10 Reason's Why You're A Great Dad

Last Friday was Brad's birthday and ER wanted to make Daddy a card. Of course, we couldn't make just any ol' card. That not how we crafty divas roll 'round here☺ This year we gave him what I've termed the "Ultimate Daddy Card"; it's a mini book too. Cause by now you should all know I love mini books!

To begin, we brainstormed ten things that ER and Daddy do together. We matched each up with a photo and then I created a template in PS Elements for the right hand side of each double page spread.

I left plenty of space for ER to write in one highlighted word. Then we spent A LONG time completing each statement. That's why it was a real labor of love, getting ER to write can sometimes be like pulling teeth.I wrote out the words for her and ER very laboriously copied them all out. We mounted the finished journaling card on to cardstock. A different font was used on each page, for a light hearted and playful feel. The long bar, serves as a spot for me to add a few details about the corresponding picture. The colors are from the fun multicolored stripes on the cover of the 6X6 album by American Crafts. I love these minibooks and get them from the Hot Spot at Archivers for only $2!They're great for little projects like this and come with 10 page protectors inside. The drawback is that the protectors are fixed so there is a set length for your project. So you can't go too crazy with thick embellishments if you want your finished book to have a flat profile.Assembly went pretty quickly; to conserve paper I used both sides of each cardstock insert. I am too type A to randomly use the colors so I planned out the order of our book with a little preplanning.I think the mix of colors make this a really cheerful and happy project to flip through. Which is a good thing, after all, it's a compact little reminder for Brad of all the good times he's had as a Daddy.He really loved the book! I'm so glad we made it for him, because unfortunately none of his other gifts arrived in time to give him on his actual birthday. Brad said he really felt the love♥ from his girls. It'll be so neat to look back at ER's first attempts at forming letters years from now.Here's why it's also a birthday card, on the last page I printed a sentiment and had ER sign her name on the back cover. Eventually I'll replace the sentiment, with a picture of them with on his birthday. I'll digitally add the Happy Birthday message to the photo and just add it on top of my placeholder.

Do you like the cover? I wanted a big title, to make an impact, but I was short on time and didn't feel like hand cutting a title. So I improvised and used large fuzzy chipboard letters from my stash, the I and O to make 10. I thought that was pretty clever, if I do say so myself...oh right, I guess I just did☺
PS: Is it supposed to be You're instead of Your? I went back and forth on that and am thinking more and more it's supposed to by You're as in You Are instead of the way I wrote it. May have to change that title strip.

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