Little Book Swap

Michelle Geller's recent Little Book Swap was a first for me.  I've been in awe of Michelle and others who created pages for journal swaps at Silver Bella 2010.  Swaps were assigned by a drawing and I didn't get into either of those journal swaps, which was probably a good thing.  I think I would have been too intimidated based on the beautiful pages I saw posted on various blogs prior to the event.  Michelle was kind enough to share her completed journal with several of us on the way to the airport in Omaha, and I could hardly believe how unique and amazing it was.  Just gorgeous!

When I saw that Michelle was hosting this swap I thought it might be just the thing to start with.  She was so encouraging and complimentary that any feelings of incompetence I had were dissolved. (Thanks, Michelle!)

Creating the little book involved making one original eight-page book, laid out on an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper, which was then copied at half size.  The copies - 26 in all - were cut, folded, and decorated with a few embellishments.  I chose a mermaid theme and had everything I needed to make the pages on hand.  It was so much fun to use various papers and images, trim and other embellishments.  Here's my book in its original format with a half-size copy to the right.

Of course I've misplaced the completed book that I kept for myself, but you can see it and the 26 other books on Michelle's blog here. 

I was so excited to receive my bundle of books.  They came in a sweet little package and each one is so wonderful. I had planned to look at them gradually over several days, but after a few hours I just had to pull them all out and at least take a peek.  I'm still oohing and ahhing over them on a regular basis!

UPDATE:  Now that I have a new camera, I'm posting photos of my little book pages.