What did I make for Christmas?

Thanks for calling me out Misty. I mean I really, I truly deserve it! So I didn't make as much as I wanted for Christmas, and what I did make I conveniently forgot to take pictures of. I know, way to go me. Although I do think I have a picture of what I did for Laci's teachers, and I am going to ask my MIL to take pictures of the other stuff I made. But, alas, I am going to slowly share with you my pride and joy from this years crafting.

So back for my birthday in June my in-laws bought me Photoshop Elements 8. Since then I have dabbled with it, and played around a little, but still lacked a lot of the knowledge and skill to do a ton with it. So to help push me off the shelf and free fall into the unknown, my MIL asked for me to make her a book of the past year of Laci. Um... ok... I was sweating bullets when I started and I still have a TON to learn now, but when it was done I liked it so much I ordered one for myself. I am IN LOVE WITH IT!!! So much so, that I will be doing one of these every year! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Every page and the cover is hand picked pieces to go together, no pre done templates for this girl. I found "elements" and the "digital scrapbook paper" from all over the internet (all free of course) and put this baby together. Every page took me about an hour to get "right" and then putting it all together with shutterfly took another couple hours to get the cover how I wanted. This thing is just B-E-A-UTIFUL! It is a hard cover 12x12 book that is just stunning. Some months have one page and some months have multiple (just depended on what we did that month). The pictures I grabbed from the Shutterfly site don't really do it justice. I will have to upload the pictures of the cover that I took with my camera (and light box) to see if it shows you really how awesome it is.

Anyways, today I will share with you the front cover and a couple of the pages. I will then add a couple of the pages everyday I blog (except Thursday).

Cover with last name blocked out -


November 2009 #1


November 2009 #2


Tell me what you think... ask me questions if you have them. Oh and if you want to do one... try and wait for the GOOD coupons. I got a 50% off one for one of the books I ordered and it brought the cost down a LOT!

TTFN~