Better late than never?

Well, here's a project I FINALLY finished, and it only took about 2 years to do!  It’s a little ridiculous.  

I love scrapbooking, I find it therapeutic, but I also have to really be in the mood - there is no instant gratification - it takes a long time to get things just so, and then there’s all the mess... yeesh.  Anyway, I decided to make bug an alphabet book with a small scrapbook I bought at a garage sale for 10 cents back when he was little and just starting to talk.  And I put the finishing touches on last night!

As you will see from most of the photos, it’s now a little out of date!  But I thought it would be fun anyway; every kid likes looking at pictures of their younger self!  

The idea is pretty straightforward.  I decorated the front with his name, 

and put the alphabet on the first page using different stickers and letter embellishments.  Then I went through the alphabet and used familiar objects for each of the letters.  A is for aunts - with pictures of my sister and sister’s IL... B is for bun-bun (his favorite stuffed animal)... C is for cousins... you get the idea.  

All of the scrapping is very simplistic (because, well, it IS just for a two year old, who will probably try to pull it apart anyway).  I printed the pictures off on my computer.  I used very few embellishments and most of them were just free-cut by me.  

The book is held together with a hair elastic 

which is held in place with two extra large brads - both reinforced into place with glue.  


I thought I’d just show off a few of my favorite pages!   

The layout on this one isn't anything special, I just like the subject matter.  He's ALWAYS loved that bunny.

Again, the subject matter.  But also the picture.  My sister took it.  She's a photographer.  (and when she gets her blog up, you better go check her out, yo.) (I can't pull that yo thing off, can I?)

This one is for the first letter of his name.  Once again, I love the picture my sister took.  And the buttons.  The tag says "bumps and bruises" which couldn't be more fitting for a tough guy.

I really like the paper I used and the layering.  The fun little stickers on the happy page remind my of bubbles which I though went really well with the water picture.  (and doesn't he look like mini there??)

Again, nothing super special about these pages, but I do like that ice cream cone I hand cut, with the fun cherry on top that I made by layering a bunch of circles I cut out.

One of my favorites.  I don't own a die cut machine of any kind, but borrowed this from a scrapbook night at Archiver's.  Now I wish I did have one.

Well, first of all, this picture cracks me up.  I can't believe he was ever that small.  I used a heart punch and just layered them over the other paper and used a heart die cut for the big ones.  I couldn't resist the heart button.  Have I mentioned I love buttons?

I just like the idea here... in the pictures he is crawling through a tunnel at the park and I managed to get a sequence of shots.  The stickers are really fun.  Obviously he is "Quicker" now, but I had completed this page a while ago! 

You can't see the detail too well, but I punched out the "peas" with a regular hole punch and then made the pea pod by cutting out a crescent and then slicing a slit down the middle.  I tucked in three circles I hand cut.  I like the repeating polka dot design along the side to reinforce the circle pattern.

OK, this one's obviously no big deal, but don't you just love the pirate paper?  It's so cool!  And I also like the comparison between bug (top) and mini (bottom) around the same age.

This one was all about layering.  I used lots of different patterns and layers of paper.  I cut the giraffe paper along the pattern to give it more texture.  But the best part?  bug sitting in the lion and trying to climb the fence to get into the giraffes.  I guess that has nothing to do with layout, but I still like this page.

Well, there you have it.  bug was a little confused.  Every single page he would point and say, "It's mini!" and I would correct him and say, "no, it's bug as a baby." It took him a while, but I think he finally started to get it.  :)  It doesn't help that they look so much alike in the younger months!

Now I just have to get cracking on bug and mini's baby books.  I have bug's done up through oh.... about the fifth.... HOUR of life.  Not to mention the "family" scrapbook, which seems to show that we just barely celebrated our wedding reception.  I have a long way to go.  

linked:





Simpsonized Crafts (and then some)