LDS Baptism Book

I thought I would also share the baptism book that I made for my daughter's baptism.  I liked the idea of having a small memory book for her to fill out about her special day that she can treasure forever.  And I also wanted a place for guests at the baptism to sign in so she can remember who was there.  I had searched online to get some ideas for an LDS themed baptism book & I just didn't find very many examples at all.  So I decided to come up with my own.  I used my digital program again & created 8" x 8" scrapbook pages.  I had taken her to the temple to take some pictures of her in her white baptism dress so I used those photos throughout the book.  I included some pages that had a poem, song or scripture on it as well as some fill-in the blank pages where she could record how she felt on her baptism day.  I also left some pages blank so that we could add on some pictures from her actual baptism day later on.  After I made my digital scrapbook pages I waited.  I waited until Shutterfly had one of their free 8" x 8" hardcover photo book deals.  (Watch for them because I swear it seems they have this offer about once a month.)  Then I uploaded my scrapbook pages in jpeg format into Shuttefly & created a blank book.  It was so easy & I only had to pay for shipping!  The book turned out really nice too, I am really happy with it.  So I thought I would share it here in case anyone else had a hard time finding some ideas for a baptism book.

Here's the actual book:

The following are the digital pages that I made for the entire book:

Front cover:

First page inside:

The following pages go side by side in the book:

Back cover:

So here are a couple of pictures of the actual book with some of the pages where I added pictures of her baptism day later:

Shutterfly also gives you the option of adding a clear memorabilia pocket at the back of your book which I thought was a great idea:

I put one of her invitations (click here to see that) in the pocket along with some other pictures from her baptism day.  You could also put cards that were received in there too.

I am so glad that I made this book for Kaylee.  It was easy, inexpensive & now I have the template already set for when my other 2 daughters are baptized in the future.  All I will have to do is change the accent color to whatever color they want & personalize it just for them.  

I hope this gives you some ideas if you are wanting to make your own baptism book!

Handmade Christmas 2011: Digital Scrapbook

This gift, technically, is semi-handmade I guess! I uploaded the photos & added the text & created the book, but the design & templates & production came from Paper Coterie. I made this digital scrapbook for my husband for Christmas. He's always hard to shop for. A couple of months ago he hiked Half Dome in Yosemite with his brother so I thought it would be neat to put all of the photos into a book for him. Plus, Paper Coterie had a coupon code for a free $30 credit. This book was 8-1/2" x 11" size, hardcover & cost $32. So I had to pay $2 for the book (plus $9.21 for shipping). Not too bad though for the entire book. I love Paper Coterie & this is the third book I've made through them. The quality is great, their designs are super fun, the program is really easy to use & they always have these great coupon codes which make for a great deal! The code I used is already expired, but if I see another one I'll try to remember to post it on here for you. There are also so many other companies right now that are offering great deals on digital scrapbooks, so you should check for them if you have someone on your list that you're not sure what to give for the holidays.

Here's the front cover:

Some of my favorite inside pages:

And you can even customize the back cover too:

So give a digital scrapbook a try this year, it is a great gift that will last for years to come!

Thankful

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was wonderful! Lots of food, lots of family, lots of fun! I've seen so many cute "thankful" albums that people have made for their families to record each year what they are thankful for. I decided that this year I wanted to make one for our family. I am excited to see every year what each of us is grateful for & to be able to look back to the previous years & remember what we have been grateful for. Of course my girls are still too young to write what they are thankful for, but they can draw pictures & then we can write it out for them. I am excited to have started this album this year & to record our blessings here in it.

So this is the first page in the album:

And here are our notes for this year:

My original plan was to get a quick photo of us on Thanksgiving too, but that just didn't happen! Oh well! Maybe next year, I think it would be fun to see how different we are from year to year.

These pages were super easy to make, it's still not too late to start your own thankful album for your family!

