Mom A-Z
Level: Easy to Medium
I had wanted to do an album just for my mom. She was always interested in seeing what I had done, and always commented on how nice having something like that was. I was flipping through a magazine and my eye caught this article that was something like Working Mom A-Z and I thought what a great idea for an entire album for mom. I made my own titles up, using what pictures I knew I wanted to include, and she loved it.
Materials:
8 1/2" x 11 Album
Various pictures of mom/growing up/activities/places/pets
Various papers — both printed and solid
Various stickers — (words, letters, numbers) to use if you don't want to journal by hand
Photo adhesive
Various journaling pens
Scissors and/or paper trimmer
Corner rounder
Shape Cutters (oval, circle, etc)
Step 1:
Take a sheet of paper and write the letters of the alphabet down the left side of the paper. Coming out from each letter, write a short saying or quote that starts with that letter.
Examples:
A: Animals on Parade
J: Juggling — Ability to keep several things in the air at once — kids, frying pan, pet food, laundry, etc.
Q: Queen for a Day
Step 2:
Go through the various pictures and pick out those that would match up with the various titles you have made from the alphabet. You can then separate into the individual pages. You can keep it simple with two or three pictures or depending on size or subject, go for more.
Step 3:
Now take each letter of the alphabet and the photos you have set aside for each and decide how you want the page — or pages — to look. With the A page I ended up with about 10 photos, but I went back to the computer and printed them off on a smaller scale so that I could. You could also make a two page spread, but you need to make sure that letter of the alphabet falls on a left hand page so that they open across from each other rather than as a front and back side of a page.
Step 4:
Take your various papers and match them up with your pictures for your backgrounds. Crop photos, whether as squared off or shapes and then if you mat, use the papers that coordinate with your background papers. Mix and match before you decide and see what you can come up with. Use photo adhesive to mount backgrounds and photos.
Step 5:
Use your various journaling pens/pencils to title your pages with the alphabet quotes you wrote earlier. Try different writing styles and colors and maybe make journaling boxes for some. If you are using a journaling box, use photo adhesive to mount to the pages just like your photos.
Step 6:
Use your journaling pens/pencils to title the album on the inside cover Mom A-Z. Make the style whatever would fit in with your album.
