When I was a little girl, I used to love to go to the stationery store. My favorite part was looking at the fresh new pencils and yummy-smelling shaped erasers. Another obsession in the store was the personalized section. They had pencils, notebooks and even coffee mugs with names on them. I wanted pencils and notebooks with my name on them! I quickly found out that due to the irregular spelling of my name, I would never find one with my name on it. I compensated by writing my name on everything myself. This included my bedroom door, for which I got in trouble. In recent years, mail-order catalogs make it easy to personalize things with any name and/or spelling. I would like this luxury for all things I can get my hands on, scrapbooking included. When Bo Bunny released their My Word Books my head started thinking, "I can do that and personalize it!" And so I did. Here are the directions to make your very own word book with any word and any spelling you choose!

1. Using Microsoft WordArt "outline" I used the Pharmacy font to create the template letters for my book. I wanted to make my book big enough for patterned paper to show behind a 4" x 6" photograph with no cropping required. So, I printed my letters about 5 inches high.
   
   
   
   
2. Next I cut out my letters and arranged them on my longest piece of chipboard. This let me know if I had enough room for all the letters. I overlapped my letters slightly. (If it doesn't fit, you might have to go back and resize the word, or get a bigger piece of chipboard.)
   
   

1. I used very heavy chipboard for the back page and thinner chipboard for the inside of my book. Starting with the last page, I used temporary spray adhesive to attach my "A."
   
   
   
   
2. I then used my Cutterpede to trim off the extra chipboard above the letter so that my letter was flush with the top of the book. (Note: the chipboard I used was longer than my Cutterpede, so I could only score the chipboard. I then folded it at the score line and cut it with scissors.)
   
   
   
   
3. I used my Cutterpede ruler to mark off the left edge of my letter to show me where I needed to stop cutting out my letter. I made some red marks to show what I cut off. (Note: Be sure to leave a bit of the letter still attached to the background. You don't want some toddler ripping the letter off. I speak from experience.)
   
   
   
   
4. I then used scissors to cut out the letter, making sure not to cut it off the chipboard page.
   
   
   
   
5. To add another letter, temporarily adhere the next letter template to another piece of chipboard. Position this chipboard over the already cut piece.
   
   
6. Keeping the pieces of chipboard straight, flip them over. On the edges that do not have letter templates attached, you need to mark the back of the chipboard to remove the extra length from the not-yet-cut piece of chipboard. As shown below, I marked the back of the chipboard with the letter "L" template attached (bottom piece of chipboard in the second photo). You are marking the back so that the pages of the album will be line up properly at the binding. Starting back to step "4," trim off where you marked in red, and also trim at the top of the letter to make both pages the same height.
   
   
   
   
7. Repeating steps 5 and 6, I marked where I wanted to stop and colored in what I wanted to cut off. I used my scissors and craft knife to cut.
   
   
   
   
8. After cutting out all your letters, making sure that your book is even on the top and sides, it's time to punch holes. I used an anywhere hole punch because I could bang through the chipboard.
   
   
   
   
9. After punching your holes, bind your book with rings, ribbons, twist ties, whatever! Just make sure not to tie your ribbons so tight that you can't open the book. Decorate your book with paint (quick and easy), patterned paper (pull out your exacto knife) or decoupage with MOD Podge. Have fun with it! I used different pieces of chipboard which is noticeable by the different shades of board, so I definitely have to cover mine.
   
   
   
   

The truth is that this album was harder than expected and time-consuming. My advice to you is to be prepared for hard work. However, I noticed that the cutting was way easier and faster as the chipboard got thinner. If you can buy a word that works, I'd say buy it, unless you just have a love of creating challenging projects. I think this technique would go great with cardstock for cards too. Imagine a thank you card that read, "IOU."