Tuesdays with Cory: Fancy Pants mini album

I love the pretty patterned envelopes that are part of each collection from Fancy Pants Designs. They are strong and sturdy and make a great base for a mini album. 

For this project, I used the envelopes to make a min album about everyday life with Cory.  I chose photos from an ordinary Tuesday and described his typical day when he was almost 2. The title, Tuesdays with Cory, is a play on the popular book, Tuesdays with Morrie. 

The day starts with his favorite breakfast, Cheerios. Cory and his puzzles are rarely parted and here, he's bringing his puzzle to the breakfast table. 

Time for school.  Cory goes to an onsite child development center at the hospital where I work. 

On this particular Tuesday, we had a playdate with Zack.  On pretty days, we stop by the park, sometimes bringing the wagon along. 

Cory keeps a big stack of books by the glider in his room.  Before bed, he chooses a few and we read together, then rock gently and say our prayers. 

Goodnight, sweet boy. The last photo shows the album open.  

I used a mix of big and small envelopes and bound them together with two binder clips.  The big envelopes are approximately 3.5 x 6 inches and the smaller ones are 2.25 x 3.75.  I tucked journaling for each page and a few extra photos inside the envelopes. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. 

Little Yellow Bicycle Mini Album and Giveaway

I'm back today with another project as a guest designer for Little Yellow Bicyle's new Paradise line. And, wow, what a fun week I had playing with the Paradise Medley Album.

The medley album is an assortment of tags, envelopes and inserts and comes with instructions and color photos to show examples of ways to put the album together.   It's easy to follow along with the suggestions or you can do your own thing. I used the album to document a trip we took to the beach just after my son turned 1 and added several embellishments from the Paradise collection. 

Before starting the album, I did a little prep work.  I added brads and twine closures to the two envelopes and machine stitched a little border around each tag, page and envelop.

I used a chipboard title block to make a wee little cover to the album.  I covered the back with a little strip of patterned paper, used a cropadile to punch a hole then added the chipboard title to the album. Then I set about embellishing each page.

Front of Pages 1 - 3:

Back of Pages 1 - 3: 

Front of Page 4:

Back of Page 4 and Page 5::

Isn't this a beautiful line?  Paradise is one of 6 collections that LYB is showcasing at CHA in the coming week. You can find details about all the new lines on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog.  I love seeing all the new collections!

Now for the giveaway: Little Yellow Bicyle donated one of these Paradise medley albums for a giveaway on my blog.  All you have to do is leave a comment. If you're not a follower of my blog, I'd love to have you join me and I'll be happy to follow you in return. Comments will be open until midnight on Wednesday, Feb. 1 and the winner chosen by random draw. I'll announce the winner here on my blog next Friday, Feb. 3.  

December Daily: Final Pages

This was my first year doing a December Daily and I had such fun with it. I ordered the Studio Calico kit. I so loved the American Crafts album that came in the kit. It is a great size. The pages are 6 x 8.5 inches. I almost always scrap 12 x 12 and it was such a treat to work on the small canvas of the December Daily.

I used the calendar pages that Ali Edwards offers and followed her general framework. I used her calendar pages on the right and a foundation page on the left. I stitched around the foundation pages to mimic the frame of the calendar pages. I used mostly Echo Park throughout the album to give the Daily a cohesive look.

Day 21:

Over the years, we collected crystal Orrefors ornaments for our tree and I highlighted them in this entry, a filler day.

Day 22:

One of our city's favorite family-friendly traditions is going to see the Leonard Bearstein Symphony Orchestra, mechanical bears that sing and play holiday songs in the lobby of a building uptown. 

Day 23:

Mom has been using the same recipe to make these sugar cookies since 1966.  It's not Christmas without these cookies. LOVE them!

Day 24:

Scenes from the candleight Christmas Eve service and journaling about the tradition.

Day 25:

Christmas morning. I especially wanted to include photos of my parents here because they are so special to Cory and I love to observe his relationship with them.

I very nearly wrote “The End” at the bottom of the last page. I'm going to tuck my album away with my Christmas decorations.  It will be fun to pull it out next year and have a look. 　

December Daily - Day 5

Back with another post from my December Daily. This is Day 5, which was a Monday. Since we didn’t do anything especially Christmasy on this day, I decided to use this page to focus on a few of my favorite things of the holidays.

　

I had planned to handwrite the journaling, but it was too long. So I just printed it directly on the calendar overlay from Ali Edwards. Below is an excerpt of what I wrote:

I love the stories of Christmas. It makes me smile to think of the wise men following that yonder star, of the humble trek to Bethlehem and of a babe born in a manger. I also love the secular stories of Christmas: the sappy human interest stories, those Hallmark tear-jerkers, bright messages from friends on Facebook and blogs and the familiar Grinch and Charlie Brown. 

This is how the spread looks in my album.  I'm using an American Crafts 2-ring binder that came with the Studio Calico December Daily kit.  You can view Days 1 - 4 here.

December Daily Supply list:

Echo Park: Holly Jolly - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, stamps; Metro Dots and Stripes - 6x6 pad, 12x12 collection kit; Season’s Greetings 12x12 collection kit, chipboard, brads; Everybody Loves Christmas 12x12 collection kit.

American Crafts: Album

Ali Edwards: calendar overlays

Hambly: Transparencies

Bo Bunny: ribbon

Fancy Pants: ribbon

Crate: stickers and chipboard

Cosmo Cricket: tiny type

Jenni Bowlin: letter stickers

October Afternoon: letter stickers

Martha Stewart: kraft tags

The Twinery: twine

Making Memories: Buttons

My Mind’s Eye: Stamps

Ranger Industries: Ink

Sewing Machine: Bernina

Kit club: Studio Calico