Baby's First Book

Hello everyone. After taping the Flower Soft Series, I had to take some time off to spend with my son before school begins.

He wanted to make a few of his "own" videos. We have been having a ball. With his permission, I might be able to share some of the funny outtakes.

I wanted to share this 6x6 baby book that I made as a shower gift for the expecting parents.

The entire project took about two evenings to complete. I used some Anna Griffin paper that I owned and just pulled embellies from my 'baby' stash. I patterened my idea from a baby book project that Anna presented on DIY Scrapbooking.

I took several sheets of 12x12 coordinating paper and cut each into 6 -4x6 pieces. Some of the 4x6 were then cut into 2x6.

The pieces were dealt out and mixed and matched to create different background combinations. Each baby title page consisted of three pieces of 4x6 papers. I felt this afforded me more variety and more opportunities for a cohesive look.

The opposite page for the photo was adhered together with a strip that was cut to 2x6.

I used ivory cardstock for the Baby's First titles. If you have not guessed by now, the couple was expecting a baby girl.

I created a random list of Baby Firsts.

Baby’s First:

Tooth

Smile

Solid Food
Word
Bath
Month
Steps
Trip
Doctor Visit
Time Standing
Family Portrait

The mother will then insert photos of the baby on the opposite blank side. This will nicely hold a 4x6 photo. The date can be added along the side of the photo. I designed the pages to be easy for the new parents. The only thing they needed to be ready for was to capture a picture for that occassion and slide it into the page protector. Here is an example of the blank facing page.

This is what the pages look like side by side in the album.

Just a couple of more examples of some of the completed Firsts.

I do apologize for the quality of the photos. I did not use my regular camera for these. It was one that I borrowed because I wanted to capture the pages before handing off the book and as you can see, you get what you pay for.                                             I allowed the papers to determine my accent colors. This helped to create the pages quickly and easily.                   Since my family has a plethora of 'boys' I was delighted to play around with something pink and girly. I could not resist breaking out my Fiskars decorative edge scissors and decorative edge punches.

Give this a try not just with a baby book but maybe all of your child's First day of school for 12 years. Write down his/her impressions and what they liked most. Or maybe a year opener page and the facing page could be the last day of school. This would easily show the growth of your child during the school year and over the summer months.

As always don't forget to add that elegant touch of ink to all that you do and keep inking in the name of love.

Until then.