Graphic 45 Children's Book

Hi there! First of all, I just wanted to thank you dear crafty friends and readers for all the super sweet and highly encouraging comments lately! I appreciate you all so much, including my new blog followers, thank you for keeping tabs on Paperiah! I've had a blast making new friends all around the world and the U.S. ... it's amazing how our passion for papercrafting/scrapbooking/stamping/etc. has brought us all together. :)

So I want to share a project that I finally finished: a Graphic 45 children's book, featuring G45's beautiful and colorful Tropical Travelogue paperline! Who is hiding on my little island? (As told by the little yellow fish) is all about pretty hiding places, bright colors, and exotic animals.

This is just a 4-page mini book that, from the outside, appears to be 100 pages thick!

I had the idea for this mini when I was shopping for some birthday presents earlier this month. I was at Target and just admiring all the children's books and how imaginative some of them were. Then the idea struck me to make my own version of a children's book! I thought about all the paper collections I have on hand and I immediately thought of Tropical Travelogue. There's something exciting about a tropical island and all the interesting little creatures that love to hide on them!

My book is essentially being told by a little yellow fish, who has a sudden hunch that he's not alone on his little island. While we (the reader) flip open veils of flowers and tiki hut roofs, he proceeds to tell us about all the different animals that he finds.

For my cover, I used a Petaloo flower that I applied Aqua Stickles to. I created my paper flower using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die and Tropical Travelogue paper. I used my Tim keyhole die to create a window for a parrot to peek through! The first page introduces us to the little yellow fish.

On the second page, we see a parrot perched in a tropical setting. I used pop dots to add dimension to the colorful flora and fauna.

When you flip the page, a veil of beautiful flowers appears. 

The fourth page takes us to one of the deepest, most mysterious parts of the island. If it weren't for the sparkly red Stickles on the two lizzards, they would blend in quite well! 

Who could be hiding behind those flowers? 

None other than a trio of pink flamingos! I created this door of flowers using Graphic 45 Metal Hinge Staples. These things are awesome! Since my mini book was made from thick chipboard, I wasn't able to close the "door" all the way, hence the slightly funky angle.

On the next page, we're on a sandy beach next to a tiki hut. 

I fringe cut three pieces of Tropical Travelogue paper to create the tiki hut. Just like the veil of flowers, I attached the tiki hut roof using Graphic 45 Metal Hinges.

The very last hiding spot is underwater! We see two beautiful fish swimming through some vines and white Petaloo flowers. I applied Yellow Stickles to my fish, then applied some Glossy Accents on top to make them appear wet and shiny. Instead of blowing bubbles, these enchanted fish blow little green diamonds! Talk about island jewels ...

The anemone came from some postage stamp images. As for the coral in the background, I simply cut up some paper into funky shapes, then placed behind my vines.

Things look normal ... until you lift the tiki roof, where two tropical birds are hiding! (Now, I wasn't sure if these were toucans, so I left my description of them generic, just in case.)

While this project took a while complete (lots and lots of fussy cutting), I would love to make more of these children's books! They really push you to use your imagination. But in real life, am I seriously going to hand this uber-delicate mini book to a 2-year old? Probably not, but it's fun to imagine. :)

Supplies:

Graphic 45 - Tropical Travelogue paper
Graphic 45 - Metal Hinge & Alphabet Stickers Staples
Tim Holtz - Movers & Shapers Keyhole die
Tim Holtz - Tattered Florals die
Vintage Photo Distress Stain
Petaloo flowers
Stickles
Glossy Accents
Want2Scrap bling
Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist