Hello Baby First Year Mini-album

I promised to get these photos edited and posted.  I got most of the way there this weekend and then, poof, activities took over and I didn't finish.  So, I quickly wrapped this up this morning to post before heading to work.  I purchased a kit (gasp!) for this album from Embellish It.  I actually made two of these bad boys because I had two baby showers right in a row and because I thought the book was adorable.  The kit is made using Simple Stories Hello Baby products.  The kit is still available here.  The thing I just love about Embellish It's kits is that the instructions are simple, the pages go together in a snap and you have lots of bits leftover.   I hope you have a cup of coffee (or iced tea - summer has arrived in full!) as this is a picture heavy post.

Plastic sleeves are present throughout the book and offer the opportunity to capture pictures during each month of baby's first year.  There are two clear picture sleeves on the right side, one month on top of the second month page.  Each come with tickers to place on the outside of the sleeve to indicate the month.

I simply adore this little mini-page within the album- a flag motif for holding pictures created layer upon layer of interest in the album.  I can't wait to see photos in these books!

This and the following page look the same but note how the clear plastic photo sleeve is oriented.

With this back of the album look - clean and simple - the book is done. I added the ribbon on the rings for effect.  Likely the mom will get sick of the nuisance of them and remove them before long.  However, they do make the book pretty for packaging and I have so many ribbons some needed to leave the house...

As far as the book assembly, I spent a good 2-3 hours removing each embellishment from the packaging and inking the edges in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Some required fussy cutting.  I then spent another 3-4 hours putting the book together.  I took a fair bit of care because I've screwed these kinds of kits up before cutting the wrong way, etc.  It could probably been done in less time.  The inking wasn't strictly required as the edges looked good with a nice clean white as well.  You could easily get this together in 4-5 hours if needed.  A great gift and both mom's have already let me know they have pictures to include in the books.

Thanks for taking this long look with me.  Check out Embellish It!  They have lots of goods and never fail to deliver on quality.