Happy Valentine’s Day! I finally finished the Valntine for my husband. In lieu of a cheesy card, I decided to make him a little book of love notes and memories. The inspiration for this valentine came from this beautiful book of notes made by Danni Hing of Oh Hello Friend. The stitching on the cover, which I did by hand, was inspired by these amazing cards from King Popcorn. I even used the eyelet detail to attach my hand-stitched work to the front of my book.

To make the book I turned to this tutorial for a no-stitch notebook on Creativity Prompt. I used papers from the eco-friendly Amy Butler Lotus collection. I made use of the embellishments printed on the back card stock of the paper pad to write my little love notes on throughout the book. I did not have enough of the cutouts though, so I used scraps from test prints I made for these Brown Paper Bag Recipe Cards. The lines on the recipe cards were perfect for journaling and the brown paper looked similar to the Amy Butler card stock embellishments.

I got the pattern for the envelope on the inside cover from this tutorial by Erin on Schlosser Designs. Using the envelope to hide a little note was a nod back to Danni Hong’s inspiration for her book, “The Jolly Postman“. I did not have brads, so I used a round sticker with our last initial printed on it to seal the envelope.

My favorite element in the journal is the hand-stamped bias tape. I used over-sized number stamps to stamp our wedding date onto a piece of organic cotton bias tape. I used eyelets to attach the bias tape to the page. I love the bold graphic element it lends to the page.

Tied up with organic cotton twill tape, I think this will be a perfect gift. I think my husband will enjoy reading the little notes and memories I have scattered throughout.