Splash of Color Blog: The story of Three Princesses!

Once upon a time there were three princesses named Riley, Lindsay and Madeline. These girls were blessed with intelligence, beauty, good health…*AND*…a crafty aunt! One day, the crafty aunt saw Bare Elements Reyna Castle Books in her local scrapbook store, and she knew immediately the perfect gift for princesses had been found!”

Hi, I am Lauren Bergold, the crafty aunt in question. When I found these adorable mini-books last fall, I may have actually done a happy little dance right in the store! Two of my nieces had just been to Disney world, and my brother had given me an entire disc full of breathtaking princess pictures. Probably the hardest part of the entire project was narrowing down to just eight 2.5x3“ photos, two 3.5" squares and a 3.5x5" cover photo for each girl. My youngest niece, Madeline, did not go on that vacation, but I had plenty of princess photos of her from various other occasions: Halloween, birthday parties, "Princesses on Ice" and so forth. From those I chose my favorites.

Supplies:

Bare Elements Reyna Castle Books
Art Warehouse Fresh Collection, as well as other manufacturers
Other: Stickers, photo corners, brads, sequins, Bling crowns, flowers and heart pins
Glitter glue, Fine line black marker, Rhinestones,
Tangerine and Quigley Wiggley fonts
Foam Tape
Colorbox ink

Instructions:

Make a template by tracing each panel of the blank book or take a photo copy of each panel for a reuseable template.
Use the template to cut out multiple panels of patterned paper cutting slightly smaller, so that each of the books eight panels will have pattern paper on it. ...keeping a white margin of the book visible on the edges. {Tip: Choose patterns with a little bit of white in them to incorporate the book's colors as an element}
Print photos and trim to size for each panel. Apply chalk ink to the edges if desired and adhere to book.
Create a text document with the princess's name and the occasion commemorated by the book. Print onto patterned paper and cut out using template from step one. Adhere to book.
Embellish your book with flowers, motifts cut from the patterned paper, stickers, rhinestones, brads, photo corners, glitter glue and anything else that befits yo8ur royal recipient!
Create flags by adhere a strip of patterned paper around the shaft of a decorate pin and trimming it into a pennant shape. Use a teeny tiny hand drill {or paper piercer} to make small holes in the top of the books. Using strong, wet, fast drying adhesive in the holes place the pennant pins and allow to dry completely.

Lauren Bergold lives in central New Jersey with a lovely husband and a whole lot of art supplies. She has always been crafty and has been known to knit, crochet, paint, do needlework and bead things. But mostly, she likes paper. {She likes paper very, very much!} For the last few years she's concentrated on making greeting cards, collages and small paper gifts for her nieces and others. Lauren firmly believes that most things in this world can be improved by the judicious application of tiny rhinestones. Be sure to read more about Lauren and her family on her blog, "All the GOOD blog names were taken"