Grandparents day gift sure to please..

A sure gift to make them smile


Step By Step Instructions:
1. Lay 2 or more paper bags together, alternating ends
2. Fold the bags in half and you have a "spine." I found it easiest to sew a single line up the fold line to help hold the book intact while I worked on other features.
3. Punch holes along the binding area of the book. Do not place eyelets here until you have put on your "binding" if you choose to do one.
4. At this point, you are ready to decorate!
Paper Binding - Create a binding with a strip of coordinating paper. You can then re-punch your holes for perfect placement, then add any of the binding ideas. Paper binding shown here with brass brads. Lacing Ribbon - Lace ribbon in a zig-zag fashion through the holes, coming back in the middle with a bow.
Ties - Use bits of ribbon, fabric or fiber tied in knots in each hole
There are a lot of hiding spots for journaling tags or extra pictures in your book. Each open end of the bag now can be used as a pocket to slide tags or pictures into. What once was the bottom flap of the bag now serves as a hidden journaling feature. Either use it as a lift the flap type of feature where you hide journaling under it, or open it, cut a slit along the fold line, and insert a tag (narrow tags work best here).
Above all, have fun decorating your new album to fit your theme. They make great brag books for grandparents or friends, special memory books for birthdays or anything you can dream up!
A special note about paper bag albums: Paper bags are not acid-free, meaning that over time, they will break down much faster than acid-free, lignin-free papers. They are also not as sturdy as a cardstock album. So please remember to only use duplicate pictures when making your albums. Precious, one-of-a-kind photos can be printed out, color copied at a quick copy shop or duplicated at your neighborhood photo lab.