Hey Y’all, today I thought I would start out with some transparency (okay, and maybe some rambling too). Occasionally, I find myself contemplating the logistics of this “memory keeping” thing I do. How many albums? What Sizes? How do I divide the categories of Layouts up? It can easily become overwhelming and well, not fun. Can anyone relate?
I have 3 children that are blessings to me and I love that I get to be the one documenting their stories. So if we are getting to the facts on how I do that , it’s this: Each child has a 12x12 album Birth - 5 years. When they turn 6 (so far only one in this category), I am scaling it down …way down. To 6x8. Mostly pocket style but the occasional layout gets thrown in here and there. I don’t know how many years one of these 6x8 sizes will span. But hey, at least I’m working with some sort of plan. (Don’t get me started on family albums, personal stuff, and mini’s!)
AHHH…Birthday Parties around here…not always with friends invited, sometimes we keep it small and family only, but with that in mind I won’t be sharing all of the pocket pages I made in order to protect the privacy of the kiddos that came to this particular party.
One of the things I ran into with this particular project was that I had used almost ALL of my Zoey kit up. (!!!!!!) Colored cardstock, the stamps, and ink came to my rescue- stretching my kit much further than one would think possible. One thing I found to be helpful was inking the edges on my “3x4” cards, since I had cut them from cardstock it made them look a little more “finished”.
I have always loved “Winnie the Pooh” and Brandon has had his “Pooh” bear to sleep, play, and imagine all sorts of things with from the time he was born. I knew I wanted to include A.A. Milne’s poem from “Now We Are Six”. I simply embellished the typewritten card by stamping the outline number “6” on some leftover colored cardstock and used a circle punch to cut it out. I love how the little banner on that acetate 3x4 piece came together so simply with the cute tiny staples (shocker I know!). I also used the “It’s A Party!” Stamp to add a little tab on the lower right side of the pocket page. I am hoping to incorporate tabs into the whole album to produce a sort of “ flow” in separation of different stories/events.
I LOVE the large chipboard numbers from the August Zoey kit - this was also a key element in helping to create a card with limited supplies. More stamping, scrap paper layering and mini staples to make cards that tell the story. It was fun to add some of the puffy stickers around the polka dot pattern and I added some light stamping with the word “remember” as a way to jazz up the card.
I included some snapshots of party decor and then used a piece of the branding strip to add the “little things” sentiment. And because that pocket page was photo heavy it was a good opportunity to mix in a 6x8 Layout. I wanted a few layers behind the vertical 4x6 photo and for that , I cut the heart card with notebook edging in half, that way I could “stretch” it in the background.
For this last part of the spread, I used some of the black and white polka dot patterned paper and took advantage of the uneven spacing to put my journaling.
It was so fun using the stamps to complete this birthday spread and I hope it inspires you to stretch the last little bits of your Zoey kit while you are waiting on the adorable new Heidi!
Carol
Supplies: August Zoey Kit | Zoey Paper Pack | Zoey Chipboard Numbers | Zoey Acetate Shapes | Zoey Tiny Tags | Zoey Black Puffy Alphabet | Zoey Stamp Set | Essentials Bitty Puffy Stickers | Outline Alpha Stamp Set | Hooray! Stamp Set