MINI ALBUM | Baby Taiyo

My brother-in-law and his wife welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world last month, and I was lucky enough to meet him when he was only a few days old. 

I had my camera with me on the day (Mother's Day) and snapped a few photos of baby Taiyo (means Sun in Japanese) while I was there.

With the photos I captured on the day, I put together a mini album with a my favourite captures from the day. I wanted to keep it very simple so aside from using stamps, I haven't embellished much.

Here's a sneak at the cover and inside of the mini album.

Alphabet stickers from Polka Dot Creative

Stamp from Kellie Stamps

Ali Edwards Stamp

I also made a Photomovie using iMovie with the photos I took. I love how adding music to photos brings out a new dimension to how we connect with the images we see.

If you would like to try making the mini album, I have included the instructions below.

I hope you give the mini album a go. They are very quick and easy and make great gifts for friends and family. 

Hope you all have a great week! xx

ON MY MIND | Our amazing school teachers

There are only two weeks of school left for the boys. Where has the year gone!?!

Little Jake has almost finished his Prep year. As I walked him to his classroom this morning, I held his little hand and could not believe that he is going into Grade 1 next year.   

I have huge respect for the teachers who are passionate about encouraging, teaching and nurturing our children to reach their fullest potential.

My big boy Isaac is going into Grade 4 next year. Yup, Grade 4. 

I had a chat to Isaac's teacher last week and I felt very grateful he was placed into her class this year. 

I am also a little bit sad Mrs C won't be teaching Isaac next year. She has been the most amazing teacher who was committed to giving him the push he needed to grow in confidence, yet being gentle enough to not overwhelm him. 

His marks have improved from last year, and I am 99.99% certain Mrs C was the catalyst.  

Check out this drawing that is currently pinned up on the whiteboard in Isaac's classroom. 

To put it into perspective, the RHS of the vase was blank. The LHS of the vase had the pattern outlined in black. His task was to copy the pattern onto the RHS, and then colour everything in. 

You will have to excuse my proud mummy moment. I just love the striking colour combination he has chosen, and his attention to detail.  

Teachers can have such a massive influence on our children. And the good ones, well...I feel forever in their debt for nurturing and guiding my boys.

Speaking of gratitude for awesome teachers, I made this mini album for Jake's kindy teachers last year as an end of year gift. 

I've shared this mini album before, so here's the link to to the original post (only requires one sheet of 12" x 12" card stock).

Maybe you might like to make a mini album for your children's teachers. Check out the tutorial, the possibilities are endless. 

Thanks for dropping by. Hope you have a fantastic week! xx

Birthday Mini Album/CD Case

Fancy that, 2013 already!?! It's funny how a new year has the ability to give us a boost and help us refocus our attention on what we want to achieve professionally, personally, and creatively. Although I'm not one to make new year's resolutions, I do know I want to make time to get stuck into some more layouts for my boys' memory books. 

In December last year, I was crafting my little butt off! One of the big projects I was determined to finish was our wedding album. I am proud to say it was completed before Christmas, just in time for our 10 year wedding anniversary in March this year. I am almost embarrassed to admit it took me this long to get around to doing it!

And then just before Christmas, I went to a super cute Very Hungry Caterpillar 1st birthday party for gorgeous little Isla! 

Here's the card I made for Isla. I am in love with embossing and glitter at the moment. Not to mention Patio Party DSP and the Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon! I'm really happy with the colour combination too, it reminds me of all things summery and fun!

All supplies from Stampin' Up!

I took my camera to Isla's party - just incase there was a photo opportunity. As it turned out, I ended up with quite a few photos and decided to have a go at making a photo movie with my favourite images as a gift for Isla's mum and dad. It is amazing how adding music to imagery lifts the photos to another emotional dimension.

Of course, I couldn't just give Janette (Isla's mum) the photo movie CD in just any old cd case, this called for...you guessed it... a CD CASE MINI ALBUM!!

I wanted to make something special for Janette and Daniel (Isla's dad) they could look at in 20 years time and remember Isla's very first birthday.  Something to treasure forever. Look at her, isn't she just beautiful!?!

