Shower Registry Book - Great Gift Idea!

**Please note: if you are interested in ordering one of these, please email me at beth.covington@gmail.com and I'll be glad to talk to you. :)  Thanks!

No more scraps of wrapping paper to keep a register of gifts at a shower. No more pages ripped from a spiral bound notebook.  This book solves this problem and creates a great keepsake!  It's not a scrapbook for photos, it's a registry book to record the gifts from all your wedding showers.

Each book starts with four shower registry pages - the info sheet that records the hostess, date, time, location and notes for each shower.  And each shower includes 48 places to record the name and gifts received with a little box for you to check off when a thank you note is sent.

Each book also includes a miscellaneous section so you can record gifts outside of a shower or received at your wedding.  This section contains 72 spaces to record names/gifts.

These books came about because my mom wanted to give one to my cousin who was getting married - a registry book for all her showers and they just didn't seem to exist. So I made one. And then another. And now people want them to make keepsakes of their showers (baby shower, wedding shower, whatever) in one pretty book, instead of scraps of wrapping paper or torn out sheets from a spiral notebook.  My sister kept using hers after Macy was born for the baptism and whatnot so she could keep up with what thank you notes she had written.

Awesome gift idea, too, btw. One day maybe I'll get married and get to use one! :)  HAHA!

Not everything crafty is books!

As much as I LOVE creating books, I like to dabble in other projects from time to time. Let me just say here, I'm not always successful. Seriously, Not Successful.  As is the case with the wreath below.

The backstory - at a family reunion, I saved this deco mesh from being trashed with the intentions of creating a beautiful wreath for my house. I love the silver/blue combo and thought it would be easy! Especially after checking out tutorial after tutorial. 

This was my disaster: 

Holy cow! It was a MESS! Horrible. I packed it all up and took it to my mom, where it continues to sit in an unused chair over there.  It's bad. I've given up hope. 

Other projects turn out ok, like the banner I did for Valentine's Day. 

I love them! They make me happy! Super inexpensive, super easy and added just enough color to be adorable.  I have some other Valentine's Day plans on the horizon.  I'll share them with you when I'm done. Just wish me luck, ok? 

:) 

Inspiration

Most of us who have decided to throw ourselves and our work out there into the world, nervous and hoping we'll be liked, have had a friend cheering us on all the way. This person is Paulene for me. She opened her own store, Leen Machine, and is really marvelous. Her designs are awesome and she has really pushed herself outside of her comfort zone.


The cards Paulene made for me to give to my niece!

She was my cheerleader right off the bat! Every chance she gets, she's telling me to go for it. Without her, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to have joined Etsy and tried my hand at selling.



I'm so exited I was able to see her today! Paulene lives about 1.5 hours from me and you'd think we'd see each other more frequently, but every visit is a treat. I leave feeling like I can actually do this! She's a very special person and I'm so thankful to call her friend! :)

Watching baby grow through the year...

A lady at my workplace (the full-time job!) had a wee little surprise when she visited her doctor... she's expecting again after 15 years! Can you imagine? What a blessing - a little baby boy to be named Conner.  She's seen my Pressed Clovers books for a while now and I know she's been wanting one, so what better gift the week before she leaves us?

Since Conner will be born in January, I decided to do a calendar book, beginning with his birth in January and moving to all the major holidays:  Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother & Father's Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  This way, at the end of 2013, she'll have a beautiful book showing how much her precious baby has grown throughout the year.

His birth page - welcome to the world, Baby Conner!

You know he's will be his mama's valentine...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

I can see him now, dressed in his red, white and blue!

Family festivities with all the trimmings

I do love these books and we've already started one for Macy. :)  Since she was born in June, I made a book-and-a-half to pick up those holidays at the end of 2012 and all of 2013.  Isn't it amazing to see how quickly they grow and change?  With Conner it will be no different.  Can't wait to meet this precious baby boy!

Honeymooners in St. Lucia

I had a quick message from a customer needing a Honeymoon Scrapbook for a friend.  Thankfully, I already had a beach themed book ready-to-go, perfect for family vacations, beach houses and HONEYMOONS in luxurious St. Lucia. *sigh*  I so wish this were me...

But regardless, check out the book that is now ready for the almost newlyweds to fill up with their super sweet and romantic honeymoon memories.

 

I hope they have a wonderful start to their lifelong wedded bliss. :)  I love knowing one of my books will be storing memories for a new couple!  

Hippity Hop Hippity Hop, Easter's on the Way.

I'm tickled to share this book with you - a special order from Pressed Clovers to include all the pictures with the Easter Bunny!  Love it! The mat area is larger to accommodate for the 5" x 7" photos.  This really has me in the mood for fun Spring colors! 

Can't you see a precious little boy sitting with the Easter Bunny, with magic just glowing through him eyes? He's so excited to think of the candies that will be waiting, magically delivered by one generous rabbit on Easter morning? I think it's adorable.

I made up a few note cards, too, that will display a wallet-sized photo.  What do you think? I considered offering some of this in the Etsy store, but... someone else in my office said she would prefer them without pictures. So hmm... ya'll give me some feedback. What do you think?

I personally have made similar cards for my nieces birth announcements.  Super adorable. And allowed a note of thanks to be included on the inside. :)  A keepsake. Can you tell I'm all about keepsakes and special treasures? Seeing how quickly this 6-month-old is growing up and changing, I want to cherish every second I can! :)

Mom's Birthday Present - MORE CHRISTMAS!

I make all these scrapbook and never make them for my family.  So this year I made one for my mom for Christmas 2011 and gave it to her just before Christmas this year. She filled it up and then some, so I had to create extra pages!  For her birthday (in the beginning of January), I gave her another Christmas book for 2012, so she can go ahead and assemble it while those happy memories are still fresh. And I went ahead and added a few extra pages!  haha!

 
I can't tell you how much I loved this book when I was done!  The rustic colors really give it an old time feel and the accents were just the old, worn, loved look.  I think she really liked it.

So now she's ready to put some photos in and make this book come to life! I also made her extra pages for her granddaughter book.  It's a scrapbook of all the major holidays in the year.  But her granddaughter was born in June and missed several holidays. So I made pages for the holidays she was with us for and added them to the front of a calendar book. Now she's beginning from NYE/NY Day 2012/2013 and will have a complete book waiting for baby Macy's celebrations!

I hope to have a calendar book up in the Etsy shop soon - I'll let you know when it gets there!