My Daughter’s Lifebook

What is a lifebook? 

For Emma, her lifebook is the personal story of her life from the time that she was born until the time that she officially became our daughter.  It is a very important book. 

I have not focused enough attention on the creation of this book until now. I have had outline of the text written for quite some time and now I need to put the pages together.  I am hoping that by creating this blog post, I will further motivate myself to COMPLETE this very important project!  This is the first page…

I won’t share all of the pages with you as I work through them…the content of the pages will be very personal and will only ever be seen by a few people.  However, maybe sharing this one page will help others who have been wanting to begin this project but haven’t?

Do you have an adopted child?  Maybe a foster child?  Are you interested in creating a lifebook for your child?  I highly recommend reading the books before creating a lifebook: “Lifebooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child” and “Adoption Lifebook: A Bridge to Your Child’s Beginnings”. They are both super quick reads.  Also, if you are looking for a custom lifebook service, my friend Kelly hand scraps lifebooks through her business, “Custom Lifebooks”.

I’m scrapping Emma’s book digitally using 8x8 pages.  I created the page above using digital art by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.

I need to put my nose to the grindstone…I really do!!  : )

God bless, Tera

Brag Book in a Mint Tin

I have a fun and inexpensive gift idea for you.  : )  How about creating a brag book that can fit inside of a mint tin? 

Let me first preface this post by saying two things…  I did not come up with this idea on my own and please excuse the poor photos of my projects…hee hee.  ; )  I have been admiring the tin albums from Shabby Miss Jenn Designs for some time and decided to try my hand at making a couple of them! 

Here are a couple photos of the first tin album that I made…

The tin is an empty Altoids tin.  : )  All of the little pages fit neatly inside of the tin.  This album set me back $4.50.  Four dollars and fifty cents!!  1.50 for the Altoids and about 3 dollars for the printing (I already had the digital graphics to make the album).  How cool is that?

How I created the album:

1.  Using the size and shape of the “pages” that are used in Shabby Miss Jenn’s tin album kits, I digitally scrapped each “page” for my tin album using Adobe Photoshop Elements and digital elements and papers from two digital scrapbooking kits that I already had on my computer (Grandma’s Scrapbooks and Birthday Sweet Treats by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs).  I saved each page as a individual .jpeg.

2.  After all of my pages for the tin album were digitally scrapped, I created a blank 12x12 inch, 300 dpi page and using Adobe, I placed all of my little individual tin album pages onto the 12x12 page and I saved that page as a .jpeg.

3.  I saved the 12x12 page that contained all of my album pages to a disc and I took the disc to Costco.  I printed out the 12x12 page for about 3 bucks.  This is what the page looked like after I printed it:

4.  I cut out each individual page from the 12x12 sheet and I hot glued the cover page to outside of the lid of the empty Altoids tin.  I hot glued a decorative page to the outside bottom of the tin and then with fine grit sand paper, I lightly distressed the edges of the lid of the tin.

Here are the individual pages…

 

Besides the pages above, I also used one of the cut out pages as a template and I made a couple of additional pages using a few of Emma’s drawings and I included them in the tin album as well.  : )

Shabby Miss Jenn has several pre scrapped tin albums available.  I scrapped each individual page for the album that you see above myself (inspired by SMJ)…however, using pre scrapped pages does save a lot of time…you just insert your photos and text using Adobe Photoshop and then you are ready to print!  If you are new to digital scrapbooking, a project using pre scrapped pages is a fun way to “get your feet wet”.  The second tin album that I made was created using Shabby Miss Jenn’s pre scrapped Love Shack Mint Tin Album. 

Here are a couple of photos of the pre scrapped album…

So much fun!  These albums will be gifts and I am also going to make one for myself!  What a cool little brag book to keep in your purse! 

Many of the photos that I used of Emma are from Erin Johnson Photography.

God bless,

Tera

THREE???

Surely, my BABY girl does NOT look like this…

And, there is just NO WAY that she could possibly look grown up  like this…

*SIGH*

Just ONE year ago she looked like this…

And this…

*SIGH*

The tutu that Emma wore for her 2nd birthday went down to her FEET…that same tutu now comes down to her KNEES!!  : O

Where oh where did my baby go???

And, just three SHORT years ago, my teeny tiny baby looked like this…

And this…

And this…

The photos immediately above were taken when Emma was around three weeks old. We were able to visit her for the first time in Guatemala while we were signing a bit of preliminary paperwork to get the Guatemalan side of the adoption process going. Emma was barely five pounds at that time. Look at how TINY she was compared to Jason’s hand! Can you believe it?  She was swimming in the preemie clothes that we had purchased for her. 

We were SMITTEN.

I ache to reach into these photographs to hold my sweet and oh so tiny baby girl.

Emma, you are a true GIFT.  You are a treasure and Mommy’s dream come true.  Feliz cumpleaños.  Te amo mi amor.

