project: eco photo book

Yesterday I shared a photo book that I found, and like when I just had to make my own needle book, I find myself doing the same with this. Instead of trying to cut sheets of wood and deal with leather (and most likely hurt myself...I've been a klutz lately), I went with a simpler version that pulls supplies from the recycling bin!



Here's what you need:

Cereal boxes
Felt
String/twine/yarn/ribbon
Scissors
Craft glue
Hole punch
Pen/marker/pencil



Cut the cereal boxes to the size you want your book to be. Mine are about half a cereal box, so I got four pages per box, but you could easily alter the size for a jumbo scrapbook or something on the miniature side.

I cut mine on a paper cutter for super straight edges.



Punch two holes in one edge of each page. Be sure to mark them so that all of the holes line up. It's also a good idea to decide if you want the printed side to be right side up (even if it's on the back of a page), so that you punch them all going the same way.



Stack all of your pages and tie string through to bind them together. To make it easier to open and look through your photo book, tie the string loosely as shown.



Decorate the cover of your book however you like. I glued a small felt heart in the corner and wrote "Scraps!" in a style similar to my inspiration book. Your basic book is done, but now it's time to add photos or other fun things!



Grab a photo and place it on the page where you want it, marking the corners. Mine is a little close to the edge...be sure to give yours enough space.




Cut four strips of felt, each about 3/8 x 1-1/4 inches. It's okay to eyeball it.

Glue the ends of each felt strip, then place them on the page over the corners that you marked. It's important that the glue is only at the ends of the strips so that you can insert the corners of your photo under these strips.

Alternately, if you don't want to ever remove your photos, you can glue the strips and photos in place all at the same time.





After the glue has completely dried, slip your photos into these corners, and they'll be held securely in place. On the sides of the pages with printing, it can be visually overwhelming to have a photo. Instead, use these areas to insert an index card so you can add some captions or journaling!

What's fun about a book like this is that you can have these felt photo corners hold cards and photos of any size. You could even take inspiration from Project Life and attach their cards onto these pages instead of using plastic sleeves. For a big project it would take longer, but it's a nice way to put together a little photo memory book as a gift!

PS: I'm sure that I was much happier in that photo than my face lets on. I LOVED playing with animals with my Papa!