Right Before Your Eyes

Why I could do a MasterCard commercial...
1 Composition book: $1
Decorative Paper and Adhesive to cover the Composition book: $1
Passing the book around the table, letting your friends add embellishments: Priceless!!
I managed to photograph all the completed books but one. Sharon, send me a photo of yours please.
When I suggested a round robin for this month's stamp club project, I envisioned something entirely different from what actually transpired. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men...
Everyone was to cover a composition book with the paper of their choosing. (Lyn used a very dramatic wallpaper. Kudos to her.) Then each member was to bring embellishments, ephemera, etc to add to all the books as they worked their way around the table. But all the great minds worked except mine because without exception, I think everyone had prepared their embellishment ahead of time and simply needed to adhere them to the books. Because I wanted to add items that would coordinate with the colors on each book, I held up the the creative process a bit. The good news is that everyone just chattered away if they were waiting on me, so I don't think anyone minded.

I think the above photo is Donna's finished book. I say that because someone (maybe Laurie?) had decorated grungeboard and/or chipboard letters with our initials to adhere to each book. In this photo the initial is partially obscured, but I'm fairly sure that's a "D" in the top right corner. And would you look at all the buttons. And look at the grouping of tags on the upper left; I think Donna added those to each book.
My addition to each one was a metal clasp to which I tied round, square, & rectangular luggage tags in white & in colors to coordinate with each cover. I also added some of the new Tim Holtz metal Philosophy Tags and Muse Tokens by tying them onto the clasp to dangle. Sorting through all the colored tags took a bit of time, as did searching for just the right word and initial for each person. Sorry about that ladies, but I hope the effort was worth it for you. Those clips and tags, along with the tokens were my contribution although I'd planned to add more. Please notice that 2 of these books were pale in color. When each of them came by me I simply couldn't resist adding some paper embellishments. The top book was for Laurie and in the top right corner I added a double pocket with a tag in each, along with my clip & tags. And on Lori's book on the right, I added a folder with a D on it along with the definition of Dream, in addition to my clip & tags. But the book on the left, which I think belongs to Michele, had such vivid colors and pattern on her paper they didn't need anything extra from me. Luckily I had luggage tags in red & green to match.
This photo shows my book on the right and Alicia's on the left. You'll see buttons, punches, tags, stamped images, etc. all mixed together to create fabulous covers. Do you see the stripes on the black binding on my book? Joyce had brought adhesive strips that matched beautifully with my bold graphic designed papers. Yeah!!
And here on the left is Lyn's book that began with wallpaper. Can you see where buttons and stickers were applied to follow the pattern on the paper? Simply ingenius! Joyce's book looks very feminine to me, and of course that matches her personality so well.
This was a very easy, inexpensive project that anyone could do. If you own a store it would be a great class or make & take project to help promote items in your store. If you're a member of a stamp club, why not suggest this type project for your group? And if you're not in a club and don't have a local store to propose this to, but love the idea, why not buy a stack of these inexpensive composition books and decorate them for your family and friends? The holidays are just around the corner... If you're a stamper, stamp images ahead of time as Sharon did with the image of the woman. Look back at these books and you'll see some have bows at her neck, one has a punched starburst tying her to the pattern of the paper, and Sharon's had a heart-shaped jewel adhered to look like an earring. I see that someone added buttons and stickers to some of my vellum tags for added dimension.
Jump in and see where you imagination takes you.