Labour of Love

I have made a very special little minibook today. The subject is Chester Christmas, the very last Christmas that John had, it was such a poignant time. The hotel was first class the staff so understanding and so caring. The trips out were not too far so John was able to enjoy them, though the coach journey down was a trial for him, he was in a great deal of pain.
At one stage we didn't think we would make it as John had been rushed into hospital and a lot of blood pumped into him. But the doctors and nurses did their utmost to get him home in time to catch the coach.
It was a Barnes coach trip to remember forever as far as I'm concerned as everything was done to perfection.
So to the minibook. The covers I made from Acrylic Art paper, which I had used Distress ink pads on. My two new ones Fired Brick and Rusty Hinge by Tim Holtz and Forest Moss which I've had for a while. I then spritz it with Micro Mist and using a baby wipe blended the colours together. I let this dry then spritzed again with Micro Mist.

For the embellishment of the cover I tore the fly sheet out of an old paperback book, and taking quotes from 'A Christmas Carol' I printed on the sheet using Edwardian Script font, tearing a small section, placed this over some stamped splashes. The rosette and title were cut on Robo I added the button and used the cut out bit of 'NOEL' mounted on black and raised on 3D foam.
The covers were cut and stuck to a black envelope which I had cut the ends off to give a pocket. The inside pages also have a pocket because I took 2 sheets of My Minds Eye patterned paper cut slightly smaller than the envelope and stuck them together at the sides and bottom.
I made a couple of journalling blocks.

The wording of the second one reads:-
John had hankered after a Christmas away for some time and as this was probably going to be his last we booked a Barnes coach trip to Chester. It couldn’t have been more special, though we nearly didn’t make it. John had been rushed into hospital and several pints of blood pumped into him. They managed to get him home with just an hour to spare before we caught the coach


I cut the inserts from an old photo album (sheets that had never been used).


today I am thankful for the lovely memory of this holiday.