Faux Leather Blank Book & Slipcase

Saturday, February 14, 2015

I'm back with another blank book, and this one has its own slipcase.
I needed a masculine thank you gift, and while I'm not sure how many men use blank journals, I thought it might work if it was made of leather. Unfortunately, I don't have any leather, nor do I even know how to cover a book with it, but I did have some paper with a nice leather design on it. Visually, it really does look like leather! 


pic name pic name
This is what the book looks like inside the sleeve. The sleeve measures about 5" x 6", so it's fairly small. The book slides out easily if you turn the slipcase upside down, but I added a ribbon pull to make it easier. When you pull the ribbon, the book comes right out.
I also added a ribbon bookmark.
When you buy a book nowadays, the endbands along the top and bottom of the book are just pieces of twill tape with a border on one side that is glued to the ends of the book. On this book, I made my own endbands by sewing them onto the pages, over a strip of leather. This helps hold the book together, protects the spine if the book is on a shelf and gets pulled out by tugging on the top of the spine, and it looks good, too.
I lined the inside of the slipcase and the inside of the front and back covers of the book with a nice bargello patterned paper, then used turquoise colored paper for the pages. There is a piece of thin brown cardstock on the outside of each signature (folded group of pages).

On each of the brown pages, I stamped various designs and inspirational sayings in Rich Cocoa ink.

I hope it's "manly" enough, but if it isn't, perhaps the recipient's wife will enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Valentine's Day!

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

Thanks for visiting my blog!
To have Ink Up delivered to your inbox,
subscribe in the box at the top right of the page.

3 comments :

Leslie Miller said...

Unbelievable! Cheryl, this is amazing! If it was my husband's he'd probably put photos in it, but then it might be too fat to fit in the slip case. At the very least he would recognize and admire it for the work of art it is. I'm stunned!

Conniecrafter said...

Wow that is fantastic work and it really does look like leather, I am sure it will be much appreciated!

Cheryl Cain said...

Cheryl, this book is absolutely beautiful! You did such a nice job putting it together. I love it.