My apologies for being a bit absent lately. I closed my shop to spend a little more time with family this month, but it is now open. Don't forget to use your coupon code (MEMORIAL25) for 25% off your purchase in my shop. The code expires tonight as 11:59pm.
Today I wanted to share a mini album with you, which I made for my mother for Mother's Day. I had actually completed most of it last year while I was pregnant, and shared it with her at my Baby Shower. I was waiting to add some photos of our new baby once he/she came; however, that took a little longer than expected! ;) Almost a year.... but it's finally done, and it's the thought that counts, right?
For the album, I included belly shot photos throughout my pregnancy, our name choices for a boy and girl, ultrasound photos, photos of my parents helping us with the bread-and-board wall treatment in the baby's nursery, photos of me and my siblings the weekend of my baby shower, and of course, photos of the new baby's arrival. I think it is great to cover the entire pregnancy. I also included a photo of the pregnancy test and the photo I used for our pregnancy announcement (more on that soon), which has four sets of "shoes", one being our dog's paws, and scrabble tiles to label them. I mixed a few inspirational ideas I got from Pinterest to come up with this photo - again, I'll share more on that later.
For the mini album, I used the Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic mini album. I absolutely adore this album, and Elizabeth Kartchner's line. If you don't follow
Elizabeth's blog, you really should. She is probably my favorite scrapbooker and designer, and has been for the past few years. I love her lines, and most of this mini album was created using several of her recent lines, including 5th and Frolic.
I started the album when I was pregnant, and since the sex of the baby was a surprise (spoiler alert! it was a girl!!), I wanted to make the colors of the album unisex, while still adding the sweet touches I love. So I opted for a variety of colors, mostly centered on teal, blue, pink and grey. The album comes with the banner on the front cut out, so you can see the first page behind it. I simply added some epoxy dots between the pennants. I love texture, so I added some layers of patterned papers, embellishments, twine, a button, and some chipboard letter stickers.
For the rest of the album, I added lots of patterned papers and small embellishments from Studio Calico, My Minds Eye, American Crafts, and more. Most of the accents were from my monthly Studio Calico kit, which I absolutely adore! If you haven't seen their monthly kits, you should check them out. Previously they would gather supplies from various companies and put them into a coordinating kit, so that you can simply start your pages without having to plan everything out. Now, they offer their own designs in each kit as well, and you can only find these items in the kits. Their products are now my favorites - they fit my style and aesthetic completely. My favorites are their patterned papers, fab-rips (sticker fabric that you can rip into strips), and their wooden veneer accents. You can see a few of the wooden accents on the second page, with the male and female figures.
For my belly shots, I used blocks I purchased on Etsy, which have different number combinations, along with "weeks", "months", "years", etc. You can find them from
MontanaVintageGreens. One disclaimer, however, the numbers and letters on the blocks are not painted - they are stickers. I assumed they were painted, and was a little disappointed to find they were stickers - I probably could have made them myself if I'd known they were just stickers. Also, over time, the edges of some of them peeled up, so the blocks stuck together. Overall, I'd recommend making some yourself, but the link will hopefully provide some ideas for you.
The wooden pointer above is also from Studio Calico. Most of the papers used are from the Dear Lizzy collections.
The banner above is from the Dear Lizzy collection as well. One of my favorite items, it is a page full of one long banner stitched with thread, and you can cut it to any length you'd like. One technique I love is to add your title or an accent directly to your photo. It adds an unexpected touch, and draws your eye to the photo. See above with the "little one" title and the heart accent.
The male and female fox above are from - you guessed it! - Dear Lizzy. I cut each in half, then added some wash tape and some strips of patterned paper. The letters are chipboard and foam thickets from American Crafts.
I think the next page is my favorite of the album. It has the 20 week ultrasound photos. I love how the colors turned out, and the little pocket included with the album. I wrapped some twine around the photo on the left, and for the pocket, I re-sized three of the ultrasound photos to fit inside the pocket, and used wash tape folded over on itself (with a notch cut in the center) to make little flags on the edges. This way you can easily pull out the additional photos to see them. Love the end result.
Oddly enough, the 3D photo of Addie looks just like her! Go figure ;)
The photos below show the nursery wall treatment coming together thanks to my parents! I'll show some before and after photos of the nursery soon!
An easy way to add visual interest to a photo is to wrap some ribbon around and tie a bow or not. I use a little bit of adhesive beneath the two ends to keep them in place.
A lot of the embellishments these days are three-dimensional, which I love, but sometimes they make an album too thick. A good way to reduce the thickness of your album is to use only patterned paper on some of the pages. With a few different designs, you can add a lot of visual interest.
Again, I'll share more about the nursery in an upcoming post, but I took my belly shot photos in the nursery every few weeks so you could also see how the nursery design was progressing. In the photo above you can see the crib with the crib sheets, and the book cubbies on the wall. Below you can see the Queen Anne style dresser I am using as a changing table, and some of the wall art on the wall.
And of course....the arrival of our little angel, Adelaide. A few photos from her first day of life.
The photo below was right before we took our little one home. Our last photo in the hospital. :)
I decided to finish the album with a photo of me and my daughter - a fitting ending to an album for my mother, of her daughter's first child. The circle of life continues....
One day....not anytime soon....hopefully Addie will have a family of her own.
Hope you enjoyed peeking inside this mini album! More to come soon!
