My Photo Book Process

My last post showed the photo books I make to remember my kids' childhoods.  Because I make at least 3 books a year I've had to come up with an organization process.  I've been making these books for seven years and have been known to become overwhelmed by them.  Now that I've made so many, I have a process that works for me.  Hopefully you can take some of my elements and come up with a way to organize your photos so that you can make photo books too!

I use a MacBook Pro and this is what my iphoto screen looks like.  I take a ton of photos; more than most people I know.  I keep an "album" (similar to a folder) for every month.  

Photographic Memories

Sometimes it seems like my life is flying by.  I can't believe that I am about to have two of my three children attending grade school.  I'll have a Kindergartener and a First Grader (plus a wild 3 year old)!  From the minute I had my daughter I felt like I wanted to remember every single moment.  I wanted to soak her up and never forget a single second. I felt that way about all of my kids.  I knew I had to find a way to recall as much as possible; a way to remember as much of their childhoods as I possibly could.  

I originally thought I'd use baby books to keep a record of my kiddos' childhoods.  It was overwhelming though.  I had to print photos out and glue them in the baby book, remember to get the baby book out and find the right page when a "milestone" took place, and remember to watch for specific milestones that were already mentioned in the book (otherwise that particular section would remain blank). 

Pirate Posters!

Arrr Matey!

In my last post I showed wanted posters that I made for my son's second birthday.  They were so popular with the kids I decided to make a different version of them for my son's pirate party a couple years later.   I used the same technique as in my last post but this time I added a couple extra steps to make them even more "real" looking.

Wanted...

When my son Cash turned 2, he had a cowboy themed birthday party.  I like to find ways for the decorations & favors to be personal for our guests so I decided to make wanted posters for everybody.  They were a hit.  Every kiddo and grown up had wanted posters that were personalized just for them.  It was so fun choosing what their crimes and cowboy names were!  And it made a great party favor too!

I started with tan colored card stock and my word program.  I made a template to start with so I only had to change a few things as I did each poster.  I used a black and white photo of each person on their poster too.  I was able to find a photo of every person saved on my computer but you can also have friends text you photos of their kids if you are missing any. 

Giving Back

"There is no such thing as a small act of kindness."  Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I'm such a blessed person.  I love my life.  I have so much to be thankful for.  Sure, I have struggles like everyone else and I do have things in my life that truly make my heart ache.  But I know that no matter how bad things in my little bubble are, there are countless others who carry many more burdens than I ever will.  Others who need to smile.  Others who need help and support...maybe even from someone like me.

My Take on a Buttercream Cowgirl Cake

Here's my take on a cowgirl cake made with buttercream.  

I made a 3 layer, 10 inch, bottom cake and frosted it (smooth) in pink buttercream.  Then I piped on black and white paisley designs to look like a bandanna.  I made a separate 3 tier, 6 inch cake and frosted it in white buttercream.  Then I used canned chocolate frosting to make the cow spots.  Before frosting the cakes I added a little homemade simple syrup to each layer to keep it moist.  I also used my candy molds to make pink and white chocolate boots to place around the cake.

  

Bath Towel Solution!

3 kids + 3 bath towels = one big mess! 

Our old system for hanging bath towels was to hang towels on the closet doorknob.  It didn't work for many reasons...

#1.  Three towels didn't fit properly.

#2. The bottom towel never got dry.

#3. My kids didn't like hanging their towels so they wound up on the floor.

I needed a better system so I searched Pinterest (my go to place for all things crafty) and found a few different towel hanging solutions.  I chose the bits and pieces I liked and came up with a simple and inexpensive solution to our towel debacle.

I turned this...

Into this!

Here's what I did...