Thursday 21 January 2010

Playing Cards – Valentine Scrapbook

Cover

This scrapbook is made from an extra large pack of playing cards,  I have seen them in shops like Poundshop, Home Bargains and BM Bargains but  you may have to hunt around for them and I have seen the price vary from £1 to £5.99. I have put a normal pack beside them so that you can gauge the size.

pack of cards (1)

To make the book I have used ten heart cards from the ace to the ten and set them out as below, going up in numerical order, wit  the numbers on the left and the back is on the right. I have then covered what will be the front and back cover of the book with a thin red card before binding.

setting up the pages setting up the pages 2

I have used my Bind It All to bind the book but if you don’t have one a hole punch with book rings or ribbon would work just as well.

marking the centre lining it up on bia

To make sure that the books pages are centred perfectly I have used a joker card as a template, folding it in half and marking the fold with a pen line.  Then I have matched the line to the centre mark of the Bind It All and punched the template.

punched card

I have then put the template over several pages to be punched, again lining the mark to the centre of the Bind It All and hey presto, perfect matching holes every time. With all the pages punched the book is ready to bind.

bound pages

How to decorate the scrapbook is up to you.  I have put a piece of roughly torn graph paper on each of the patterned sides of the book and will write one "thing I love about you” on each page.

Page 1

I’m keeping it quite plain, just adding a few doodles here and there.

page 1 & 2

The teeny weeny playing cards on the cover came from a cracker and add up to ten to match the theme of the book.  Self adhesive Papermania alphabet stickers and punched black hearts finish the whole thing.

You don’t need a giant pack of cards to make this sort of book a regular pack would work equally well.

As there are 52 cards in a pack you can make at least 5 books from one, it just depends on your theme, naturally the hearts are brilliant for a "love" theme - but really, once made up, they can be used for anything - Spades for gardening, Clubs for golf/holidays, Diamonds for an engagament, "You're a Diamond" or  "Diamond Geezer"??????

10 comments:

Sparkly-Fabtastic said...

Oooh I love this - its a great idea!!! I would love to do this for my hubby for Valentines Day but I bet my local Poundland won't have them!! Here's hoping...

Heather said...

I'm disappointed with Poundland in Telford as their craft range has shrunk considerably :(
I'm constantly amazed at your creativity though!! Keep these ideas coming (not that I ever DO anything - just like to ooohh & aahh!!)

Jo Power said...

This book is brilliant and truely inspiring. Thank you for sharing I think alot of other halfs are going to be getting these instead of cards. Off now to poundland to see what I can find. Thank you. xx

Carmen said...

DD2 got a pack of those mini cards in her cracker this year - my eyes lit up I'm sure but I think she saw the look as she snaffled them away to her room and I haven't seen them since. *sigh*

Love the book, wish we had a poundland near us but all the shops in our town are closing (another 3 this week) I keep hoping a poundland will open up in one of them ;)

Paula said...

I love this! I have just purchased some of the Papermania stickers today. I now want to make something similar. Fab.

Becky said...

What a wonderful idea! Think I will have to scour the shops for a pack of these to make hubby one for Valentine's day. Found your blog through UKS by the way!

** Paula ** said...

Oh this is fab idea! I think i will give this a go myself! Thanks for sharing x

clare said...

another fab idea..using bargain goodies...im sure i seen these cards the other day in BM bargains...as we were all laughing at how big they were...lol wish i picked some up now..lol
i wounder if you go shopping on your own??? as i can imagine if you go with hubby or friend..you spend most of it picking up or checking things out..thinking what you can turn it in to..just like me..my hubby is very good and just switches off...lol

hope you have a lovely weekend..the sun is out here in S.Wales might beable to get some clothes on the washing line...lol
speak soon hugs clare xx

p.s no im not a PE teacher..lol why you ask???

IamSimonEvans said...

Just wanted to say a big thankyou for posting this idea. I have used it for my lovely girlfriend this Valentines day and I am sure she is going to love it.

The mini cards I bought ended up being too big to go on the front cover so I did away with them but it still looks great.

I am not creative at all but I thoroughly enjoyed putting it together and even managed a few doodles on some of the pages to enhance it a little.

Thanks again :)

Unknown said...

Absolutely love this idea!! X