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I am a photography fanatic. I love taking pictures, tweaking pictures, and finding the beauty in every day items

Monday, June 16, 2008

Homemade Childrens Book

Well, you caught me... YES, I am reusing a post. I had a craft that I have been working on and getting ready to post about... and then guess what!? I lost it! Totally lost it! My patterns, scratch papers, pieces of fabric... gone. So, after looking for an hour and coming to terms that I must have thrown it away when I was cleaning, I decided to just post an old craft that I have done, but love. So hopefully you will enjoy... yet again :)

ABC Kids Book
I have really been getting into crafts ever since becoming a stay-at-home mom and what can I say…I am lovin’ it! I have never been a scrap booking, crafty, “from scratch” kind-of gal , but that has completely changed. Which is probably a good thing, since I was born into a hive of breeding Martha Stewarts. Seriously…my mom, my sisters and even sister-in-laws are amazing at cooking, cleaning, crafts, and just being all around miraculous moms.

One of the crafts I have been doing lately is a personalized ABC book. Besides being cute and a fun, they are pretty indestructible even if your kids do think they are Super Man. These books are wonderful because they can either be super easy to make or a little more in-depth, depends on which way you want to go.

First you will need to get…

- A photo book, preferably 8 x 8 (make sure there is enough pages in it for 26 letters of the alphabet - 13 pages- buy extra sheet protectors if needed)
- Alphabet stickers or if you want to make your own letters, get paper to cut them out.
- Card stock for the back ground border, if desired.
- And stickers, stickers, STICKERS. You don’t have to get stickers if you rather save some money and use old magazines to cut out pictures.



Your album should already come with white pages in the sheet protectors. I took those white pages out and trim them on two sides by ½ inch. Then glue them onto my card stock that I had cut into 8 x 8 squares, so background being 8x8 and the white paper 7.5 x 7.5.

Then place the letters on the pages. I put a colorful box behind the letters too, to give more color. Make sure to rotate the positioning of the letters on the pages, so when the book is closed it won’t make the book too fat. I made that mistake with the first one I made and couldn’t close the darn thing because all the lettering was in the same corner….yea that was a hard lesson learned.

Now it is up to you to decide if you want to use stickers/pictures to represent the letters, like ‘A’ for apple - 'B' for balloon. Or if you want your child to make this part, let them go through the magazines or stickers to figure out what should go on what page.

What's really nice about these books is that they don’t have to be limited to just the alphabet… you can make books for locations around the world, shapes, colors, or even take your own family photos and make a family tree book for the children. I really do love these books cause they are tear free, stain free, and spill proof…and with kids, could you really ask for anything more?

P.S. Fun tip - get an album with a window on the front for a photo and then you can place your child's photo on the cover.

44 comments:

  1. I am so very impressed! MAybe if I wasn't sitting here blogging, when I am supposed to be working, I too could become crafty...or not :)

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  2. what a great idea!! i've been trying my hand at crafting, too. actually, crocheting and sewing. not working out so well, over here. i get side tracked too easily!! maybe i'll try that alphabet book...i may actually be able to make it through the first few letters, without starting a new project!!

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  3. very cool! thanks for visiting my blog!

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  4. thanks stopping by...hope you will sign up for my great personalized novel giveaway! :-) *elizabeth

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  5. I'm so impressed. My current idea of craft is trying to keep my son from painting in poop all over the walls while on the changing table. Good for you for channeling your inner Martha.

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  6. Very cute Melissa, you should put them into an Etsy store :)

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  7. Hey, that's really cute! I'm not very crafty, but this sounds like something that I could handle! Thanks for stopping by my blog!
    Maria

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  8. That really is a great idea. Hmmm.

    I've never been crafty either, but now I'm actually scrapbooking. I would've called you a liar if you'd told me in college that I'd be doing that in the future.

    Where do you think would be the best place to find a book for it?

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  9. I just finished putting photos in an album and have to get some scrapbooking materials to make it look decorative. I would be more into if if I had more time! Maybe I could quit blogging?

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  10. I love the alphabet book idea! Looks like you're rocking your crafty side to me. :)

    And that photo of you and your daughter with the fingers in the mouth is so cute!! Love it!

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  11. I love this idea. Great job

    :)
    Tami

    ps: I love, love, love my cricut too. LOL

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  12. I wanted to thank you for leaving a comment on my blog today - I love meeting other people who are out there in bloggyland!

    THis is a great idea- I am craft-challenged. I wish I was better at crafts, but I'm not.

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  13. Very cute craft project and book!!

    Thanks for stopping by today - very nice to meet you. Hope to see you again soon. Kellan

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  14. That is such a smart idea. Thank you for sharing!

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  15. What a simply darling idea. I am not at all crafty!!

