I hope you are enjoying our ten day blog hop. Many of you have just arrived from Mindy Bingamon's blog. Don't you just love her projects? She is definitely on the top of my blog list.
Todays project is one of my favorite...EVER! That is because it's a baby book of my son's first year. The problem with this book is that you have to open it to appreciate it. So while you may have seen it open on the shelf at convention, you really couldn't appreciate it unless you held it in your hands and really studied it. I was a little concerned that the judges would over-look it. It was a little difficult to photograph as well, so I hope the following pictures do it justice.
This 3D project is a digital hybrid on steriods. I am not going to mislead you and tell you it was easy, but with a little planning and preparation I was able to actually make the book itself in about a day. Right off the bat you may notice something unusual. Stampin' Up! doesn't carry Whisper White seam binding ribbon, so I bleached some Very Vanilla. It worked great. As a matter of fact, I purchased a separate spool, bleached it, and after it dried, I put it back on the spool for later use.
I started by using the pre-designed template download, "Oh Baby". I knew I was going to reduce it to a much smaller size, so I picked only the templates that had one or two photos on them.
After I designed each page, I saved it as a .jpg file and exported it. Then I created a new document and pulled each page back in as a 4"x4". I printed those out four to a page and trimmed them down so that I could adhere them to the pages of the book.
You may also notice the gingham background. I created my own matching designer paper by using the gingham digital stamp from the "House & Home" digital download and lining up several together to form a 5"x5" square. Then I used the color matching tool in MDS to match the colors to those in the kit.
I kept the embellishments at a minimum because I didn't want the finished book to have too much bulk. Since there wouldn't be any protective finish over the pages I wanted to avoid anything that would scratch or dent the pages. I made matching embellishments by using a circle punch and punching out about five or six circles of scrap paper and stacked them together to make something similar to chipboard. Then I punched out the "months" and adhered them on the top of each stack. Because I printed them from the same kit on the same paper they coordinated perfectly.
I haven't mentioned how to create the book itself. I glued the background papers to chipboard and then used my Big Shot and the Scallop Square die to cut it. I had to plan out the page order so that the book would have two-page spreads. After I completed the pages, I used a Crop-a-Dile to punch two holes in each page. I assembled the book with notebook rings.
Well, that is all for today. I am sure that Holly VanDyne has something wonderful planned for us today. This blog hop will take you in a complete circle, but if you happen to lose your way, here is a list you can refer to. 
- Connie Collins (you are here!)
- Holly VanDyne
- Melissa Stout
- Amy O'Neill
- Sandie Conner
- Amy Rogers
- Mercedes Weber
- Tara (Murphy) Bourgoin
- Mindy Bingamon
INGREDIENTS: My Digital Studio: 1" Circle Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Glue Stick, Tombow Multipurose Adhesive, Large Scallop Square Clear Die, Crop-a-Dile, Chipboard, Oh Baby Digital Kit; Chat Room-Baby Stamp Brush Kit; House & Home Stamp Brush Kit Fonts: CK Ali’s Hand; Ariel; Other: Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon (Bleached White), Basic Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Notebook Rings, 3/4" Circle Punch, Floral Fusion Sizzlits Die, Big Shot Machine, Twitterpated Designer Buttons, Color Printer, Premium Matte Photo Presentation Paper.
