Well, there is something HOT in the scrapbooking world and it’s SMASH books. Rumblings in forums are that the shipping and availability on them is taking some time, and the natives are restless. Lots of people over at UKS are making their own, and I wanted to as well, so yesterday I did.
Using a collection of a few things, all black and white and a bit of kraft, I cut my papers and using Staples divider cards made tabbed pages. The size of the book was sort of determined by a couple of things. First, cutting A4 paper quickly and easily. Second, the size of the divider cards. It’s more or less 5 x 8. I added envelopes too. Some of the papers are from a pad I got that is black (thin) paper with silver lines on it. Also some grid paper from a school notebook. I’m not much bothered about the weight of it, as it will be covered with all the bits and bobs I run across in mags and newspapers, flyers, brochures, etc. I collect A LOT of stuff, and usually have a pile of torn out scraps on my desk – books I want to read. movies to see, restaurant reviews, cool products, eye-catching colour combos, stuff I think I could make myself, all that. This seems the perfect place to collect it all and have a handy place to go when I need a reminder of something I saw. I am forever coming across scraps years later and saying Oh yeah – I wanted that….

Not bound yet, but hopefully today.
Part of what kept me so busy yesterday was the little folded cards on the left. I had the brilliant idea to use some printable business cards to make Smash book additions myself – I was thinking journaling spots, sort of, places for lists, etc. The cards come on a printable sheet where they are attached but not permanently stuck IYKWIM. Well, I spent a totally frustrating day looking everywhere for a PhotoShop template with all the placement exact for the card I was using. The site itself has only MS Word templates (hate Word) and the sheet that came with the cards had all the measurements on it. Surprise, surprise, when I entered them into the Photoshop file as guides and printed a sample, they did NOT line up at all. I have a printer that prints borderless A4 so they SHOULD have but no.
So I fudges the guide lines a little, leaving a 5mm border above and below the break between cards and created then then printed, popped them off the backing and for some I folded them (to cover the tabs on the divider cards) and others I left as additions. way cool. I’ll probably do more. They have a good weight and are already rounded on the corners.

Most of them have space for my own writing, which will be important on the black pages. I’ll probably use the cool closure I have been keeping track of for a few years, which you can find here.

It will be a great way to incorporate a black and a white pen. Maybe even a glue stick. SOMEWHERE I have a tiny pair of scissors that I can add in some way, perhaps a slide holder or small plastic baggie, for adding stuff on the go.
I am looking forward to having all my bits in one place. Funny, but as soon as I read about the Smash books the first thing I thought was it’s sort of a Pintrest board in paper form, without the sharing. It also makes me wonder if there is a circle journal idea in there somewhere – make your smash book, send it or drop it off with a mate, let them add THEIR cool thing they think you will love, and then give it back.
I still have another idea, equally as annoying as working out the business cards, I’m sure, that I want to play with. More on that llater….
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