We have had a fantastic summer filled with lots of sunshine and memories. Having a new baby at the house, your album’s get filled up with “first time” photos. Joel is no exception. So I created an album (8″x9″) with some of the photos from Joel’s first summer. Since we live on the countryside the Life In The Country collection was a perfect choice.

I have used Mod Podge to create the album cover. I simply tore papers apart and glued it to the cover and sealed it with Mod Podge. If you want to try it out, please remember that all layers must dry completely before adding a new one. I have cut out the holes with a knife and added some eyelets to the circular ones.

I added texture paste randomly and I also added some Weathered Wood Distress Stickles to the resin in the corner.

A tag created with Nestabilities. The bobbinet has been painted white and then I just added some ribbon and a cute pin. I like to hang all sorts of stuff on my mini-album rings.What I really like with mini-albums is when you can see through the pages or the covers. It gives you a red thread to follow. Here you can see the photo from the first spread, together with the chipboard frames I used.

We are lucky to live a 20 minute drive from the west coast. We took refuge in Fiskebäckskil one really hot day, hoping for some breeze to cool us but no way. It was just as bad as back home. But it was Joel’s first time by the sea, so even if the album has been created with Life In The Country I thought it appropriate to use a bit of Life By The Sea for this photo.

I have used various punches from Fiskars and Martha Stewart for this album. Most flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Prima. The raw chipboard is from Scrap FX, printed from Bo Bunny and Prima. The chipboard album itself is from FabScraps.

I have used gesso and Distress Stickles on most of the raw chipboard in this album. All pearls has been created with Pearl Maker white. The rings go through a die cut hinge that continues on the next spread… following the red thread.

Here you can see the rest of the red hinges.I really love this photo of Joel. He is so full of life and spoof, always laughing no matter what. All lace and ribbon are from LSS’s, metal and flowers by Prima. This page has got a door attached to the hinges that you can open up…

and here’s what’s inside. A couple of tags and a photo of Joel and uncle Jan on our terrace. I know it’s hard to see on the photo but Joel’s carrying a t-shirt saying “There’s nothing sweet about me”. We thought it appropriate since everybody thinks he’s so sweet. 

Moments chipboard by Prima, spinner by Tim Holtz.

Our little cutie pie refuses to wear a sun hat. This must be the first time he used it, because it got “lost” very quickly after that. The die cut in the corner continues on the following page…
… with the chipboard that says “Friends”.

Well. “Friends.” Osiris loves to walk around his stroller screaming for all he’s got while Joel’s sleeping to wake him up and Joel loves to chase his tail. So I guess they are even.

More texture paste and die cuts. I folded one of them so you can see both sides of the pattern paper. It turned out to a nice decoration to put some roses on.

Joel got his first swing this spring and he really likes it. Frames by Nestabilities, chipboard, resin and flowers by Prima.

As you can see I really like to use the paper stripes as decoration.

More cozy papers…I shot this photo in our garden while Joel was constantly crawling around a picnic blanket. I was going to send it to my office, but all they could see was his back. 🙂 This photo was shot while Joel was lying directly on the grass for the first time. He was really thoughtful and had a philosophic kind of expression that I liked while he was watching his hand. So I cut it in two. Tape, frame and tag die cuts by Tim Holtz.Here’s a little family spread… Daddy and Joel with the same tape that I used on the previous page, just rounding the corner. Metal by Prima, die cuts by Tim Holtz. Mommy and Joel. I have cut out the paper using the chipboard as template and then added it to the side of the album. I have used hinges here too, stretching over two pages. Same with the die cuts.

And here’s the last page. Joel got a pirate uv suit to use this summer and of course he needed a pirate baby pool to go along with it. Pirate flag and everything. 

I have used most papers from the Life In The Country collection to create this album. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did creating it.