The less the better

Finally, finally I finished this album for Ali. It has been almost a month since I first started this project. I want to say the whole creating process was like a roller coaser ride. Why? Because I went up and down: warm up, feel perfect, go way overboad, back to basic. What I've learned? The less the better.

I started this project with a navy blue 8"x8" blank scrapbook. When I first saw this simple scrapbook at Target I thought it would be perfect to make an album for Ali. Then I collected blue patterned paper and embelishments for the album.

The first two pages are plain and boring. I like the blue polka dots paper but didn't use it very well. I've thought about redo them after finishing the whole album, but desided to let it be original.



The picture on this page is my favorite. Ali looks super cute with the blue hat. I finished this page with simple orange paper, the foot print stamp turned out great.



"I love this boy", I intended to make this quote on the cover of album but decided only use on this page. The green brads served perfectly as bullets.



This page is one of my favorites, because the picture is amazing, the stripped patern paper is colorful, the handcut waves are neat and lots of 3D glu dots pop up small embellishments.





Can you believe the blue&green dinosaur is cut from a Target gift card? I throw in all my favorites in this page, Gymboree, Target, and chipboard letters. Blue and green are perfect colors for Ali, I learned that from his gymboree outfit.



This is the worst page of the album. I went way overboard with color, with paper, with embellishment. I was trying to use all of my great stuff to assemble a mosiac page. I spent almost a week on this one page. It may cost more than the rest of the album. But result is awlful. The page looks too busy and no focus. I learned a lesson: the less the better.



After learning a lesson, I kept this page simple, I spent less than 10 minites croping picture, selecting paper and assembling the whole page. The white flower was a dramatic touch. I used rub-on first time, much easier than I thought.



Signature page, I torn a piece of handmade paper to add a touch of love and drew a circle stamp by hand: Handmade by Mei with love.




Cover, I've been planning and designing the cover since start. I propbably have two or three plans, wanted to use chipboard frame. Eventrually I gave all plans up. I only used a red "A", Ali's initial in the precut window. Because I learned, the less the better. It turned out very nice to me.



I created a journal block on each page for Ali's mom to add story behind the picture.
This is my first gift album. It's not perfect but was made with love. I hope Ali like it.