboard coasters for the covers, painting them black with acrylic paint.  The inside pages were made from loose leaf paper that was cut to size, and then all was bound with 5/8″ O wire binding and the Bind-it-All.  For the front panels, I used Spellbinders Labels One Nestabilities and layered them all, with the monogram raised with foam tape.  The background was made by stamping my image on white paper, clear embossing and then inking in Black Soot Distress Ink.  After I had the black color I wanted, I ironed off the embossing using the Faux Bleach Technique (you’ll see more on this later).

• Stamps: Tim Holtz Nature’s Discovery by Stampers Anonymous from Rubbernecker Stamp Company
• Ink: Ranger Black Soot and Emboss Distress
• Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; SU Basic Black; Heavy Weight Chipboard Coasters, Loose Leaf Notebook Paper
• Accessories: Spellbinders Labels One Nestabilities; Clover Craft Iron; Bind-it-All, 5/8″ O Wires; Ranger Adirondack Pitch Black Acrylic Paint Dabber, Glossy Accents, Clear EP, Ink Blending Tool; Venture Foam Tape; Black Glitter; Ribbon

I needed something to wrap the notebooks in, so I decided to make my own boxes using Jen del Muro‘s mini pizza box template.  Of course, I needed to make the box larger so I added 1″ to the dimensions.

I made a band from the coordinating cardstock and put velcro on the bottom to make removal easy.  I made the snowflakes from the same paper, die cutting them with Spellbinders Snowflake Wonder Shapeabilities.  I covered each snowflake with Ranger Glossy Accents and sprinkled each with glitter.  The layers were put on a pearl brad, and to hold the wire embellishments in place, I wrapped the wire around the brad before I flattened the prongs out.    The snowflakes and sentiments were put on labels made with Spellbinders Petite Oval Nestabilities.

• Stamps: Holiday Script from Lizzie Anne Designs
• Paper: BasicGrey Fruitcake; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
• Ink: Ranger Antique Linen Distress and Juniper Pigment
• Accessories: Spellbinders Snowflake Wonder Shapeabilities and Petite Oval Nestabilities; Ranger Clear EP, Glossy Accents; Venture Foam Tape; Diamond Dust and Sea Sprite Vintage Glass Glitter; Sulyn Crystal Glitter; Pearl Brad; Making Memories Wire; Velcro

Oh and by the way, here’s a closeup of the monogram,

and of the gift box.

I hope you all have a great day!