These are all photos of the tag book I created for my daughter's Mother's Day gift. I made it from recycled toilet paper rolls. I flattened them first, covered them inside and out with pretty patterned papers, and then embellished them.

To begin embellishing, I used several pre-printed quotes on vellum from a pack I purchased some time ago. Each quote refers to the photo on the coordinating tag inside. I decorated each page differently, using pretty flowers, rhinestones, pearls, stick pins that I made myself with matching beads, buttons in various shapes and sizes, and lots of coordinating ribbons and rick rack trim. I also used my markers to highlight, draw stitches and dots, and otherwise decorate the pages.

The patterned papers I chose were from DCWV The Botanicals Stack. I chose a different print for each page and coordinated the tags to match. On the ones with pretty floral prints, I used my bottle of Glossy Accents in special areas I wanted to call attention, outlining rose petals and filling in rosebuds. I also used glitter to highlight other flowers. Last, but certainly not least, I added some embellishments I cut with my Cricut machine. (I LOVE my Cricut machine!) Once I was finished, I punched the pages with my Cinch (that machine is so awesome!), reinforcing the punched holes with eyelets. I then bound the pages using binder rings from 7 Gypsies.

The tags were cut with my beloved Cricut machine using my go-to cartridge, 'Tags, Bags, Boxes and More". I could NEVER do without my Cricut! :o) I chose the tag style with a slot, rather than a hole, and cut each tag base from thin, recycled cereal boxes for sturdiness. I then cut two additional tags from pretty patterned paper to sandwich over top. I chose not to embellish these tags much, because I wanted to leave them room enough in the sleeve to pull out and push back in with ease. Finally, I printed the photos in sepia tone with my photo program and attached each one to the tag using clear photo corners. The back of each tag was left blank so Mandy (my daughter) would have plenty of room on which to journal her memories.

This was a very special project for me. Our home is so far from our daughter's home and I happily relived my visit over and over as I worked. I miss them all very much and wish they lived closer!

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Merilee

Hi Everyone! I stopped posting for a long time, but I'm back and I hope to make this a special place to be!

I'm sharing some photos of a project I did for my daughter's Mother's Day gift. I love to recycle/upcycle regular household items and this project is a good example of just how to do it. This project will be in two parts. I saved the box from which I unpacked my new cell phone. It was made so sturdy and I just couldn't bear to throw it away. I used it to create a pretty matching keepsake box (part one) to hold the tag book (part two) I created for my daughter's gift. She just had a new baby and I was there to share in the event and help her once she came home. While there, I took photos of each one of my grandchildren with their newest baby sister, as well as Mommy and Daddy, and printed them out for this book.