Trader Joe's Laurel Anything Book

Today I finished an Anything Book that has been sitting on my workbench for several weeks. It's a commision and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

This is Laurel, an Anything Book made from a Trader Joe's shopping bag.

This is the first time I haven't used a recycled project package as the front cover. The front and back cover are made from a cereal box, but the box is only visible from the inside. The outside is cut from this lovely reusable grocery bag. This took a little bit of engineering to figure out, but I'm thrilled with the results.

The turquoise bow is made from the shopping bag handle.

Here's a close up of the cover showing the ring fringe and the crystal letter on the front. The book rings are almost a royal blue, and work perfectly with the peacock inspired color theme. Laurel contains more pages than most of my Anything Books, so I've used 1 1/2 inch rings. Laurel also has a turquoise book belt that isn't shown in the photos.

This is a small sample of fabric inserted into Laurel which adds great color and texture to this page.

This is the first time I've incorporated fabric into an Anything Book. When I spotted this fabric, I knew it had to be part of this lovely book. It looks like tooled leather, but it's not real leather.


A recycled business reply envelope is embellished with a used postage stamp and paper scraps.

 The peacock theme inspired the colors, but it also shows up in small ways as images. Here you can see a used postage stam with a peacock on a recycled business reply envelope.


The horizontal layout of Laurel lets me layer materials between the full-size pages.

Laurel is set up for use as a smash book style Anything Book. There are no special journaling sections. Between the full-size pages, there are many different sized materials that create layers. Often, when you turn something over, you get a surprise because there is something unexpected waiting to be discovered underneath.


The ring fringe accents the color scheme of the book and sets the tone for the contents.

Laurel contains more types of materials than the other Anything Books. Partly, this is because it's larger (both in page size and page count) than the others. Partly, this is because I'm doing more experimenting with materials. And partly this is because I work with people to define commission pieces that closely fit their personality and journaling needs.

I hope you have enjoyed this peek inside Laurel. You can see my Anything Books for sale in my Etsy shop, and you can contact me there to make a commision piece for you or a loved one.

Valentine's Day Commision

A friend of mine commissioned me to make an Anything Book for her husband for Valentine's Day. Of course, I was thrilled to help her out.

Here's the cover with the ring charm and book belt.

He's a huge Dr. Pepper fan, so I started out with a cover made from a fridge box. She told me a few of his favorite things and that his favorite color is green. So with that jumping off point, I went through my stash.

I added a green book belt to hold the pages together while he carries his journal around with him. As it gets filled up with items and grows bulky, the book belt will help to hold his treasures inside and keep them safe.

A local area map lets an IKEA ad peek out and a luggage tag overlays a patterned page page.

Normally, I love the mish mash of colors, but it was a lot of fun to see what I could do focused around a single color. I love the way the map colors pull out the colors of the striped paper (above).

A Russian postage stamp pulls out the blue distressing on this polka dot paper.

The recipeint is a journal keeper, so I added in extra journaling sections of blank pages. The vertical shape makes this Anything Book perfect for someone who like to write a lot. With this shape, it's more like writing in a tablet. You can keep a journal in a horizontal Anything Book, of course, but it's a different writing experience. And I'm all for mixing up experiences, too.

A green paint chip adorned with baker's twine hides part of an Apple advertisement.

Some company brochures and marketing materials are so beautiful that I love to incorporate them into the Anything Books. Apple is one of those companies. The green paint chip pops against this ad and the baker's twine adds a touch of elegance.

In the center you can see the rich assortment of materials that went into this Anything Book. 

Photos like this of the depth of the book are my favorites. I love seeing the mix of materials that came together for this book. I also love the variety of materials that made up the page tabs on this book (below).

An outdated London travel guide adds a reminder of the recipient's favorite place to visit.

Her husband love to visit London, so I added in a page from an outdated London travel guide for some memory triggers. There wasn't much green on this page, so I added a paper strip to the bottom of the page, attached with washi tape that brings the brown into the green area.

An envelope with a string closure provides a safe place to tuck away small treasures.

I have a few favorite books that I like to use. On the left is a page from a mythology book that is filled with interesting illustrations. Even the printed pages are beautifully laid out. The variety of colors makes it easy to accent the green in this two-page spread.

This Anything Book has its unique bar code identifier and its name on the back cover.

Inside this book, I found the word "Thames" which is the name of the river that flows through London. So I named this Anything Book: Thames. Like all Anything Books, it has a bar code with a unique identifier on the back, along with my signature.

I got the sweetest note back from my friend after her husband received his gift. I'm honored to have a small part in helping her celebrate her love and her marriage.

Would you like to commission an Anything Book for a special person or event in your life? Check out my Etsy store for details.

Scuba Anything Book

I have a delightful, free-spirited friend who commissioned me to make an Anything Book just for her. She had the perfect package for me to use as the cover: a Durex box.

The front cover of Scuba, an Anything Book created from a Durex box.

It's a great choice for an Anything Book because it is just over 5 inches each direction. That means there is room to add in photographs with just a little bit of trimming.

This was a fun project from start to finish. I used the bright blue of the package as inspiration for many of the pages and trims.

I used a mixture of soft and hard materials for the outside trim.

I used 1-inch book rings, so that means there were approximately 50 inserted pages for a total surface of 100 pages. Because of the square size, most of the pages are full size and there is little layering. There are inserted items like a luggage tag, product tags, and a shipping tag.

The Ultimate tag comes from a product and overlays a brochure cut from an IKEA store catalog.

I chose the name Scuba from the name of a color on a blue paint chip inside. Plus, this name gave me the giggles. I suppose that scuba gear is a bit more bulky than a raincoat, but you get the idea.

The name Scuba comes from the color name on this paint chip.

Each two-page spread is color coordinated to create a background for adding treasures. I include an archive quality glue stick with each book, along with an ultra-fine tip permanent marker. The marker is perfect for writing on most of the pages. You can also attach things with clips, staples, or anything else you can imagine.

A vellum page lays over the ruby slippers paper. 

The recipient grew up in Kansas, so the reference to the Wizard of Oz was another bit of humor I added to the contents. The vellum page adds depth and allows her to create something interesting over the ruby slippers paper.

The small white item is a coin envelope that open on the other side. It overlays a menu from a local restaurant.

I inserted several envelopes including an air mail envelope, two coin envelopes, and an upcycled return mail envelope to give her space to tuck away treasures within the pages.

The edges have tabs made from an assortment of papers and ribbons.

Within the pages are 4 journaling sections designed for writing longer entries. These are blank pages designed for writing. Of course, like everything else about the Anything Book, the recipeint can use it any way she wants.

Each Anything Book gets a unique bar code identifier along with a signature and the book name.

The book left with a large rubber band around the edges to hold everything inside and to keep the covers together.

I'm thrilled with how this turned out. And the recipient was equally happy with her Anything Book.