inspiration monday

 this jumbled up paper mess is my "inspiration file".  and that rubber band holds it all together.  nice, huh?  it started out as a moleskine cahier,  but as soon as i filled it with favorite quotes, the notebook began to morph into a holder for little bits of paper and other ephemera.
 anyway, i was looking through it the other day…..

 and i came across an article i tore out of a family circle magazine…..back in 2005!  i was so inspired by it at the time, that i had placed a sticky note on it with an idea for a little accordion booklet.  fast forward eight years :)) , and i decided it was about time to put my idea into action!

first, i cut out ten "pages" using this pocket gift tag die and my cuttlebug, along with some scrapbook papers by heidi grace.  then i folded up the bottom flap and glued the side tabs to create a pocket at the bottom of the tag.

next, i turned the "pages" over and joined them together with a piece of washi tape.

(i taped an acrylic block to my cutting mat to help keep the bottom edges lined up.) 

once all the pages were taped together, i had an instant accordion booklet!

to create my little "rejoice tags" for the pockets, i cut out rectangles from a piece of striped vellum and wrote things i'm thankful for onto each one using a pitt artist pen.

once i had lettered ten tags, i stapled a piece of ribbon to the top edge, and glued a number onto each one.  

the only thing left to do was make a front and back cover!  i used the same die-cut, but this time i trimmed off the pocket at the bottom.  then i created a title on coordinating paper.

next, i placed a sheer ribbon on top of the cover, and used foam dots to attach the title over the ribbon. after adding some black and white baker's twine to the top of the pages, i attached the front and back covers to the rest of the booklet using the same washi tape method.

lastly, i tucked my little tags into each pocket, and eight years later, my project is finally complete!!  woo hoo!  definitely a reason to rejoice!!  :))


{supplies:  heidi grace scrapbook paper, cuttlebug, memory box pocket gift tag die, ribbon, vellum paper, tombow mono multi glue,  pitt pens, 6 B graphite pencil, washi tape, baker's twine, foam tape}