happy new year! i'm soooo looking forward to 2009 being filled with creative papercrafting!
i wanted to share a gift idea that can really help a mom out! my cousin has three kids, lots of family activity, loads of photographs of piling up in shoeboxes, and no time to do any scrapbooking. so i offered to put together a scrapbook for her that the kids could enjoy looking through together....and it would help them remember how much they really love each other whenever they were in a squabbling mood! i went to their house and pored through the boxes to select shots that best captured their special family moments. i took the pictures home and started sorting, trimming and organizing them into groups by theme.
i lined all the pages of an 10x10 blank board book with a variety of colorful papers. i mod-podged the front and back covers for a little extra protection from kids' sticky fingers. i created very simply constructed layouts to get lots of pictures on each page, and to make it kid-friendly with stickers and bright colors. each page has a theme like halloween, dress up, christmas, playtime - it was so much fun to make and my cousin's family thought is was pretty special!
i lined all the pages of an 10x10 blank board book with a variety of colorful papers. i mod-podged the front and back covers for a little extra protection from kids' sticky fingers. i created very simply constructed layouts to get lots of pictures on each page, and to make it kid-friendly with stickers and bright colors. each page has a theme like halloween, dress up, christmas, playtime - it was so much fun to make and my cousin's family thought is was pretty special! 
(sorry for the somewhat fuzzy shots, i was using an older camera)
••••• these green and crafty folks submitted their posts to me - great stuff!
• katie in germany recycles and reuses everything! check out her gift tags, handmade from stuff you are gonna think twice about tossing out.
• the vintage info network reminds us how to make a favorite classic - the pinwheel!
• lisa at condo blues makes cute danish woven paper hearts and snowflakes from her junk mail and wrapping paper.
••••• here are some posts that i have been collecting since the last issue - things that made me say "wow!"
• jenn turned me on to japanese kusudama - origami paper balls that you can use for gift accents, or glue together to make a gorgeous paper ball ornament. a tutorial is at folding trees.
• rubber stamping fun shows you how to make custom rub-on transfers from your hair styling products!
• rosanne has a quick and smart idea for a hostess gift.
• louise shows off an adorable explosion box she made for her hubs! there are great tutorials at scor-pal and at life as lou. i can't wait to make my own explosion box!!
• i've been seeing lots of really cute squash books - split coast stampers has a good tutorial plus a whole gallery of samples.
• debbie in new zealand shows you a sweet window scrapbook layout with folded paper that looks like curtains.
• i'm in love with spinner cards! hero arts has a terrific video tutorial - such a fun way to animate your greeting!
• becky in tennessee makes these very thoughtful abc baby albums for new moms!
••••• that's a wrap
thanks so much for visiting and clicking -- my next issue will be posted on 1/24/09. feel free to share a link to this issue in your own blog - grab my badge up there on the right to post with it!