Try Something New Tuesday!

I seriously think I'm going to re-name Tuesday's to "Try Something that Beate Encouraged Me To Try Tuesday's!" What do you think? I swear, this wonderful woman makes the most amazing projects, and then creates the best tutorials so I can make them too! This time she inspired me to make one of the transparency books she debuted last week.

I loved this idea! It seemed simple enough and oh so cute! I figured this was something I could make relatively easy. And I must say, it was fairly easy, though it took me making it a few times to get the hang of it. I sort of felt like I had two left hands putting it together! Holding all the elements together was difficult at times.

The first one I made is a Mother's Day book for my Mom from the boys. I picked out my paper (MME, Tre Jolie line) and got busy. The first thing I did was cut two pieces of paper 4x8 and glued them together back to back. This is what Beate suggests, or, you can use one piece of 4x8 double sided paper instead. This is where I went wrong, in my opinion. I used two pieces of double sided 4x8 pieces of paper and glued them together, but that made the book too thick. Bad me. I got smart on the second book and just used one sheet of double sided paper!

As far as transparencies go, I use 3M's brand, and they are rough on one side and smooth on the other. I don't think it's the best stuff to use, IMO. I cut two pieces of this 4x8 as well. You need to score both paper and transparency at 4", and then fold.

At this point, I glued one picture on each of the 4 pages of the book (on the paper, not on the transparency). I did it this way so I would know where to stamp on the transparency when I got around to it. Unfortunately, I still managed to stamp a doodle over my oldest son's face even though I did glue the pics down first...whoops!

Next, I stamped my the transparency using Timber Brown Staz On. You can't see it very well, so I probably should have used black. When I used black Staz On my second transparency book though, it still didn't show up very well either. I just think it's the transparencies I used, NOT the Staz On! Live and learn.

After I was done with all the stamping, I went to work on the spine of the book. This is a piece of 2x4 paper, scored in half. I adhered it to the transparency with 3 eyelets in the front, and 3 in the back. I was lazy. I didn't feel like doing it 6 times for both front and back. A good tip is to remember to put some sticky tape inside the spine so it's held in place while you put your eyelets in. I made the spine scalloped like this using my slit punch.


Once you're done with that, it's time to put it all together! This is where I found it to get tricky. Beate uses a ribbon to hold hers all together, but I found mine wasn't holding together all that well with just the ribbon (it could have been because it was so thick). So, I tied some gold cording around the card FIRST (double), and then added the ribbon. For me, this was a better option.

Overall, I love how it turned out. There are some mistakes on it, but for heavens sakes, it's going to Grandma, she won't care how well it's made, she'll just love the fact that it was made especially for her. Don't you just love Grandmas? They love us regardless of how perfect our cards are! It's the thought that counts!

The second book I made is for my SIL. I made it for Mother's Day, but used pictures that I took at the National Botanic Gardens when I visited her a few weeks ago! I didn't gussy this one up that much, but I love the bright colors of it!

I hope you like my transparency books and feel inspired to make one for yourself today. Please visit Beate's blog, Fresh & Fun for her beautiful tutorial on how to make them. Give her some love while you're there and tell her how much you appreciate all her hard work! She does so much for all of us!