My Rock-a-bye Mini

A little over two weeks ago a coworker's daughter had a surprise baby, at 31 weeks no less! Needless to say the Grandma is in one of those gushy love the baby but still in shock sort of moments in life. The day I found out I started plotting what kind of card I'd make for the baby gift - the baby's mama is totally a rocker/hippie sort of gal so it wasn't going to be something I could pull from previously made and stashed cards. 

For some reason I kept thinking about making a mini for her and just couldn't bring myself to start either project. The next time I saw the new grandma I asked her about making a baby book - and she was sooooo excited at the idea. You see Rocker Mama wasn't digging the pastel duck/bunny/bear books you can find at the baby/toy stores in our area. (Not that I can blame her, I didn't buy them either. Pastels make me want to...bleh.)

I just so happened to have some Teresa Collins On the Edge in my pile of scrappy stuff I was getting ready to sell at my LSS stash sale so I pulled it out, bought some "edgy" embellies (glitter skull and cross bones?!) and set to work planning out my first requested piece. I also decided to incorporate Authentique Loyal into the book to give me another color to work with - bonus being that the baby's room is in the process of being decorated with green, blue, brown and black. Can you say perfect?!!

This first page (the second page in the book since the cover was drying while I was working on this one) was based on the Scrapbooksteals.com MWM Amber 9 sketch. 

I know that they're already taking a lot of cell phone photos of baby so I wanted to keep them square and have a few hidden pics to get as many as possible into the baby book. The blue panel lifts for room for two more pics. 

The next page, for month 1, was inspired by the Paper Secrets April 15 sketch with a twist to use wood embellishments. Again, I modified the sketch to fit my needs/get a couple more pics onto a smaller page! We have four photo spots and two journaling blocks, my thought being that the outside journaling can be "normal" milestones and the inside block is for things about their hospital life the first month. 

Check out my little Studio Calico wood veneer tab! It was the perfect size for these TC stamps that came with the paper kit. 

And the outside of the book, I intended to ink the back but forgot that I hadn't until I'd already taken the photo. Oops, but you get the idea. 

Scrapbooksteals Sketch

Paper Secrets Sketch

You'll be hearing a lot about this book in the coming days, I want it done before their "Baby Get Together Thing" the first weekend in May (shower after baby is born, baby still in hospital so whatever you want to call it). It is also the reason I haven't posted much this week, just planning it to this point has taken a lot of my crafty time and last week I was getting my stash together for the upcoming sale. 

Don't forget that tomorrow is Friday, so that means a new Scrap Your Story Challenge!