Brag Book

I love to make little mini scrap books for Grandma's!  They are typically called Brag books and can be made pretty simply with some cardstock and your imagination!  This tutorial is different from the  other Brag books I have found it adds an extra touch with fabric that I just LOVE!  So cute!  From Nalle's House:

Brag Book How-To:

Materials:

•  1 piece 5" x 30" heavy weight bristol board (found in the artist's paper section of the craft store) **mine is the vellum type that flakes a little when you fold it.  If you want a cleaner fold then go for the smooth bristol board.
• two - 5" square pieces of embroidery mounting board (it has one side that is sticky)
• two - 7" square pieces of fabric
• ten - 3" square photos (instagram photos work well or use photoshop, pic monkey, etc. to crop your photos into 3" squares).  *I used photoshop to make two squares on an 5" x 7" and had these printed.  If you don't want a border around your photos like I did then you can technically fit two 3" squares on a 4" x 6"print
• 23" length of ribbon
• coordinating thread (mine was yellow)
• scrapbook glue
• photo adhesive or double-sided tape

The brag book consists of two covers and an accordion folded photo board.  The finished size is 5" square.

How-To:

Cut out your materials:

Step 1:  Cut out your fabric, ribbon, bristol board, embroidery mounting board and photos to the sizes indicated in the material list above.

Make the covers:

Step 2:  Sew the midpoint of your ribbon to the middle of the fabric square for your back panel.  (You could glue the ribbon on if you don't have a sewing machine).

Step 3:  Remove the backing from your embroidery mounting board.
Step 4:  Mount the embroidery board sticky side onto the wrong side of your fabric square.  I used a ruler to measure an inch at the top and side to get my board centred on the fabric.  Then turn the fabric cover over and smooth out any wrinkles in the fabric.
Step 5:  Put 1" wide band of scrapbooking glue all around the edges of the backside of the embroidery board.  Pull the excess fabric toward the back and glue down making triangles at the corners.  (this is where Co-pilot woke up from his nap and in my haste to get the cover glued before he got too hungry, I forgot to take pictures. So sorry!).  Clip the excess fabric triangle from the corner and overlap the cut edges and glue down.  The idea is to get rid of some of the excess fabric at the corner.  Put the covers under some weight and let the glue dry completely.

To make the photo board:

Step 6:  Measure and mark your bristol board strip every 5" at the top and bottom.
Step 7:  Accordian fold your paper by lining up your markings and folding towards you.  Mark the front and back squares with an "x" to remind you that these will attach to your covers and will not have a photo on them.

Attaching the photos:

Step 8:  Use your photo adhesive or double-sided tape to attach your photos in the centre of each of the squares you folded.  There will be a photo on only one side of each of the ends and a photo on both sides of the rest of the four squares.  Hold your paper up to a window when attaching the photo on the opposite side so that you can line them up.

Step 9:  Use a sewing machine and zigzag around the edges of the photos.

Attach the photo board to your covers:

Step 10:  Use scrapbook glue to glue the marked top and bottom squares of you photo board to the front and back covers respectively.  You'll want to put some weight on it while it dries (e.g., a stack of books).

Once everything has dried, you can tie your bow and enjoy your super sweet brag book and know that you have just made the perfect Mother's day gift!