I made this Family album to record memories of the apartment we lived in for almost 3 years in Shanghai. We would never have had a chance to live in such a lavish place on our own without the expat package! And I just wanted to record places around the apartment that the children spend most of their time in so that when they grow up later on, they will be able to remember this special time of their lives. Since this was about our home, I thought using this chipboard album shaped like a house was most apt!
I had a little ‘window’ added to the front page that opens up to this quote- Home is the sweetest type of heaven, added little flowers from Prima’s Bitty Bag and inked that flourish chipboard from Maya Road with Brilliance Cosmic Copper ink. I love how it looks like in real, sparkly and bright. That photo does not do justice to the color! I also cut out flowers from the BG doily lace paper and layered around the ‘window’ before adding the string of pearls for the border. Love the vintage, cottage look!
The first page of the album open up to our family photo which we took ourselves in the living room on the self-timer the day we arrived at the new home in Shanghai. I finally found a way to use the ‘Love’ transparency title from Prima here and added the bird for extra dimension.
The second page shows our gal doing her coloring at our dining table. Check out the chandeliers above her! They are cut out from my favourite Hamblys transparencies and I took that ‘popped up’ chandelier picture there that really hangs above our dining table! I know it looks pretty but in a regular apartment, I thought it looked tacky and over the board but I think most Chinese like to do up their homes this way. And I love how it blends in with the Hamblys here as I try to ‘re-do’ our dining area scene. I also stamped the edges of the album with flourishes. I loved trying out different techniques on my layouts and albums! Also hidden behind the photo of my gal is a tag with my hidden journaling.
The third and fourth pages of the album. I used mainly rub-ons and stickers here. It shows the glass windows in our living area which looks out to the spot where our gal waits for her school bus every morning with her daddy. You can’t see it from here but one of the photos also had the road name of the street we live on! The next page shows our boy standing against the height chart we put up and that corner doubles up as our punishment corner! I altered the bird sign that I had bought from a household store in Japan with ribbons and rub-ons and stuck it on top of the journaling card there.
The fifth and sixth pages of the album which shows pictures taken around our apartment. I simply layered it with Prima flowers, bird cages cut out from BG’s Porcelain’s papers, floral ribbons and the calendar tags there. I had stamped the flowers with the word ‘Blessings’.
The seventh and eighth pages of the album show our gal standing at the lobby of the private lift that brings us right to our doorstep and the kids at play in the bedroom. I stuck on a ruler sticker and highlighted the number 9 with another sticker to show the floor we lived at.
The last 2 pages of the album. I had stuck on the small flowers from Prima’s Bitty Bag collection to make it look like a roof. Loved how pretty they look here! It actually gives some dimension to the page. The last page shows the snow scene out of our back window when we experienced snow for the first time in our lives the first winter we were here. It was also the heaviest snowfall in Shanghai for 16 years and we were blessed to have such an experience even though it was freezing cold then.
The back cover of the album. I added the chipboard tree and used the acrylic characters to represent our basic family unit. I cut out our faces and stuck them onto the acrylic shapes and added the ‘clothes’ for us, using stickers and ribbons!
Here’s a final picture collage of some close- ups. I apologise for the really long post but I hope you guys have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed putting together this album and sharing it here! There is nothing intimidating about doing min-albums and they make fantastic Christmas gifts for family and friends! Just start early…*grins*
Supplies used:
Scenic Route House Chipboard Album
Basic Grey papers from Lemonade, Eva, Porcelain ranges
Maya Road Microfelt birds
Prima Transparencies
Maya Road Arcylic Family keychain
Jenni Bowlin Bingo cards, journaling tags and stickers
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