Digital Baby's First Year Pages

So speaking of My Digital Studio (MDS)-remember my post yesterday? If not, scroll down & read that one first! Anyway, on my digital scrapbooking "to-do" list is a first year album for my baby Aidynn. I like simple projects with a clear beginning & end. I like projects even better if I can finish them in just one nap time! So I think I've just been a little overwhelmed by the thought of starting the baby's first year album. So many photos & memories to include that I get tired just thinking about it! And, I know, I know, the longer I put it off, the older she is getting! Yikes! What I love about MDS is that there are so many options for creating great digital scrapbook pages. You can create pages completely from scratch, or if you are feeling a little overwhelmed they have a ton of pre-designed pages that you can use. The layouts are completely ready for you to use, you just simply drop your photos in & type your journaling onto them. The other great thing? You can also customize the pre-made templates. So you can start off with a pre-designed page you like, but you can change the colors, designer papers, stamps, embellishments, etc. if you want to. Pretty cool!

My sister-in-law, Beth, just recently finished her middle daughter's first year album using MDS. I can't believe she got the whole thing done so quickly while still tending to her 3 girls-ages 4, 2 & under 1! And it looks super cute! I absolutely fell in love with this album! She chose some beautiful designer paper, colors, stamps & embellishments that just worked so well together. And Beth has inspired me to get started on my own baby's first year album in MDS (you know, while she's still a baby)! I asked Beth if she wouldn't mind emailing me a few of her favorite pages so that I could share them with you here. She graciously has & here they are, sweet little Ainsley Jane:

Aren't these pages awesome! Thanks for letting me share them on my blog Beth! And I hope you all feel inspired to start scrapbooking some memories too, either with paper or digi-style!

Our Family

We finally got a new family photo at my niece's wedding last weekend. Yay! Sure, it's not perfect, but with two young kids what can you expect. This was the best shot we got-Kaylee (left) is so distracted by what's going on around her & Aidynn (right) was sooooo tired! Not to mention the fact that it was about 107 degrees outside that day! But, the last good family photo we got was from April & the girls sure have changed & grown since then. I love making digital scrapbook pages with the My Digital Studio software from Stampin' Up! This page literally took me all of 2 minutes to create. Love it! Now all I have to do is print it out & add it to the family scrapbook! So easy!

Birthday Girl

Just a simple 2-page layout of my brand new one-year-old! All done in My Digital Studio, of course!

Christmas Card Photo 2009

Since we just moved back to the beach & have been enjoying spending time there together as a family, we thought it would be fun to take our family Christmas card photo down there this year. We dressed our girls up in Santa hats & got some great shots! There were so many good ones, but these were my top 3 favorites. This, of course, meant I needed to make a digital scrapbook page too! So cute!

Halloween 2009

Just another quick Halloween digital scrapbook page I made today & thought I would share!

My Little Pumpkins

Just a quick digital page that I made this morning with My Digital Studio. I am still LOVING this program! It would make a perfect holiday gift too! Email me for more info or to order a copy!

Mommy's Favorite Photos-A Digital Scrapbooking Album

I know, I know...you're wondering if I've given up on traditional papercrafting! I haven't, but I've just been enjoying the new Stampin' Up! My Digital Studio program so much I can't stop using it! It's so fast & easy to use, just what a girl needs with an energetic 3-year-old & a 2-month-old baby around the house! I decided to take advantage of a demonstrator discount offer to order an 8" x 8" professionally printed album. I have to say that I think it turned out great! Due to time constraints I used the pre-made templates in the Summer Home kit. It was so much fun to make this album! I just dropped my photos into the photo boxes & then added my own text. I really didn't change much on the pages, just moved things around here & there or deleted some embellishments that I didn't want. And I think using the templates to start was a perfect way to become familiar with the My Digital Studio program. Now I feel very comfortable with it & have been designing all sorts of pages completely on my own! Remember, you can purchase this awesome digital program starting on October 1st, just email me for details!

Here are some (ok a lot) of my favorite pages from the album:

Here's what the cover of my album looks like:

(Not my best photo, but the only one I had so far with all 4 of us in it!)

And here's a photo of some inside pages:

You can choose to either have a hard-bound book, soft-bound book, photo cover or solid cover & you can choose what color you want. This is great! I have to say, Stampin' Up! has totally impressed me yet again!