Cigar Band Collectors Journal

My husband came to me with an idea of how he would like to be able to keep his cigar labels all in one place and be able to journal the facts about each cigar smoke for the future.  My first thought was, "How does this involve me?"  After he expressed what was on his mind, my mind started swirling.  I said, "Let me make a prototype and we will go from there."

I thought about how this fit right in with my love of creating mini books and designing covers.  We went to St. Louis one weekend and shopped for materials at Achievers and several office supply stores.  The ride up and back was spent Google searching for similar items.  None were to be found when we searched for cigar band collections or any combination of keywords.  Yippee!  We purchased a couple of domain names that we liked and the wheels kept turning.  I hit several snags in the road as I searched for manufacturers and then just decided to focus on making three different styles to begin with.

The annual Branson Scrap Retreat held by Gwen Thomas was the date that I decided the concept would be born.  I collected my goodies and possibilities from shops such as Springfield Leather Company, Tim Holtz Ideal-Ology products and Bind-It-All binding products.  By the way, if you like to shop online, I found these word keys by Tim Holtz at Sam's.  I knew that Sam's wouldn't let the scrapbooking line go unseen.

Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Word Keys-7/Pkg - Antique Nic - Scrapbooking (Google Affiliate Ad)


With the help of my friends, I created three cigar band dossiers (fancy name).  This one is actually my favorite but my husband says that it's not as manly, masculine as the leather one that is next.  The cover is actually scrapbook paper that I found at Michaels!  It looks like real leather, don't you think?  The inside cover is printed burlap that I fell in love with at JoAnn's Fabrics.  I set out to buy regular burlap and found this instead.  Get this, it was less expensive too!  I combined all types of buttons, tags, letters and embellishments from Tim Holtz and various manufacturers.

Inside cover covered with printed burlap using YES glue, my favorite glue to seal the deal.

Now for my husband's favorite band collection "wallet".  The cover is made of 100% leather that has been cemented with leather specific glue and then hand laced with 100% leather to coordinate.

The pages in the cigar band journal are two sided so that you can store 40 cigar bands and the information that is relevant to each cigar band itself.  All printed on Acid Free paper to protect the label for many years to come.

The chipboard is from Tim Holtz and actually comes embossed with several different patterns in the package.  I chose the bump pattern to paint with acrylics in a dark walnut color.

The third and last style is constructed in the same size as the above two styles.  All three were joined at the binding using a Zutter Bind-It-All.  The cover is again a Tim Holtz chipboard that I misted in dark walnut.  I love the look it took on after I dabbed it with a baby wipe...it was handy and I grabbed it!

The cover embellishments are a combination of letters, ribbon, bling and papers that I had in my stash.  The door knocker style embellishment is a new purchase from Tim Holtz.  Do you get the drift that I like his stuff?

The inside is merely covered with scrapbook paper using the YES glue and then I inked the edges.

My hopes and dreams are to produce more cigar band collection products to fit the style of the many different characteristics of smokers everywhere.  These will make nice Father's Day, Birthday and "Just because you need one" gifts. I would love to see my handmade creations in Cigar Smokers retail establishments across the United States!