Zeke's Baby Book

I will try my best to post at least one "crafty" thing a day. We'll see how that goes....

For today, I'm posting the baby book that I made out of one of SU!'s On Board Art Journals. They are sold for $8.95 on page 215 of our Idea Book and Catalog, but I actually earned this one free as an incentive they offer based on my amount of sales. Anyway, on to the project:

I first used some of our On Board Accents (chipboard) which I covered with modpodge and patterned paper. I used SU!'s Double Sided Designer Series Paper called Spring Showers. The star, the circle, and the little tag are the items I'm speaking of. I sanded the edges of the paper which is why it's white around the edges. The little frame for the word cherish is part of our On Board Accents. I covered it in So Saffron Craft Ink. I made my holes for the spiral binding the hard way, so in a perfect world I will tell you how I would have done it had my brain been turned on. Pretend this is how it happened: I traced the holes in the edge of the patterned paper where the spirals needed to fit by un-bending the spiral coil and slipping off the cover. After tracing the holes on the back side of my patterned paper, I cut them out with SU!'s 1/4-inch square punch. Then, I painted the cover of the journal with modpodge using a sponge brush. I then adhered the patterned paper to the journal cover. Next I used sticky tape to adhere the twill tape with the little metal embellishment on it. After that, I used large glue dots to adhere the patterned paper-covered chipboard shapes to the journal. For the So Saffron colored frame, I used the sticky tape to adhere it with brads attached to it, to the journal cover around the word cherish. Lastly, I stamped Zeke on the journal. Here is the final product (the outside).

I didn't take any pictures of the inside, but I made little patterned paper tabs for the journal. There is one for each month and they're labeled "first month, second month, third month" and so on, all the way up to the 12th month. I put a piece of patterned paper on the first page of each month's section for a photo to be mounted there. There is also some space for journaling about the photo. In the very front of the book on the back of the cover I mounted Card Stock with "Baby Firsts" on it. Each baby first was listed with a blank for the age that the "first" was accomplished. For example, I had "I first clapped when I was _______ old," and "My first tooth came in when I was ____ old," and "I took my first step when I was _____old," and so on. On the very first actual page of the journal, I stamped some little footprints and "I'm Here" and printed out spots for the birth information to be recorded. For example: name, date, weight, height, and birthplace.

All in all, it was a very time intensive project, even though I think it looks easy, and I loved doing it. Handmade gifts at baby showers are something I love to give. I think Jodi (the mom to be) liked it, and I hope it will provide useful as she records special memories of Zeke.

I got my inspiration for this journal from a fellow SCS'er (splitcoaststampers.com member) whose screen name is atomicbutterfly. Take a peek at what Kelly made here .

Take care, and I hope to post something pretty on Monday. Sunday is my down-day so don't expect new stuff then. Thanks for reading!