Colors of Autumn

I got lost on the way to spring-summer. I had to do fall and then winter. And now we have added a fifth season called deep freeze. To warm up my tummy and my senses, I am simmering a huge pot of sweet potato/onion/peanut butter stew. I was going to add some red beans but had none (really was too lazy to cook them from scratch) so I added garbanzos and tomatoes for the protein and color. Amazingly this pot of goodness has 11 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber and is pretty low in sodium and fat if you use low salt veggie broth and home made peanut butter and a tad less olive oil. It smells wonderful with the cumin, garlic and cinnamon wafting thru the kitchen. I hope the peppers I added aren't too spicy. In the morning I will make some pecan bars and spinach salad.

So this is a large posting and I already know a lot of people will not get past the first paragraph above. Oh well, it's my blog. It's better I be "windy" than hubby or the dog. Above is the cover of my little portfolio booklet.The entire package used Basic Grey Obscure which I thought was too ugly to buy the full collection but I kinda fell for it cut up into pieces.
This book does not use chipboard for the covers. It is paper laid back to back. I used library pockets for the inside pages which were covered and when dried had the consistency of chipboard. All the glued items were constructed using Scrappy Glue (available at Joann's). I had a bottle of this glue for several years and didn't use it until this project. It's a fast drying glue so make sure you put your pieces where you want them and don't need to reposition. I later tried it on another project with covered chipboard and didn't like it on that item. But experiment and you can use it as dimensional too. My punched circles for the rings are real washers! So raid the tool box. I used them on the both sides of the covers .But you can do outsides only if your rings are not large enough. It's more to reinforce anyways.
I used covered chipboard for my leaves on several pages. Make sure you ink the edges or rough them up a bit. I need to add more ribbon and fibers but want to wait until I add photos so I know what colors to use.The copper wire is rolled around a pencil and glued behind the tags.
This is a stamp the local stamp store made up and was a stamp of the month. I edged the ovals in metallic pen (keep some air moving for these pens-I get dizzy from them).Below is another stamp but rub ons or even your own handwriting will work as will printing something on a laser printer.
Sizzix die cuts covered with paper and distress inked form a cluster on one page.And always distress with ink and sand some items too.This is the inside back cover.
On the back of one of the covers , I made a slide pocket almost like a CD case. You can put tags or photos in this. Or even a CD of photos or music to go with the theme. I guess I would choose When October Goes by Barry Manilow for my CD.
An interesting thing before I glued the first two library pockets together with a punched piece of folded paper (my binder for the rings) is that I put a paper clip right at the top of the pocket opening. Then adhere the two pockets. When dry, these are your page turners if you space them right. Don't put them in the same place for each page. You can click any photo to see how I then added different ribbons and fibers to each clip.
The back cover is not decorated on the outside.. I could see adding beads and other 3D items to this. It's open for a lot of alterations and was so cheap to make. Scraps would work and if you don't have ready made library pockets like I used, there are templates to be had all over the Internet free for the taking to make your own from scraps. I recommend not using heavy card stock-use quality papers instead. Otherwise when you fold over the edges on the covers, your paper might not lay flat. Remember to click the photos if you want a close up lookie.