SWL ~ handmade envie book #5

For this swap we'll be getting super creative! I am so happy to be here with round 5. From previous rounds, the books I've been receiving are absolutely beautiful. I encourage everyone to get involved because to receive and make something like this is easy yet so thoughtful.

For your 1 partner, you'll be making them a handmade envelope book. This is made from handmade envelopes, binded or stuck together to make pages, which looks like a book. In each envelope, you put a little surprise for your partner. Really, anything goes here as long as you follow size & layout guidelines.

The book will fit inside a standard size envelope. Creativity is key here, there's no really "wrong" or "rights" and it's all about putting your own spin on things.

The theme of your book is senders choice of you can make it something your partner would love. It can have a different theme per envelope page inside, or one whole theme, or just random. You could even make it like a little story or a smashbook with envelopes instead of pages. You could make a scavenger hunt through the book. It really is up to you.

What to do?

Make individual handmade envelopes. Any size and decoration goes. Make a front and back cover paper book; from anything, a notecard in half, postcards, paper stock, envelopes, whatever! Stick, bind, string the envelopes inside. Please make sure your book is not tiny. I would say minimum postcard size 4x9.

MINIMUM 4 handmade envelopes in the book.

Each envelope should be a different colour/theme/made out of different papers. Craft paper, card stock, magazine pages, mail art, whatever you want to use. Note the envelopes don't have to all be the same size, they can get smaller and smaller, be in different shapes and sizes, open from the top, bottom, be "pockets", etc.

Make sure each envelope inside your paper book is stuck or binded inside and secure. They can't be loose and fall out. What you use to bind/secure them is up to you, book rings, sellotape, ribbon, twine, etc.

In each envelope, put a small surprise for your partner. A sticker, a letter, paper scraps, a postcard, atcs, embellishments, anything that can fit. Your partner will open each envelope throughout your book and find little surprises along the way.

How many "pages" aka envelopes in your book you include is up to you, but 4 is minimum. What you make them out of is senders choice; get creative.

Decorate the envelope book further with stamps, stickers, collage, drawings, paper goods, quotes, embellishments, anything you can think of.

Put it inside an envelope, include a note for your partner with the swap name etc, and send it! :)

Please put a lot of thought into it and create something you are proud of. Stick to the layout guidelines above & size. As long as there is a front and back cover made from any paper medium, and inside "pages" made out of envelopes, with small surprises inside for your partner, it is up to you what to do with it! :) i am loving what i am receiving and making for this swap, we really are getting more creative each time! :) no journals or notebooks allowed, it has to be all handmade.

There are tons of inspiration online, on pinterest, there's tutorials on youtube etc. Below are just a few and are not exactly what is expected of you; it is just ideas. The swap picture is one I have made before.

~ http://lulupu.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/all-about-mini-albums-tutorial-and.html - a mini album.

~ http://feeling-crafty.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/new-mini-book.html

~ http://www.pinterest.com/happyhippo56/mini-albums-envelopes/

~ http://feeling-crafty.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/christmas-planner-for-2010.html

just simply google for more, there's tons on the internet & pinterest!