My Pink Stamper Design Team Day ~ April 2012

This month, our theme is Teacher's Gifts.  We could use any My Pink Stamper set that we wanted to and create any type of project.  I decided on a hollowed out book for my creation:

Material Used:

• Cricut cartridges Going Places and Fabulous Finds
• My Pink Stamper School Days stamp set
• Hardcover book
• Picture frame
• Stampin' Up! Cardstock in Night of Navy and Not Quite Navy
• DCWV The Travel Stack
• Stampin' Up! Pewter hodgepodge hardware
• Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy classic ink
• My Mind's Eye title cards
• Compass embellishment from my stash
• Stampin' Up! Night of Navy 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon

Start with a nice thick hardcover book.  Ensure it's not a classic!  ;)

Create a mixture of white school glue and water.  The ratio I used was  about 60/40, with the larger portion being the glue.  You won't use too much, so don't mix a lot.

Hollow out the book.  This is the tutorial I used:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Hollow-Book

I decided to add a picture frame to the front to make the gift even more useful.

And this is the completed project.  The globe was cut from the Cricut cartridge Going Places and the bookplate from Fabulous Finds.

The book cover itself was my color/them inspiration.  I thought it already had a nice masculine base, so I chose not to cover it up.

I also chose to just wrap the book in matching ribbon rather then cover the spine with paper.

The sentiment "World's Best Teacher!" was perfect for my theme!

And here it is opened.  You could choose to fill it up with things like paper clips, erasers, checking pens, etc.  Or, even add a gift card to the inside.

The decorative possibilities are endless.  Covering a book in primary colors and perhaps cutting a chalkboard out would be super cute for the elementary grade levels.  I also plan on covering a book with soft, vintage papers and creating a bunch of 3-D flowers to add to the front cover of a book I am planning to make my mom for Mother's Day.  Give it a try!

By the way, CustomCrops.com is having an AWESOME sale on Robyn's stamps!  Some as low as $7.30!!!  Click HERE!

I am also entering this book into the latest Cricut Circle Monthly Challenge since the hollowed out book would look perfect as the centerpeice on a coffee table on top of a stack of coffe table books! 

The Challenge: Create a centerpiece using your Cricut machines.