Pocket Book

I'm nearly finished with Debbie C's joy journal....but a week or so ago I shifted gears and worked on another handmade book...this one for Max's 3rd birthday. For those of you who don't know...Max is the son of my goddaughter Emily. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin and will be a big brother soon. The new baby is due to arrive in April.

I made Max a Pocket Book. Happy Birthday Max! 3 is my favorite number!

I repurposed a very loved copy of We Hide, You Seek that was a cast off from the Emerson Elementary School Library where his grandmother (my lifelong friend Becky) worked. It was likely headed for the landfill.

Many of the pages were held together with scotch tape but the colorful drawings captured my heart.

I collaged the cover with small cutouts from the book saving my favorite larger images for the inside.

I glued them down with a glue stick...then topcoated it with medium.

I have been adding fused fabric to the insides of my journals to create strength for stitching. For Max's I did a little patchwork of colors to coordinate with the cover.

Then I stitched in concentric squares...

just like I did for Diane's colorful joy journal cover.

This animal page was one of my favorites. I ironed fusible webbing to the back of the page...then cut it out and fused it onto the inside of the front cover. 

The book has pockets on every page...and in the pockets are two sided tags with images from a sticker book I've had for a long time. The stickiness of stickers was kind of weak...so they are all reinforced with glue.

 Max can find all the hidden images in the pockets.

There were lots of butterflies in the sticker book....so many of the tags have a butterfly on one of the sides. You know how I feel about butterflies these days.

I used another recycled book with nice sturdy paper to make the base pages. 

I reinforced the pages with images from the We Hide, You Seek book folding the papers around the base paper to create extra strength on the edges and along the centerfold.

Then I folded up the pocket which also has a double fold to create strength. 

In addition to the fold up pockets......others are also glued in. 

Many of the pages also have side pockets that are fold over pieces.

I saved the card catalog pocket from the original book...

and tucked it in the pocket on the back cover....with a little note to Max.

Here's Max painting a big 3 for his big boy birthday party! I wish I lived closer so I could have gone to the party this past weekend.

I don't think this 3 is going to fit in in the Pocket Book...but it's going to look great on the wall

Three years ago! My how time flies!