Author name: carina

It’s the season of change. I’ve been feeling it more and more as my oldest child heads to kindergarten. It seems even more imperative to capture these fleeting moments, and what better way than with an ABC photo book of my little darlings. It seems appropriate considering the time of year.

I like homemade ABC books because they are so personal. They capture a moment in time, and my children adore looking at themselves in a little hand-held book that seems made just for them. It also can be a valuable learning tool.

For this little project, I tried to accomplish two things. First, I wanted a new ABC book that included Felicity, my youngest daughter (I made one for Siri when she was a toddler). Second, I wanted to give Siri a tool to learn new words as she learns to read. I also wanted it to be fun, so the girls and I went on an “alphabet scavenger hunt” to gather the items we photographed.

This hybrid project uses my ABC templates, which are 4” x 6” templates that you drop right on top of your photo, My Mind’s Eye’s Penny Lane Papers, and pink stamp ink, which I rubbed along the edges. The final book is 5” x 6.5” (that’s the size I cut the papers I mounted the photos on). I got the whole thing spiral bound at Office Max.

ABC books can be used for more than just learning the alphabet…try these fun ideas!
•    Capture a vacation using the alphabet. Not only will it be fun to figure out things to photograph using the alphabet, but the book will be fun to look at when you are finished!
•    Capture a child or family’s year using the ABC’s. It’s a great way to get a snapshot of your year!
•    Use the book as an opportunity to capture things that you love in your home. I made sure to include “red blankey” for Siri and “white blanky” for Felicity because these are their lovies. When do we ever take the time to capture these meaningful everyday items? In 10 or 20 years, long after those blankets are in rags, I know my children will be happy to have these photos.

A couple of helpful hints when taking photos for this project:
•    If you are taking pictures of your kids, a second adult is really helpful because one person can hand the items to the kids and one can photograph.
•    Remember you need lots of foreground/background…aka…empty space to fit your words and letters!
•    Take photos all with the same background for a cohesive look. I used a brick wall in front of my house. If doing a vacation book, you won’t necessarily want to do this so you can capture all parts of your vacation.
•    A mix of closeups and full shots make the book more dynamic and interesting.
•    Laminating your book makes it more durable for little hands.

Want to buy the template I used for this ABC Book? Go here:

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/shop/digital-kits/carina-gardner/_abc_book_/

To see the entire ABC book I made, visit my flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carinagardner/sets/72157612650193775/

Want to see more Project Mania projects from me or anyone on the blog hop? Or want to join the blog hop? Go here.