Book binding || Wedding guest book

I was recently a bridesmaid in a good friend's wedding, and I had the pleasure of putting together the guest book for her big day!  I used some of the techniques I learned in college for book making, and I am super please in how it turned out.  

To make the cover, I had to gather some decorative papers, as well as a heavy cardstock/card board.  I ended up finding a heavy matte board that did the trick.  Also, needed is a cutting surface, a metal ruler, spray adhesive and an exacto knife. 

Once I cut the matte board to size, I cut the outer paper with about a half an inch buffer.  This is so you can wrap the edges around nicely.   Then I used my spray adhesive to attach the paper to the board.  After gluing the paper to the matte board, it helps to cut the corners off so when you fold things around, it doesn't bunch up.

Then you fold the paper over the edges and glue down.  This face of the board will be on the inside of the cover.  

Then I cut the paper I wanted to be on the inside cover.  it's just slightly smaller than what the matte board was.  This will cover your folded edges quite nicely!

I also wanted to add a nice little touch to the front page of the inside of the book.  We used the ampersand on the wedding favors, and I felt like it was a nice little touch.  I never ended up using the silver letters, mainly because the bride and groom had too many s' in their names, and I would have had to buy 3 or 4 packs of letters!

I gathered my paper and pre-poked the holes for sewing.

I also poked the holes using the same measurements through the cover.

To bind the book, I used the Double Needle Coptic Stitch.  It's very fun technique once you get the hang of it! Check out my tutorial on how to do it here.

You end up with a nice braided effect on the spine of the book when it's all done.

And there's the inside!  The bride and groom loved it, and they'll have plenty of pages to write their own memories as well as include pictures.