Completed Christmas Gifts (File Folder Books)

I had every intention of joining Dawn at Girl Unwinding for Mandala Monday, but after working my bottom off this weekend, trying to get at least something, ANYTHING to show for all this time I've put into these file folders, I thought you might prefer to see a couple of the completed gifts.  However, please stop by and visit Dawn and her fabulous mandalas she makes each week.

We'll begin with an overview of the two books I have finished.  I noticed when I removed the photos from my camera that the "I" in the top "Memories" is missing.  I will need to go back and glue these stickers.  That's the problem with stickers.  They simply DON'T STICK.

I must have torn the second "E" when I added it to the page.  I was running out of "Es" so I cut the outline from the backer page and used it.  I thought it would be a way to add another letter, especially since most sticker manufacturers never supply enough vowels.

This book is for my friend Kathy and she and her husband love their cat.  I made a pocket that holds a tag on which she can add a photo of her beloved Snowball.

Many of you have seen the next page I showed on Day 22.  If not, feel free to see how I made it.

Here is the inside of the page from Day 22.

One thing about this book.  There are plenty of places to add tags, photos, or memorabilia from 2013.

Happy Holidays Information is on this side.  There's also room for her to add her own photos.

Kathy can add any prompt or wording she wants because all I've added to this tag is a Christmas stamp and a sewn blank prompt .

I dyed some lace when I was adding my alcohol inks to some of the file folder backgrounds.

I sewed this image of a dove to the page, then found a reject from a 12 Days of Christmas swap I participated in a couple of years ago.  I didn't use it because the stamping was off, but it will be fine for this scrappy journal where nothing is perfect.  In fact, that's the whole concept behind any scrappy journal I make, even these using file folders.

Kathy loves vintage, so I added a bit of it, along with a heart and strip of left over file folder to this side of the page.

What was I saying about imperfection?  It's pretty obvious, this stamp wasn't cooperating.

There's ample room on the front and back of this paper to add memories from 2013.

Another thing I prefer is to leave my threads long, but I know some people don't like that, so I made a conscious effort to cut most of them off.  Seems I've missed a few.

Again, here is part of the folio I showed on Day 22.  I added a few cat paw prints to the black and white bar code.

In addition to vintage, Kathy LOVES kitsch.  I simply couldn't help myself when I found this page of stickers that are copyrighted 1979.  Not quite from the era of kitsch, which I understand is the 1940s, but close enough.

An image from my collographic plate I made over Days 16, 17, and 18 was combined with my "Handmade by Bleubeard and E" stamp to complete the final page.

As I mentioned above, the I is missing, and I'm glad I saw it before I wrapped this gift for one of my dearest friends who I only get to see at Christmas.  She, her husband, and two young children always visit her parents and they always make time to see me, too.

I geared this journal toward her children and family.

I included a place to store the names of people who sent cards, or who Trish sent cards to.

One of my colagraphs was sewn to a file folder with a scraped paint background.

Next came a file folder with a shimmering mist background and an envelope sewn to it.  I added several stickers.  I'll place the instruction booklet inside I intend to make which will explain about this journal and how to use it.  After reading the instructions, they can add tags or memorabilia to the envelope.

As I said before, this book is all about the children.

Unlike the page I created for Kathy, I sewed this sheet down, so it can't be written on the back.  I actually created this one first, and learned my lesson quickly to leave the page so it could be written on both sides.

A piece of scrapbook paper and a few family oriented words were sewn onto this smaller folder page.

I envisioned Trish adding her children's school photos to the frames when I created this page.  What I didn't envision was the length of thread I forgot to remove.

On this page, I sewed a postcard that I thought the children would enjoy.  Black and white images continue on the other side.

A magazine image was paired with colored copier paper

that hid a "secret" message.

After I made the tag, but before I sewed it to the page, I realized I had boxed myself into a corner because I should have created this side first.  The only way out of this will be for me to use a rubber stamp, or sticker that will cover the blank space left on this page.

Mats were used to signify that each person got their own space.  Trish can either add everyone's photos, or small works of art that depicts each person.

I sewed a religious icon to a leftover index card I painted this summer during ICAD, then added it to this page.

Another image found in a magazine became the focal image along with a sticker shield.

Finally, the sticker that I planned to use, knowing how conservation conscious both parents are, got sewn over a stamped background, including my "Handmade by" stamp.

After I removed these images from my computer, I went back and added a new missing "I" in "Memories."

Thanks for sticking with me through this lengthy post.  I appreciate it, because so many of you have cheered me on through this process.  I have three more of these in various stages of completion, but they will have to wait until after AEDM has run its course.

This is Day 25 of
AEDM, and after sewing most of this day, I almost didn't get these photos of two completed file folder gift journals uploaded on time.