A Holiday Craft

Last weekend, I took a little trip down memory lane......

Earlier in the school year, Steve and I bought a yearbook ad at school because that's what 8th grade parents do, right?  They spend money on their kids to tell the school world "Congratulations!  I'm done paying for you education up through 8th grade!  I can't wait to spend twice that much for your high school years!  Oh, and you better get a college scholarship because we won't have any more money for that!" 

Well, the ad was due on Monday and I had to get something together.  I knew I wanted to do a collage of pictures from her life so far and started going through those on the computer and those in boxes in the closet..... yes, we actually took photos on film and had them printed.  We're that old.

I knew there was one picture in particular that I wanted to use and the first place I looked for it was in Elizabeth's photo album that I used to be really good at keeping up with.  When she started school, and I mean 3 year old kindergarten at the same school she goes to this year, I started a new book.  The last photo in the book was her 4K school picture.  If you didn't think I was a slacker, I bet you do now.  Oh, and the picture I was looking for wasn't in there.... I had to keep looking.

But, this post isn't about the yearbook ad I created because Elizabeth wants it to be a surprise when she gets her yearbook at the end of the year.... her only stipulation was no naked baby pictures.  And I obliged.... barely.  It was hard not to add one of those, I tell ya!  This is a post about the only memory book I have consistently kept up with.

This one.....

This, my friends, contains all of our family Christmas cards since Elizabeth was born and I put it on the top of the stack of books on the coffee table every holiday season.  Every year, I add the newest creation and it's so fun to look back over the years.

Here's a sample of our pages.....

One of my really good friends had started one when she and her hubs got married and I thought it was a great idea... so I stole the idea.  She's so sweet, she didn't mind..... good friends like that are hard to find.

But, look how boring it is sitting there.  It's kind of plain and nondescript, don't you think?  So, my same friend told me what to do to jazz it up a bit...... and that's what this post is all about.

Last December, my friend and I headed to Hobby Lobby to buy some supplies for our craft.....

  

You need one sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper, a sheet of Christmas stickers (I couldn't decide which ones I liked in the store, so I bought a selection), a sheet of letter stickers, Mod Podge and a paint brush. 

First, I traced an outline of the front cover on the BACK of the scrapbook paper and cut it out.  Then, I put our family name in the center of the sheet then added the other stickers around it.  I decided on just one sheet of stickers rather than using the different sheets.  (You can see that in the photo below.)  You really should decide on your design before you glue the scrapbook sheet on the book.

To get the new cover on, I spread a layer of the Mod Podge all over the front of my book....

and smoothed my created sheet on the front and let it dry.  Now, you know why you should have all the stickers on the sheet first, right?  That would just me a mess trying to do it once the sheet is glued on.  Just take my word for it.

Once that is dry I brushed on a few layers of Mod Podge to seal the stickers and the edges of the new cover......

And now this year at Christmas my one scrapbook I've kept up with will look so much better on our coffee table......

That's a huge difference, don't you think?

I was, also, thinking a Halloween one would be cute... your kids every year in their Halloween costumes?  Or make a book for a wedding gift?  Or a baby gift?  The themes are endless!

And I really do think I'm going to do the Halloween one...... off to Hobby Lobby!