Dream Valley - Anything But a Card

It's time for a new Dream Valley challenge and this fortnight we are challenging you to make 'Anything But a Card'. Who's up for that? We are delighted to be sponsored by the wonderful team from The Paper Shelter and several of our team have used their gorgeous images.

I've been busy making the cover for a photo book, which I put together for one of the mama's who recently left our Playcentre when her daughter graduated and was ready to go to school. Playcentre is unique to New Zealand, though Japan are modelling a new early learning centre on ours. It is essentially an amazing, parent lead learning environment which is fully funded by the New Zealand government. So I'm there three days a week with my son Zac as a parent educator. We receive training and work through levels of education as we are there. It's quite a bit of work, but amazing and so edifying to be there for my small dude this way. The key philosophy there is 'parents as first teachers' and I LOVE it. So this book carried many treasured memories of this wee poppets time with us at Playcentre and for her mummy too, who had been an amazing educator and an inspiration to so many of us.

The photo book arrived with two really heavy cardboard sheets to protect it in transit, so I figured it was a good idea to have some sort of protection for such a treasured keepsake of this wee poppets years at Playcentre. I started with those two strong sheets of cardboard, found some pretty paper to be the feature page, a sentiment and some lovely hot pink backing paper to form the base and got busy.

I used a lovely adhesive binding fabric to cover and form the corners of the book cover and also wrapped it around the raw end of the coverslip at the opening, so that it didn't have an unfinished edge. You can see the spine of the book in the photo below as it sits nicely in it's little sheath.

The pretty patterned paper I used is from a rather old paper block from Joanna Sheen called Haberdashery Backing Papers. It's no longer available through Joanna Sheen, but I found it at Bluebell's online. It's a fabulous set, with a mix of really girly florals and denims and plaids for the boys. I thought this pretty floral was perfect for this photobook cover.

The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley, which I stamped in green ink to work in with the colour scheme on a little paper tag that I had in my stash. The tag isn't a perfect match, but in similar colours, so I think I got away with it.

Thanks for popping in to look at my wee make tonight. I hope this inspires you to make your own covering for a treasured keepsake, it's a great gift idea and really, so simple to make. If you haven't popped in to the Paper Shelter recently, go check them out now, they have a fabulous Halloween Sale going on! 30% off Halloween images.

Do pop into the Dream Valley Challenge blog too and check out what my talented teamies have been up to. They've made some stunning creations and they're sure to inspire. Come and join the fun this fortnight, with our 'Anything But A Card' challenge. See you all again soon. Have an awesome week! Hugs, Wends x

Challenge Entries:
Not Just Cards Challenges: #03 ~ Anything Goes
Dragon's Lair Designs Challenge: Anything Goes
Charisma Cardz Challenges: Anything But A Card
Crafting From The Heart Challenges: #39 ~ Anything Goes
Creative Corner Challenges: Anything But A Card - Team Tina
Crafting By Designs Challenge: October Challenge ~ Anything Goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge: October ~ Anything Goes

Anything But A Card Challenge: Seasons of Change ~ Spring or Autumn (Spring Flowers)