Hello from chilly Michigan, Daisies! The winter weather isn’t far off now that it’s November, but that sometimes means that I get more time to cozy up in my scrap space. So it’s not the worst thing that could be happening! I am sure most of you have gotten your November Weathervane kit and/or add-ons and have maybe even gotten the chance to open them up and start scrapping them too. It is a wonderfully, bright and versatile kit. I always love spreading out everything to see where my ideas take me. This month I just knew I would make a mini book for sure!

The Day in the Life cards were the perfect starting point for me. But I could have easily made this same mini book by simply cutting patterned papers down to the card size. There are so many wonderful papers and cards to choose from, so maybe you will be inspired to make a simple book all your own too.

I chose to challenge myself to keep the embellishing to a minimum on this, yet still make a book that is cute to look at and tells a story in a charming way. I had several small photos printed out (I make collages at www.picmonkey.com and then order prints) of our puppy, Hazel that still needed to be put in a book or on a page. So that was the jumpstart for this book.

One of the tricks to making a mini book is to have a few elements that tie it together. In this case, I rounded all the corners of the cards and pictures and kept everything the same size- even though a few photos have thin borders peeking through, it works. Color scheme can also be a unifying element, and then this book kept most of the photos on one side of the page, and the details, stickers, and design on the opposite side.

I didn’t even worry about how to bind the book. Again, because I was challenging myself to keep it simple I just used one of the CD “pretty things inside” stickers and made a basic cover. The pages stayed tucked in fairly well because of the same size/shape of them. And to finish it, I added a little binder clip and then the whole book gets tucked into a glassine envelope. For one more charming touch!

I hope my simple process and technique is one that makes you want to try making a book if you’ve never done so. And if you have made a book I hope maybe this makes you want to dig into your scraps and create another one! Happy scrapping and stay warm, friends!