Birds of Paradise

I have been in a tropical state of mind this past month, so it's not surprising that I created this minibook for my altered project. When I travel, I love to photograph nature (and birds are my particular favorite subject!). While in Hawaii last year, I had wonderful opportunity to get some great (and some not so great!) photos of the birdlife on the islands. So I made a small (6x6) reference guide of sorts to document not only the picture of the bird, but information about where and how we saw it as well as some interesting educational facts about the bird for my kids (and me) to remember.

To create the book, I first cut into equal quarters some of the small-print patterned paper and coordinating Bazzill cardstock. I used these 6x6 sheets as the pages of the book. I glued the patterned paper back to back, but used the cardstock as single sheets. I then cut remaining cardstock and patterned paper scraps (as well as a few full sheets) by 5 1/2" x 5". At the top of each pocket I used a circle punch to cut a half circle that would make it easier to pull the tag. To adhere, I used my Zipdry glue on three edges leaving the top open for the journaling tag. I did every page the same way. I printed all my photos 3 1/2"x 5" so they would be the highlight of the page (since I print at home, I trimmed a bit of the edge away so they were just a little under 5" wide. This allowed the bottom of the pocket to act as a mat for the photo).After getting the photos on, it was time to create my tags. I used cream 8 1/2"x 11" card stock and my computer for the journalling. I set my MS Word software up in a double column format set at 3" each for the text. I typed up all my information--the bird name in English and in Hawaiian if it had one, when and in what situation we encountered the bird and any facts that I had learned through my research that I wanted to remember. I formatted the text so that, when printed, it would fit nicely in the pockets with a lot of space on the top for the "pull". I inked the edges of each tag with my Quick Quotes Powder Puffs inks and used buttons, ribbon, or hand cut embellishments from the paper, to create the pull tab. And of course I decorated each page just a little bit. I put it all together with a clear acrylic cover, made three holes with my Cropodile, added rings and ribbon (these are the new beautiful Glimmer Ribbons from Creative Impressions that Scrapbooks-Plus has new in the store.)

Since I've just returned from another trip with tons of snorkeling and scuba pictures, I may have to create another album just like it for all my pictures of FISH!