Sweet 16th ~

Morgan asked me this morning if I could make one of her good friends something special for her 16th birthday (which is today, love the teen planning LOL). Mikaela and Morgan have been friends since, gosh, they were 4 years old and on their first soccer team together.

I racked my brain, I've made her a few gifts - frame, bandaid tin, take out box, etc. and she keeps them on a special shelf in her room. What to make......hmmmm.....what started as a journal type chipboard booklet to jot down 16th year events, morphed into a birthday book with 16 stamped pages inside; Morgan is going to have all their friends secretly sign the book and give it to the birthday girl.

I was inspired by this picture that a friend of mine shared with me. I have no idea where it came from, so if you know, please give a shout out so I can give credit where credit is due!

While I love the look of the manila book above, I didn't really have anything heavy enough in that color to use for a booklet. So I decided to use chipboard. Initially, I was going to use patterned paper to cover the entire book, but decided that naked chipboard would be a different twist than what I would generally do - I like it. I edged it with turquoise craft ink and roughed up the edges with scissors. To embellish, I used some long retired SU! papers combined with an SU! chipboard flower, buttons, brads, ribbons and a CHF butterfly stamped, cut out, and adhered to the book. The inside pages are stamped with various birthday sentiments and images, leaving enough room for birthday greetings from the gang. The whole thing is bound together with the Bind it All. The finished booklet is 2.75" x 6". I can't wait to hear if Morgan is successful being sneaky, they share 5 of 7 classes!

V.~