Here we are, with the very first entry in my Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts Challenge.  As promised, I started at the beginning of the book, with the very first project: a brag book.

Just to recap my goals here, I hope to let you know about any difficulties I encountered making the project, give you the full run-down of the costs, rate the difficulty and decide whether I found the craft worthwhile, as compared to a store-bought item.  I plan on posting at least every Monday, with additional projects (to avoid the 4 year plan) during the rest of the week.

The brag book was really a very simple project to make.  The hardest part, honestly, was actually finding the proper materials.  You can make a very small brag book with sheet protectors that hold baseball cards, or you can use regular 4″ x 6″ photo sheet protectors.  I figured the card ones would be too small, so I decided to go with the 4″ x 6″ pockets.  Trouble is, in order to complete the project properly (or, well, at all), you need sheet protectors that hold the photos in portrait, not landscape, so the opening is on the 4″, rather than the 6″, side of the photo.  Let me give you a photo to demonstrate:

Whether you want to hold the brag book landscape or portrait doesn’t matter; you still want the opening to be on the short end of the photos.  Hence, you need to find sheet protectors that hold 4″ x 6″ photos that insert portrait style, into the top.  Finding these was difficult.

In fact, I actually bought the other kind of protectors before I realized they wouldn’t work.  So I had to go return them, and then I couldn’t find the kind I needed in the store, so I had to order them online.  See?  I’ve saved you all this trouble if you want to make this project.  Just order them online, people.  (Sources at the end of the post.)

I also had some trouble finding wool felt.  I don’t live very close to a well-stocked fabric store, and I didn’t really want to drive downtown to the fashion district for the brag book.  Although I did drive deep into the valley looking for oilcloth to use as well (to no avail– I think you have to order oilcloth online, too).  So I got my wool felt online, too.  Sheesh!

Once I’d assembled my supplies, making the book was really, really easy, and took me about 20 minutes.  The longest part was setting up the sewing machine, since you are supposed to sew down the middle to create the binding.

A few suggestions for this craft:

• Use binder clips to hold everything together when you are sewing it.  Those page protectors are slippery!!

• The felt isn’t all that sturdy, so it might be worth it to reinforce it.  Perhaps two layers of felt ironed together with some fusible web?  I’m not sure what the solution might be.  But the elastic tie that wraps around the album kind of squishes it all up unless you are careful.  Martha’s book suggests reinforcing oilcloth or leather, but I think it’s worth doing with the felt, too.

Here’s a little step by step collage so you can see how the project shaped up:

Now, to the details.

TIME INVESTED

I invested quite a bit of time with the going to stores, looking for the right materials, returning wrong materials, yadda yadda.  Had I known to order online up front, it really wouldn’t have taken that long.  Active crafting time was around 20 minutes.

PROJECT COST

• wool felt, 9″ x 12″ piece, $2.50
• elastic cord, $1.59
• eyelet, $0.99 per package
• photo pages, $9.95 for 25; approximately $0.80 for 2 pages used

TOTAL: $15.03 (not including shipping and tax).

However, you could make quite a few books with the photo pages, which were the most expensive item; I’d guess if you wanted to make these in bulk, you could do it for about $4.00 – $5.00 each, depending on the cost of your cover material.

DIFFICULTY

Easy

WAS IT WORTH IT?

Well, this is a toughy.  It’s really easy to make.  However, I can go to Michael’s and buy one of those little plastic brag books for $0.99, embellish my own cover, and I’ve essentially got the same thing.  In a fraction of the time and for a fraction of the cost.  So, overall, I’d have to say it’s not worth it, unless you really, really want to make a very custom book.  Or you really like felt or oilcloth.

SOURCES

for wool felt, try: A Child’s Dream Come True

the photo pages I used: Print File Archival pages, through Amazon

all other supplies available at crafts stores, such as Michael’s or Jo-Ann fabric

So there you go!  Since this is my first attempt at an entry for the big encyclopedia project, let me know what you think.  Is there other information you might want to know about?  I’d love any and all suggestions!

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