 

Don’t worry…

More party pics to come.  : D

God bless,

Tera

Christmas 2008

A Christmas post.  Finally.  Hee hee.  : )  Sorry to keep you waiting…  We had a wonderful Christmas.  It was filled with the true meaning of Christmas.  We also had fun at the Christmas parties and get togethers.

You know that I probably took at least 37363338373 photos.  So, here are just a few of them…  : )

Needless to say…Elmo Live was a HIT (thanks, Papo and Clem)

So was the Little Tykes basketball hoop.  DUNK!!!!!  (thanks Jimmy and Lesa)

My parents peeling potatoes for a tasty Christmas dinner.

The dollhouse?  A MEGA hit!  I couldn’t even get my niece and Emma  to turn around so that I could take a photo of their smiling faces.

“Ooooooooooooo…JACKPOT…cousin Izzy’s Hannah Montana guitar…”

“YEAH, baby!!!!”

Sorry, Dave.  You SAW me taking photos of you rockin’ out with your daughter’s sweet Hanna Montana guitar…and, you could have stopped me.  Any photos taken with my Rebel are bloggable, my friend.  ; )  Hey, give thanks…I decided to keep the truly blackmail-able shots all to myself.  : D  I will erase said photos for a price…lots and lots of Godiva.  Truffles.  Dark.  Oooooo yeah…  ; D

On a sentimental note… 

My beloved Grandmother passed away earlier this year.  When her grandchildren were small, each year she would have each one draw her a special picture.  She would then take all of the pictures and hand embroider them onto pillowcases and she would give the pillowcases to them as gifts at Christmastime.  Needless to say, the pillowcases are true TREASURES…I have a STACK of them and they are precious to me.  Not only are they a snapshot of childhood…but they are true handmade gifts of love.  My mother has decided to pick up where my grandmother left off.  And, this year, my mother’s grandchildren each received an embroidered pillowcase…  My grandmother would be touched and proud.

Emma’s pillowcase had her handprints and footprints embroidered onto it.

Ahhhhh…young love.  My brother with his fiancé, Lesa.

My niece Isabel with her handmade tutu from auntie Tera.

Goodies…fresh off of the plane from Guatemala.  A PRECIOUS gift from precious friends!!  I love you, Tricia!!  This sweet gift meant so much to me!

If you have not read about Tricia’s recent trip to Guatemala, please visit her blog and read all about it.  You will be touched and you might even be inspired to ACT.

I love Emma Grace.  Very much.

God bless,

Tera

Our Christmas Card and a Sweet Revelation

Our 2008 Christmas card...  Are you surprised?  ; D  The graphics are by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.  The card was designed by me.  ; )

A sweet revelation... 

This week, I was strolling through Target with Emma in the cart.  She is my little chatterbox...always chit chatting or singing.  : )  That day at Target, out of the blue, she looked up at me and said, "Mama...I HAVE A MOM AN' DAD!!"  I was a bit surprised at what she had said...I wasn't surprised that she was able to say the words "Mom and Dad"...she has been able to say things like that for more than a year...I was just sweetly surprised with the meaning behind the words!  At first, I wasn't sure if she really understood the meaning behind what she was saying...but in the past couple of days, she keeps saying it here and there and exactly in context!  It blesses my soul to no end to know that my precious little girl KNOWS that she has a true family..."A MOM 'AN DAD"...who love her to the moon and back!

God bless,

Tera

A Little Project

Have you tried digital scrap booking?  If you like hand scrapping (or even if you don't) and if you aren't fond of the mess and the expense of hand scrapping, you should try digital scrapping.  : )  It is a new hobby and passion of mine.  I really enjoy it!

In the past two days during my free time, I have been putting together my first hybrid project (a project featuring both hand scrapping and digital scrapping).  I am THRILLED with the results!

I used the Pickled Petunias Luggage Tag Album by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.  The album kit is great because it comes with all of the pages pre scrapped.  I love the fun colors and this is a good sized album...the pages are not the size of actual luggage tags (I am guesstimating that the pages are at least seven inches across).  ; )  I simply added my photos and journaling and an extra embellishment here and there using Photoshop Elements.  I printed the front cover page on my printer at home and I printed the rest of the pages at Costco and then I cut them out.  I used a glue stick to paste them onto the pages of the BasicGrey chipboard luggage tag album that I picked up at Michaels.  I used the luggage tag pages as a template to cut out a few of Emma's crayon scribble drawings and I pasted them onto the backs of the pages.  The kit comes with a ring to hold all of the pages together.  I tied a few bits of ribbon and rick rack onto the ring for an extra touch.  I love this album and I intend to give it as a gift...however, I NEED to make a copy of it so that I can keep a copy for myself...  The cool thing about digital scrapping is that you can simply print out additional copies of the pages of an album if you want more copies...I love that. 

You should try digital scrapping!!

Don't forget to check out my new blog! 

God bless, Tera