Ruler Book - Tim Holtz style!

Ange's (Agnes The Red) latest project over on her Flickr group is to make a 'Ruler Book' a la Tim Holtz!

Ange has provided a great tutorial with step by step instructions and pictures which may be viewed here.

I made the covers of my book from book board which is very thick and feels like wood. The outside I covered with some Tim Holtz ruler paper and lightly sanded all over, going a little heavier around the edges. I decided not to go over with distress ink as I liked the soft faded look. The bolts I used are too long so will have to be cut down (not by me I hasten to add!)

I decided to theme my book around my Dad - all his working life was in wood - he was a cabinet maker by trade. I remember a fantastic folding wooden ruler he used to have and when I asked him about it - it has mysteriously gone missing - hmmm, wonder if he guessed what I had in mind for it! Seriously though there was no way I would have cut that up! I ordered one off the internet - unfortunatly they all had centimetres on as well as inches, Ideally I would have liked one with just inches for a more vintage, authentic feel!

One of my Dad's sisters recently emailed us some old photographs, many of which he hadn't seen before, or not for many, many years anyway. I thought it would be great to use these photos in the ruler book - I will ask my Dad to do the journalling in it. I love looking at all these old photos. The two on the front cover are my Dad in his late teens bending over one of the machines in the factory he worked in with his Dad and his older brother, and the other is my Dad as a baby with his Dad in uniform, taken 1940.

When my brother was researching our family history several years ago he obtained copies of old birth certificates and found out that my Dad's grandfather was a walking stick maker - so it seems working in wood became a family tradition!

I really enjoyed making this book - it's the first scrapbook of sorts that I've made for ages.