Here it is. The finished project from Heidi Swapp's Freedom Unedited class. Man, what an awesome class. As with most of her classes, I highly recommend it. This one, particularly, if you're looking for a new technique to add to your crafting resume. I enjoyed this one immensely and was/am kinda sad its over. LOL Beautiful idea and super fun execution. Of course, you can do whatever theme you like, but this one is patriotic/fourth of July. Let's go through it.
To start, find a book that is no longer useful that you will use for the base of your book, the cover. I bought two old books at the thrift store for 50¢ each. In this case, I wanted to start with a white cover as we would be doing some stamping on the front, but you can use whatever color you like, depending on your chosen theme and how much stamping and/or die cutting, you plan to add to the cover. From there, we made several pages to go into the book with different variations and elements.
TIP: Find a book with a white cover if you plan to do any stamping. My book is approximately 8x51/2 inches and about 200 pages, which seemed just the right thickness for this project. Also, you might want to do a test stamp to be sure the ink dries immediately if you plan to stamp directly onto the cover, as I did.
We began by pulling out the entire guts of the book and keeping just the cover for the base of ours.
Seriously, can you stand how fun this is?? The theme ideas are limitless, but this red, white and blue is great if you have lots of July 4th bbqs or a summer family reunion event photos.
We even stamped the spine....
...and the back!
The inner pages add even more fun with the variations of interactive pages and elements. I can't wait to add pictures. We have a clear page, pockets, inserts and tabs, as well as a couple of plain pages.
Some of the cute tabs.
The inside cover in this navy with white stars paper; introduction page with a window and cool 'freedom' badge visible.
The visible badge is on the clear plastic page, with another badge on the back.
Here we have lots of room for pictures and/or journaling, as well as a little pocket for tucking in memorabilia, tickets, or whatever under the wide stripe paper.
Lots of tabs, faux postage, and 3D elements on these pages, plus plenty of room for photos.
So many elements - washi tape, plastic paper, tags, die cuts and faux postage stamps. And how do you not love Lady Liberty!? Cutest stamp and die from Heidi's Fourth of July set.
The backs of these pieces on the next page. I love these.
On this page spread we have a large flap that folds out for even more photos, journaling or whatever you want to add.
Here's a close up of the embellishing and stamping I did on that large blank piece.
This is the inside back cover. I'm still deciding if I want to add embellishing, stamping or anything to this spread. I really like the look of the diagonal navy stripes so I think I'll just look at it for awhile before deciding. LOL
I couldn't be happier with the result. This method of book binding is so easy and makes and awesome finished project. There will be more of these in my crafty future, most definitely. Be sure to check out Heidi's class (linked above). You don't have to use Heidi Swapp products, but taking the class if you haven't done this sort of book before will be a nice addition to your techniques.
As always, I'm happy to answer any questions about my project. (You can find the recommended product list we used in the class link above.) Feel free to comment or email me, and remember to leave your email address so I can respond.
