Emerald Love sarabook™
By Sara
Naumann
 Looking
for a one-of-a kind gift for him? sarabook™ creator Sara Naumann
wanted to make something special for her husband’s birthday, so
she created this square emerald book, loaded with tags, quotes, messages
and handwritten notes.
Supplies
Basic sarabook™ techniques:
Covering the cover: Cut a 7”x7”
piece of paper. Glue a cover blank to the center of the back of the paper.
Miter the corners: fold each corner of the paper at a 45 degree angle
and glue in place. Fold in each side of the paper into the cover blank
and glue in place. Punch the holes. Repeat for the back cover.
Covering the page blanks: Apply glue to
the page blank, making sure the edges are well coated. Position the paper
aligning two straight edges evenly, then smooth the paper by pressing
it with your palm. Turn the blank page over and trim. Each sarabook™
cover blank and page blank comes with the holes drilled for you. After
the page is covered with paper, turn it over and punch 1/4” holes
in the paper through the existing holes in the page blank. Cover the other
side with paper, then turn it over and punch the holes again. Be sure
to punch the holes after you cover each side of the page blank, otherwise
it may be tough to find the holes.
Direct to paper inking: Place paper flat
on work surface (place a piece of scrap paper underneath to protect work
surface) and lightly skim the inkpad across the paper. You can also run
the inkpad along the edge of the paper.
Bind book with fibers: Place pages in sequence and cut
all the fibers into three equal lengths—keep them separate. Use
an opened paper clip wrapped around the fibers to thread each group through
the holes. Knot the fibers together, leaving them loose enough to hold
the book together while still allowing it top open and close easily. Tie
the gold key to one of the fibers.
Inside front cover: Use one of the blank book pages
as a template to cut a piece of paper to line the inside front cover of
your book.
 Page
one: Pockets are a great way to personalize a handmade book.
Sara made a series of pockets throughout her book to hold notes to her
husband. Sara’s Tip: I like to attach my pockets with foam tape,
especially if the pocket will hold thicker items like folded notes. When
I do this, I cover the reverse side of the page blank with paper before
attaching the pocket—since the foam tape makes the page lumpy, it
can be harder to trim the paper otherwise.
Pages two and three: Crumpling and inking are great
for achieving a distressed look. Sara’s Tip: Before matting a crumpled
paper, I make sure to smooth it out as much as possible—a bone folder
is great for this, or you can smooth out the paper the best you can with
your hands, then place it under a stack of books.
 Pages
four and five: To add dimension to simple layouts, attach quotes
or embellishments with foam tape. Here Sara used foam tape to attach each
portion of the quote to a tag.
Pages six and seven: Altering slide mounts with direct-to-paper
inking emphasizes the tone-on-tone effect of the book.
Pages eight and nine: Sara cut a page blank in half
to create an insert between pages eight and nine. One side of the insert
has the beginning of a quote, the other side has the end.
Pages ten and eleven: A gold embossed paper fragment
(“put on your wings”) emphasizes the message of the quote
and adds a touch of shine to the page.
Pages twelve and thirteen: A square of paper cut in
half diagonally gives Sara a unique pocket.
Pages fourteen and fifteen: The other half of the paper
creates a pocket for the inside back cover. Sara’s Tip: I always
sign the books I make as gifts—this signature is created with alphabet
rubber stamps.
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