Editor’s Note: Good morning. Crafting queen Vanessa Falle is on site with a lovely tutorial on creating a gratitude book. Awesome concept. Cool craft. Enjoy. Here’s Vanessa:

The beginning of the New Year is so inspiring. It’s much like preparing for the first day of school and being surrounded by piles of school supplies and anticipating the creativity that will fill the pages of every notebook and sheet of paper.

I love beginnings. They are inspiring and fresh. They are also the best time to start new rituals and traditions – the idea behind this month’s project. We will be making a week-by-week gratitude book. It is the perfect spot to jot down notes about activities and events, as well as keeping small photos and memorabilia that illustrate the year as it unfolds.

Let’s get started.

Gather the following items:

· 1 sheet of chipboard,
· 1 sheet of printed scrapbook paper (12×12),
· 4 sheets of card stock in a light color that’s easy to write on (Color A) or 28 manila tags,
· 2 sheets of card stock that coordinates with your chosen print (Color B),
· glue stick,
· strong liquid adhesive,
· scissors,
· paper trimmer,
· ruler,
· pencil,
· alphabet stamps (or number stamps) and ink, and
· embellishments.

Directions:

Cut chipboard to 5 1/4 x 5 1/4″. Cut printed paper to measure 6×6. Adhere chipboard squares in the center of the printed sheets by applying the glue stick to the chipboard rather than to the printed paper.

Flip over and burnish (rub) the surface with your hands or a brayer (roller) to ensure that it’s stuck really well to the entire surface of the chipboard.

Clip the corners of the printed paper off to ensure crisp points on the covers. Using your strong liquid adhesive, apply sparingly along each edge of remaining printed paper and fold towards the inside of the cover. Repeat steps until both covers are wrapped with printed paper.

Take one sheet of Color B card stock and cut two squares measuring 5 1/2 x 5 1/2. Promptly adhere to the inside of both covers and set aside under something heavy until dry. A big fat book is perfect for this.

Next cut two strips from the remaining sheet of Color B card stock to measure 5 1/4 x 12.

Score at every 1″ and fold accordion style. Do this for both strips.

Next cut another small piece of the same card stock to measure 5 1/4 x 4. Score at 1/2″, 1 1/2″, and 2 1/2″.

This piece will be used to join the two longer ones by folding accordion style, adding a sparing amount of liquid adhesive (to avoid ooze) and adhering the 1/2″ tabs to the BACK of both of the longer pieces - creating an almost invisible seam.

Next, using your glue stick, adhere the first fold of the accordion piece to the inside of one cover, taking care to align the edges. Once you’ve got the accordion joined to one cover, apply glue stick to the back of each accordion fold so that your spine ends up looking like this:

Place something heavy on top of the accordion spine and allow to dry fully. Then you can go ahead and adhere the remaining cover.

If you are using purchased manila tags, skip this step! If you are making your tags, here’s how to do it:

Cut your paper using Color A card stock into 28 pieces measuring 5 1/2 x 2 3/4″. Clip the corners to resemble a store-bought manila tag. If you have a purchased one handy to use as a template, this will ensure consistent shape. Otherwise, just clip one and copy the angles using the first one as a template. Using number or alphabet stamps, number each page (ranging from “one” to “fifty six”). Adhere each of these tags within the folds of the spine, two per “page”.

Embellish your cover as you wish. At the end, or beginning, of each week in the coming year, jot down the parts of that week you want to remember, or are especially grateful for or blessed by. Feel free to add photos, ticket stubs, labels, tags… whatever will help you to remember and honor those times.

Here are some other ways to celebrate and remember the year:

Your Life Spelled Out - Daily journaling prompts,
365 Photo A Day – Shutter Sisters,
Word for the Year - Ali Edwards,
Blogging for Scrapbookers - Shimelle (a year of prompts etc . for ambitious scrapbookers who want to blog),
Gratitude journal themes - Memory Makers Magazine, and
Creative Every Day - Creative Everyday Challenge.