Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Something Old, Something New, Borrowed, or Blue?

March was a blur. Just a complete and utter blur. We traveled, we hosted out of town guests, we had a family wedding, I became an aunt for the 7th time....etc, etc, etc. I told myself no less than eight times to sit down and post about this project, but it just never happened. So, the baby is down for her nap, and I don't have any excuses today :)

I was invited to a bridal shower for the beautiful bride of said family wedding. It had a great theme of something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and the instructions for a gift were to "be creative".

Do you have a creative brain trust? If you don't, you really should get one. When I get stumped, I typically call my mother and/or sister. My mother is nothing short of an artistic genius in any medium you can think of and my sister has a fabulous aesthetic (that sells) and isn't too shabby in the creative genius department either. I do not hold a candle, not even close, but I can pick their brains and call whining "Help me, help me". That was the case here. My sister got me started with the suggestion of a photo album and I ran with it, albeit in a slightly different direction. Hey, I said I needed help, I'm not totally craftarded.

So for my creative gift, I settled on putting together a personalized scrapbook making kit. I decided I wanted to go with the something blue and used that and the invitation to the shower as my guide.

First, I set out to design and put together the first page. I used a portion of the shower invitation as the centerpiece and centered it on my accent paper. I also personalized the page with the date and name of the bride.


I couldn't help myself. I had to add a bit of glittery flair to the page with my handy dandy glue pen and ultra fine glitter.


After I was happy with the cover sheet. I placed it and 10 or so blank pages in a book and bound it. If you don't have a book binder, you can always find a journal or scrapbook at the store that will work.




To make up the remainder of the kit, I cut out accent mats, photo mats, and accent flowers (with added glittery flair of course). I included blank paper and larger sheets of the daisy accent paper. I printed out phrases in the same color and font as my cover page and found some vintage inspired photo corners and coordinating ribbon to round out the kit.




I think this is a great way to honor a friend, bride or not. For me, the bridal shower was about the bride and I wanted to give her something that would remind her of how much she is loved and cherished. If I was a really great person, I would have offered to put it together for her, but I was worried that she would still be waiting on it well past her first anniversary :)

More to come, in less than a month, I promise.

P.S. If you love that daisy paper as much as I do, it is called Pool Daisy and you can find it at Paper Source. All of the blue paper also came from Paper Source in the color Pool.

P.P.S. Here is a peek at my work space, mid project. Yes, this is what my husband lives with....and he doesn't even complain! I hit the jackpot with that guy I tell you.



7 comments:

  1. Katie, I want that table if you ever want to get rid of it. It makes a great quilting table. :~)

    ReplyDelete
  2. what a special gift it was to receive!!! I just looked at it again this weekend when trying to get stuff in order and noticed all the special thoughtful details that I didn't catch when first opening... SUCH a thoughtful, special gift that I look forward to making and keeping... could very well be after our first anniversary at the rate things are going right now- ha!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Allison, I am glad that you like it. I am sure you will be able to gather more that enough photos to fill it. I had intended to have some for you, but only two or three photos turned out. I think my settings were off for the lighting.

    Mom, we will only get rid of that table if we move. If that happens, it is all yours. You are also welcome to come and use it whenever you want.

    ReplyDelete
  4. what a great idea, katie! I love it, very thoughtful and useful too!

    I also love the new word...craftarded. LOL, Ill be using that one ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. craftarded = LOL. the project turned out super cute!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I almost woke Jake up from his nap with my guffaw when I read "craftarded". Love the way the project turned out it's pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's really neat. I've been looking to make a scrapbook making kit for my wife. She said she really wants to make a great scrapbook of our last two years together, so I decided to give her everything she needs for it.

    ReplyDelete