DIY Wedding Guest Book -Shabby Chic

If you'd like to know how I made this shabby chic guest book for our wedding, keep reading.

​I wanted to make a personalized guest book for our wedding. As I enjoy crafting and have lots of supplies on hand I decided to see what notebooks I could find that I could cover and embellish.
 
I found an artists sketch pad with unlined quality paper that would be perfect for our guests to sign. 

I chose a very pretty gift bag that I’d saved from my birthday for the foundation. The heavy weight paper made it perfect for covering the front and back covers of the book. 

​I had some fabric roses on hand. To make them suitable for attaching to the front of the book.  I took them off their plastic stems which let the layers of petals separate so I sewed them together with a needle and thread. 

I pushed the needle up through the hole in the middle of the petals and then pulled the thread through I then stitched either side of the hole several times to secure the flower.

I did a white rose this way also. In their centres I glued some sparkle embellisments. I also added bought flower emberlishments. Which you can see in the in the picture below behine the butterfly

I had a gold butterfly in my stash and I backed it with the butterfly shaped, paper gift tab, but I had to trim the gold butterfly down to fit.  I did this by separating the wings and cutting off some at the base where it joins the body, then I glued them onto the paper butterfly and then glued the body back into the center.

​Using a scrap-booking reel of roll on glue, I attached the covers of the book. The front and back leaves first.

Then I glued the pink pearlised A4 paper over the spine, making sure to lap over the top of the front and back cover paper. To go one step more I threaded a pink organza ribbon through the spine and tied it in a bow.

​I arranged the flowers and butterfly on the front cover but decided it needed more. I found some lace that I’d bought awhile ago and attached that to the top using the roll on glue. I added half a small gold doily so that it peaked out from the lace for added dimension.

To give added interest and make it look more like a garden scene I purchased some fabric carnation like flowers. I arranged all the flowers on top of the lace. To the center of the roses I added some bling and last ​of all I placed the butterfly on top.

I used roll on glue to attach all of the embellishments however I will be adding some drops of hot glue behind each flower and the butterfly before the wedding to make sure they are secure while many people are writing their messages to us.

Adding the ivory lace gives this very pretty pink book provides a touch of bridal elegance. The overall cost to me was less than $20 and I love it. I adore the fluffy flowers and the glamorous gold butterfly. The gift bag was so beautiful and now I'll be able to enjoy it every time I read the messages from the guests at our wedding.

Dora writes heart-melting, passionate romance.