Saturday, April 9, 2011

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.