Baby Brag Book

One of my husband's cousin had a little boy and I made this little brag book to accompany the gift. Every proud new mama needs something to display pics of her new baby wherever she goes... :-)

Inside are pages of double sided cardstock that she can just glue pictures on.

This is actually quite easy to do. The cover is a piece of cardstock that has been embossed with a folder that looks like some sort of leather to me, and the pages are just cut to size and sewn with a sewing machine.

To decorate the cover I just used some of the same cardstock from inside, and some felt buttons (glued on with a hot glue gun so there is no chance they will come off even if this is carried in a purse). I used special brads and some twine to make sure this stays closed as well.

I made a simple card to go with it, using more of the coordinated cardstock, and heat embossed the sentiment. The twine on the brag book is by Trendy Twine, the one on the card is by the Twinery. Stamp is My Thoughts Exactly. The button dies are by the Cat's Pajama.

Secrets mini Tags-album

I made this little album for my daughter to write little secrets she wants to remember later on... I used Echo Park Springtime paper, the stamps are from My Thoughts Exactly  (this is the Birds & Bees set) and the other goodies are from Annie's Paper Boutique.

Basically I just made a cardstock and pattern paper cover around little kraft enveloppes/sleeves, and put little colored tags in the pockets...

To keep everything neatly in place,  I used magnet tape strips because it is flat.

For the inside I used mini Kraft sleeves that I covered on one side with pattern paper. I LOVE those mini sleeves, they are so tiny and cute and can be used for all kind of things. <3 :-)  I punched some holes in them with my Crop-O-Dile and attached everything together with some Trendy Twine...
                 

                                     

I left the other side natural since my daughter might want to use stickers in her album or scribble on them. Plus I like the contrast of the kraft with all the other colors. :-)

Inside each pocket I inserted a colorful tag. Those are so fun to use, and they come reinforced, I just added a tiny bit of twine to each one to make a little "pull handle"... ;-)

Each little tag is individually housed in its little pocket... but you could also chose to have a tag every other pocket etc... And the number of tags or pockets is really whatever you want it to be, you just adapt the size of the cover accordingly...

Here it is when you remove the tags. As you can see this is a really easy project that is fun and that kids will love receiving. You can use the pockets to stash little memorabilia like tickets to events or you could glue little pictures on the sleeves and write journaling on the tags, etc... You could also make a booklet without tags and use it like I do: to store those Box Tops for example or other little proof of purchase or clipped off food labels. No more stashing them as is in the kitchen junk drawer... ;-)

Wedding Planner

A friend of mine just got engaged, and I thought she might have fun jotting down notes about her wedding preparations in this little planner I made for her, using My Timeless Template recipes holder... :-) I made my own mini notebooks to fit inside the pockets. That's something easy to slip in a bag so you can add ideas when they come to you! ;-) (as always, click on the pic for a bigger size).

Mini recipes-book

So I just sent an e-mail to my friend asking that she doesn't visit that site for the next couple of days (I don't know if she does visit or not, but just to be sure! ;-))

I have been bad because I made the mistake of telling her I was working on a little surprise for her...that was months ago and I thought my little project would be ready in no time, but then life got in the way and also my biggest problem was that I actually had to cook/prepare some dishes just so I could take pics to make my little book!

I considered making it without pics at some point, that would have enabled me to put more recipes also, but I thought it wouldn't be as nice. Somebody suggested I just take pictures from a cookbook but that would be cheating to me...

So this project dragged on and on, even though it was fairly simple to start with, especially since I bought a themed mini-album for that purpose, I added a little rafia tie to close the album and match the rafia I put throughout the booklet.

The cat keeps on coming to try to chew on it so it is perched on top of the bookshelf till it's mailed!!

I was not teasing my internet friend on purpose but I hope I have learned a valuable lesson and will be able to keep it to myself next time I plan on making someone a little surprise!! :-S

Because once I promise someone (or myself) that I'll do something, I do! Only problem is sometimes it takes forever!! :-(

The recipes I put in there are just a few of my favorites, nothing fancy but things I really like (or grew up with) and I thought it would be fun to send some french recipe (one is actually morocan and comes from my husband's Grandma and is a family favorite) to an american girl who likes to cook!! It was actually hard to pic the recipes to start with, because I could only put like 5 of them.

Making the little book was fun though and it made me want to make a Recipes Book for my daughter one day, where I would put recipes from my Mom and my Grandmas, and then when she's grown up she would take it with her in her new household and keep the tradition alive! :-)I don't know when I'll find the time but even if it takes me years, I'll get there... ;-)

So anyway, Happy Birthday Catherine, (since it's her birthday today) and thanks for your patience!! :-) ....

P.S: Since, as always, when you click on the pics they get larger, I recommend that you do so and try some of the recipes yourself!.. ;-D