The Hen Bindery -buy my books and portfolios

My client wanted a special gift for a friend and work colleague Hollie, who was leaving to go travelling for 6 months - mixed paper journal/sketchbook. My client said that Hollie like feminine colours, but not too 'girly girl', so I used soft and strong colours in my hand marbled paper.

She was unsure what kind of paper to choose for the inside of the book, but she knew her friend enjoyed art. So I suggested having smooth paper in the first third for making notes and pen sketching, cartridge paper in the middle third for pencil sketching and the final third for watercolour painting.

I chose ribbon in colour to compliment the cover design to act as a marker, afterall this is like having three books in one. As the book will be a 'travel companion', I decided to add corner protectors as a finishing touch. 

Happy Travelling Hollie!!

I had a message from a young man who had no idea what to get his aunt for her 60th, but he knew that it needed to be unique and extra special. He said that she like scrapbooking, and she liked flowery patterns but not in traditional botanical or realistic way. I showed him this tree-free Lokta paper with a very bold and fun looking floral design, and he thought his aunt would definitely like it.

I used black Stonehenge Fine Art for both beauty and strength, and I left the deckle edge on the right-hand edge.I put a 'spacer' close to the spine and between each sheet so once the album was full it wouldn't look bulky. A translucent sheet of glassine paper will help protect any photos or artwork from the page above.

As the Keepsake Album could be used to store lots of different kinds of memorabilia - photos, cards, labels, receipts, tags, prints, drawings, newspaper clippings, etc - I added a pocket on the inside front cover, with a removable piece of card which could be used as a contents page.