The Project 2009 - The Book!

Today I finished the first pair of pages for my book about our Extension Building Project, last Spring.  I had already printed off the photos I wanted and collected together papers, bits & bobs etc; I spent an afternoon last week, planning the structure of the album and making page templates and drawings; I even stopped by the local scrapping shop to stock up on Bazzill Kraft cardstock, for the page bases;  but I hadn't been able to get started on the project itself. 

Until yesterday. I decided I had to get started, or I would never do this.  So I cut the two pages and found two sheets of patterned paper that I liked - then got stuck in! I finished the right-hand page of the pair last night, then came back to it today. 

After a fair bit of messing about, the pages are done.  Here is the result:

I'm quite proud of it - it looks good. There was a bit of messing around with stamps, to get the effects I wanted, lots of fussing with paper and ruler, a fair bit of growling and muttering, but I think it's worked out well in the end. 

The plan is to bind each page at the edge - see the gutter I have left on the outside edges?  The pages will meet in the middle and be fastened seperately, at their outside edges. They will open away from each other, in a double-bound book.  I haven't decided what binding to use yet, which is why it's just marked as a gutter and left plain.

You see that the pages are different sizes?  I plan to make the cover look like our house, in some way (not quite decided yet).  The extension is on the right hand side. It was to this that we added the new bedroom, over the single-storey kitchen that was already there (the photos above are of the back of the house). So, the right side is shorter and narrower, because the finished extension roof is lower than the main house and it's not as wide.

I hope to use these two pages as layout-templates for the rest. I won't use the same papers throughout - though the bases will all be Kraft cardstock - nor the same stamps or even the same arrangement of elements, but this will be the starting point for all the others, so that they flow and go together, to make a whole.

I do think I will have the "Day nn" box and the date/day of week box on each page, with the same letters and numbers.  I may also stamp that little house, but I'm not sure. I'm sure I'll use these stamps again throughout the book but maybe not on every page.

I also plan that the majority of the photos will be on the right (the "extension side" of the house) and the left side will be for journalling and extra photos, mementos etc. The jury is still out about whether to label each photo with a short caption.

I do intend that there will be a pair of pages right at the start, to give an introduction to the whole thing. Haven't decided exactly how just yet -that will probably be easier once I've nearly finished the Project pages.

So, as you see, it's still at the beginning stages and still a "work in progress", but at least I have started and I am pleased with these pages so far!