All supplies from Stampin' Up except date stamp (Amy Tangerine)

The white polka dots on red was created by inking up the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder with Real Red ink, placing a piece of Whisper White card stock inside the embossing folder, and then running it through the Big Shot. A really fun technique to experiment with! Try it with different inks and other embossing folders :-)

I also want to mention Isla's very talented cousins painted the caterpillars onto each of the party bags which were given to each of the kiddies. I cut the image straight from one of the bags we received. 

And lastly, I am still eating grain free. Fresh rocket this time of year is awesome as it is quick and easy, and a good alternative to lettuce! You can change it up by adding either pumpkin, pear, roasted beets. The possibilities are endless. I recently made a "cheese" with macadamia nuts and it is so yum with the rocket salad. To be honest, I put it on everything because it is so delicious. Heaps of macadamia nut cheese recipes on the web, look for one that suits you!

Pan-fried coriander chicken patties, with fresh rocket in a lemon and
olive oil dressing,topped with pan-fried pumpkin
and  roasted macadamia nuts.

That's it from me today! Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to sharing more of my crafting projects this year!

Welcome Baby mini album

When our friends Lisa and Craig announced the birth of their beautiful baby boy Lennox, I wanted to make them a mini album to celebrate their new addition.  

But I didn't have any photos! Luckily, when I spoke to my buddy Cind, she offered to open up her studio for a newborn photoshoot workshop with me.  Thanks buddy!   

Only 8 days after having bub, Lisa was kind and generous enough to come to Cind's studio and allow me to take some photos of baby Lennox. Once I had processed all the photos, the crafting fun began!

I used the 12" x 12" Crumb Cake card stock from Stampin' Up! to make the mini album and kept the design very simple because I really wanted the photos to shine.  

The rub-ons i used are non-Stampin' Up!  I wanted to used some nice quotes that reflects how children bring us much joy and happiness, and how much they can teach us adults if we choose to listen.

A big thanks to Lisa, Lennox and Lisa's mum Sheila for being so patient and generous with their time on the day of the photoshoot.  Means a lot x

Stampin' Up!® supplies: Card Stock (Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White).

Cindy Revell Photography CD Case

My goal to make one scrapbook page per week has failed dismally.  On the upside, I have been busy with other creative projects.  One of which was my first newborn photoshoot workshop with my lovely photographer buddy Cind.  

Friends of the family had just welcomed a beautiful baby boy into their lives, and they were kind enough to let me photograph him for my workshop.  The photoshoot was a fantastic learning experience, as was the the post-processing stage! 

Aside from the photoshoot, Cind has asked me to create some CD Cases for her photography clients.  I was very excited to be able to give something back to Cind, she has given her time and shared her photography knowledge with me so freely.

This is what i have come up with.  I used the Very Vintage wheel stamp and VersaMark to create the border, which was then heat embossed with Stampin' Up's clear embossing powder.  The clear embossing gives a subtle textured effect which looks quite neat when it catches the light.  

The ribbon I used for the tie was Stampin' Up's taffeta ribbon in Basic Black to coordinate with the Basic Black card stock used for the CD cases.  

  

The ribbon from the front cover has been threaded through to the inside of the back cover to add a feature to the contact details page.

I encourage you to visit Cind's facebook page (cindyrevellphotography.com.au) and have a look at her gallery.  If you are looking for a photographer who is professional, friendly and great with the kiddies, Cindy would be perfect!

If you are a photographer and would like CD cases made to give to your clients, please message me on The Making Table facebook page for quote.

Until next time, thanks for visiting!

Owl CD case/mini album

When i went to my first workshop with Dianna from the Paper Art Studio, she showed me how to make an easy CD case/mini album. 

I thought it was such a neat idea and have since made quite a few of my own.

A few months ago, I had my parent roster day at Jake's kindy and I couldn't wait to take a few photos of him with his little buddies.

It was such an awesome morning seeing Jake with his mates.  I got a few nice photos of Jake with his friend Noah, so I made a mini album for his mum.  I put the photos onto a CD which fits snugly into the centre album pocket.

As you can see, I'm really liking my owl punch teamed with the Woodgrain background stamp.