Baby Bonus

Well that baby album I have been working on for, oh my has it been a month? It still isn't done.... sigh. But, I expect it will be today or tomorrow at the latest and then, YOU exclusive, will get the sneak peak before it hits my Etsy store.

Since it has been so long, I thought I had better hold your attention with another baby album I made about 2 months ago for a friend of mine. Her little girl's name is Joey so I themed the album with little kangaroos. As I add my creations to this site and the store, you will see how much I love shape albums. They are open to so much creativity.

 

Tied up with a bow, I used mainly brown and pink combo papers as this was Mommy's favourite.

Poppa Pauley brought me home a bottle of wine one night  and there was this cute little key chain attached.... my inspiration had arrived!

The first page opens with a verse and then a heart page. I almost always have a verse in a baby book, there are just so many to choose from and plus, not everyone is a journaler, so this gives them words without effort.

The heart page has cute little children on it and Joey is no longer a baby, so that will look great with her current pictures too. Honestly though, so many times you give these as gifts and they get laid aside 'til Mommy has time to pop in a few photos and sometimes that doesn't happen until baby is 3! So, a baby album should be versatile for childhood as well.

The flower was an idea I saw somewhere on the Internet, knowing me it was on pinterest somewhere and I am sorry I cannot credit the original artist. However, it is a beautiful product with a very simple technique. Simply stamp 3 flowers. They can be the same or different or you can eliminate this step. Then cut or punch 3 flowers. Again, the flowers can be large to small or all the same size like I used here.  Use your bone file to rub the edges of the petals creating a flipped up look, but not too much. And then pop dot them together without adhering throughout the centre of the flower. Choose your button and sew through the 3 flowers. I am sorry I didn't get a side view of this flower, however it is a really stunning feature that doesn't take alot of time or space. It actually does not create much bulk as the sewing compresses the flower quite a bit.

This is a Stampin' Up Punch  (Blossom) and the co-ordinating stamp set (Mixed Bunch).

Here we open to the second full page layout, seeing the opposite side of the heart. I cut a scallop edge border and used a stamped image and some embosslits to create a frame for a picture.

On the second page, a scallop circle, I created a little clothesline with a photo opportunity. I really like to use similar elements throughout an album so as to keep continuity between pages.

So far, I have drawn and cut all of my pages and they are all lined with chipboard for extra sturdiness and hand-cutting does create some problems. If you are doing this I would suggest investing in a package of emery boards or nail files to sand your edges. Recently, I have also discovered the pleasure of owning a box-cutter. Years ago, someone gifted me with a box of different blades that slip into one of 3 handles and it has been an invaluable resource. I think they may have originally been for whittling? But I am not sure.  I use them to trim the paper after I have glued it to the chipboard.

A cute way to say how special a child is: add sentiments that start with the same letter as their name.

Here is my strawberry page with a couple of nesting labels and some pennants peeking out from underneath. For some reason, I missed taking a picture of the other side of the strawberry. It had the top on it as well; it was a folded cut out that I slipped over the top. The paper was a corally pink with red polka dots (very strawberry-ish) and I added a  large red heart that I embossed with polka dots. The colours were very similar to the next page, to co-ordinate. You can kind of see the corner of it here.

This was my first foray into cutting a large label from my Big Kick. 3 layers exactly the same, how easy! I will definitely be buying more of these little goodies as they make my production so much quicker.

Finally, a kangaroo! Not so themed as I thought! lol.

Used a cupcake paper on the next page and added a little bit of the nursery rhyme What Little Girls are Made of.

Here is the back of my flower page and it is a pretty sleepy little page. Rock-a-Bye Baby is gently rocking under the bunting and there is a small child walking in the dark with her candle.

And here is my kangaroo! She is holding a pull out frame for the little Joey's picture, which slides into her marsupial pocket.

And this is the back. I added a tail in chipboard too and the theory was that this would hold up the last page all on it's own if Joey's Mommy decided to separate it.

And there you have it. Enjoy!