    I adore your blog!

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  16. I made the same thing for Kalil...I made the book with the letters, and slowly I am adding pictures of Kalil...like Kalil eating a Banana for B...Kalil with a Dog for D...etc. It is a fun Idea...I stole it from my friend Heather!

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  17. I'm a big scrapbooker so I've done a lot of these before with the kids pics as well. It's a lot of fun and the kids enjoy looking at pictures as well as adults.
    I'm working on some ideas for incorporating one into some of Madisons lessons at home since we home school her and her oldest brother.

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  18. I love this idea - I am not very crafty so I might try to adapt it and try something similar on the computer - maybe letting the kids use clip art or something . . . thank you.

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  19. That is so cute!! My kids are too old for it but now I know what to make for the next person I know who has a baby!

    Thanks for visiting my blog, btw. :)

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  20. That's awesome. I just started making something very similar but with an animal theme...just cutting out pics of animals and putting them on cardstock and into a smallish photo album. Yours came out great!

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  21. I am working on an ABC christmas card book. You save all your Christmas cards for several years then pick your favorites to catagorize
    a=angels
    b=baby Jesus
    c=candles

    f=friends and family (where you put all those picture christmas cards)
    etc

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  22. What I like best about this idea is trimming the original white paper and placing it on the card stock to make a color border.

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  23. My mom does an ABC scrapbook for each of the kids for their 3rd b-day. She takes pictures of things we've done and the people in their lives, it's great.

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  24. ok i am going to say it again...you need to write a book!! i would sooo buy it for me and all my friends!!

    love your crafty skillz!!

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  25. You stinker! Reuser! LOL!
    Those are such cute books.

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  26. super super cute! I had every intention of doing something like this with my first born, and then I knew I FOR SURE wanted to do it with my second-born, and now, here I am, with my third-born turning two in a matter of days, and I still haven't done one. I would be fun to sit down with the older two kids and have them help make one for the "baby" of the family. Summer project idea...woo hoo!

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  27. I make photo books for my boys. LIke one all about one child, that shows him playing all his favorite sports, with all his different friends and all our family members, etc. They seem to like them.

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  28. I dont know how you have time for all you do. Great job.

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  29. You have great ideas! My kids loved this kind of project. I made a little photo album for each of my first two with pictures of things they were proud of-- that great block creation, that wonderful painting, that funny time they painted their hands all red, that great playdough sculpture, you get the idea. They LOVED those books. I think this scrapbook format that you've suggested would be even more exciting and appealing to them. Thanks for sharing!

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  30. WOW! Very cool! You have a very cute little family! :) Thanks for commenting on my blog! I am very interesting in your crafty ideas so I will visit back often! :)

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  31. WOW what a great idea, bet someone SUUUUUPER awesome put this idea in your mind :)

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  32. Oh, I could definitely do this one, lord knows I have more than enough supplies and probably more than one 8x8 album. Now getting down to the business of doing it....

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  33. great idea! I am a big fan of shutterfly books. that is my kind of craft : )

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  34. Hi! I love the idea for the ABC book...I may have to try it out for my kids! Your baby is sure cute, BTW :o)

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  35. Great idea..Ahh if only I could find some extra time...I think my three year old would love to make something like this with Mommy! I will try it this summer after swim lessons are over. Thanks for once again another idea..You should write a book...seriously!

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  36. That is so cute! I wish I was more crafty. I can do it, I just don't really have that much of an interest.

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  37. Great project! I am going to try it as a project with my 2.5 year old. He is more likely to use it later if he helped make it.

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  38. Thats so cool! I've also heard of doing something similar but have pix of your kid w/ the letter or things that begin w/ the letter.

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  39. I made an ABC book with pictures of my boys. A for apple (eating an apple), B for Bear (holding favorite bear), etc. It is really fun to look at. I just wish I would have put it in a more durable book.

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  40. I love this idea - I've actually made two (for my cousins - they're 7 and 9 now, but still love to look through their books with me) and I used stickers, die-cut paper, and pictures of family for each letter. I was so happy with how they turned out (is that too braggy?) I'll have to post pictures on my blog in the next couple of days... another great alphabet idea I found is on Ken Jennings's blog - he's painting an alphabet mural runner on his daughter's wall - with a classic children's lit character for each letter. It's amazing! The address for the most recent pictures is: http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=861
    He's linked to each of the other posts from that one so you can see everything he's done so far. It's amazing!

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  41. I love this book! I sooooo want to be crafty! I'm going to make this book...gotta start somewhere...thanks!

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  42. I've actually done this and had my child find things in the house with each letter. We took a picture of him holding it. Gave them as favors for his 3rd birthday. Had to get creative with the last few letters, but it was GREAT!

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