Something XXtra Special

 Good Afternoon Everyone!
Thank you so much for stopping in to see me.  Today I have something extra special to share with all of you.  I was asked by a friend of mine a while back to do another one of my baby twin albums for a really good friend of hers.  So naturally I said YES!  Now if you have been to my blog before you may remember the first twin album I did about a year ago, but for those of you who are new you can find that album here, go check it out.

For the rest of you here is the new album!

With a quick glance the two books appear to be quite a bit different but they aren't; this one does happen to be much louder & a lot bolder, but I kept with the same vintage feel, so apart from the color factor, they are very much alike.

As for the structure of this book I kept it exactly the same as the last one, I did the gate-fold front so that the baby girl's photos could be on one side and the baby boy's photos could be on the opposite side.  My thought in this was that throughout the year you could have the side-by-side comparison, to see how much the twins have changed and/or how much they have remained alike.  I used my bind-it-all because it just works the best and the white rings matched the paper collection better as well.  In fact the paper collection is why these two books are so different, ironic thing is ...I used October Afternoon here for both books, just different collections.  For this book I used the 5 & Dime collection here  in an 8x8 size, with a bit of the Campfire here thrown in for good measure.    

For this type of album I think that the paper collection is a huge decision because naturally it is the main element, so in order for it to work as a baby album the collection has to be the right choice.  So far I am hooked on October Afternoon, they have awesome papers: they are durable, they have a unique line that offers the vintage collections without going overboard, and they have the color quality that other lines just can't seem to get right.  Now there are other Companies that have awesome papers too; I can name several off the top of my head but their collections don't fit this type of album.

Now as you may notice, I have added several ribbons & fibers along with a ball chain to the o-ring binding, that is just something that I think gives it a finishing touch, the charm that hangs from the ball chain has the word dream etched into it.  On the opposite side from the binding I have more ribbon/fiber and a Tim Holtz trinket pin here that says 'Keepsakes' I think.  Also on the cover I created a flash card that I created on the computer, printed it, cut it out, distressed it, then adhered it to the top.  The little girl I cut out from one of the papers, backed her with a dark brown card stock then cut her out again, added pop dots to give her some dimension and then added her too (did the same with the little boy on the opposite cover).  The two phrases came from a 7 Gypsies stamp set that I have had for a while, I can't remember the name of the set though.

Here is a look at the inside pages.  This is where I decided to change things up,  in this book I used my Sizzix envelope pocket die here for almost every page.  In the first book their wasn't an option to add more journaling cards if they had wanted to, throughout the month, only in the very back of the book; so this time by adding the pocket, it gives whomever the choice to add more journaling if they want to.  In fact the only journaling card that I did adhere to a page is the 'monthly checkups', I figured this was a safe way to go because for those of us who have little ones, we know first hand that the 1st year is crazy full of doctor's appointments and that's just for one, I can't even imagine what it'd be for twins.

As for the journaling cards, I did keep with the same idea and just did prompts, that way they could fill it in based on their idea  The two prompts above are:  Our First Ride (that could mean - the ride home from the hospital, first vehicle, first car seat - there are lots of ways to interpret that statement), the second prompt is: Our First Home (now more than likely that will mean quite literally where they first lived, some photos of that house, etc.  but then again it could mean someone whom each of them first felt close to, or a spot they liked the best - who knows but at least they have the choice to decide what it means to them).

Here is a close up of one of the pockets with the journaling cards. By the way that is something else new that I added to this book, behind that 'prompt' card I also added in a blank journaling card and did that several times throughout the book, because maybe they thought of something else to record, be a shame not to have a place to jot it down.

Another close up of a pocket, and with the same journaling prompt so that means it is the same page for both sides - one is the girl's prompt and the other is the boy's prompt.  I think that how a child receives their is very much worthy of documentation so that prompt is a must in all the baby albums that I do.  Their name could be a family name, could be after someone famous, or like my girls - after characters in movie.

Here is a look at the last page, again I kept it exactly like the other baby albums I have done.  Both of these journaling prompts are great ways to tie up the loose ends so to speak, or just a good place to keep all the random things that are important but that don't necessarily have a place to 'go' throughout the rest of the book.  The other thing that I don't have a photo of but always include as well, are mini envelopes that are designated for the first lock of hair, and I do that because I just think that is the sweetest thing.

Okay we're almost done.  Here is one other thing that is new, I added this at the last minute as I was cleaning up my space and getting everything put together.  I had a lot of little 'left-overs' and I don't eat left overs very often, so I threw them in; my thinking is that they can add these bits & pieces as the year unfolds.  They can glue them on to the pictures once they get them in the book or the journaling cards once they've added their thoughts, and what a great fun little hands-on, add on for mom & dad. 

On the opposite side of the 'embellishment pack' I did type up a short little message to the newly, expecting parents to congratulate them and to give them 'permission' to use the book, that is why I made it.  I don't know about any of you but I am guilty of this myself, I'll get something cool, or new, or 'handmade' and love it so much that I don't end up using it because I'm afraid I'll ruin it, or break it, or something else, so this hopefully will prevent that mind set.    

So here we are at the end, the end of a very long year for mom & dad I'm sure and the end of the album.  My idea is that underneath the 'twins' banner maybe @ the end of the first year they will do a family photo and put it right there in the spot where the envelop is (that pack is not attached so it actually won't be there) how cool would that be?  I think that would a perfect ending to a very cute baby twins mini album.

Thank you all for stopping in today, hope you are having a wonderful summer, please stop by again and if you have any questions please leave me a comment.

just B......