Mini-album for an expected baby

Hello there
I've finally finished the mini-album which I've been working on for about a week now. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, other than the post I did about how to put the basic structure together. The theme for their nursery is going to be yellow and safari animals; particularly giraffe's, so that's helped give me a focus.

The papers I've used mainly to decorate it are Best of K&Co too but also coredinations and some from the Tim Holtz/Ranger distress coredinations pack.

I die-cut most things on the front; the giraffe is from Create-a-Critter Cricut cartridge (c,c,c and more c's); the Love cut is from the Heritage cartridge word function and the title was cut from the shadow function of Plantin Schoolbook font. The loveheart stamp is from a Debbi Moore pack.

I've just stamped four hearts in each corner of the first page. I've left some pages more open like that to give the couple more freedom in how and what they put on those pages. On the right hand side, I've created a pocket which they can put a photo on and inside I've created a journalling tab- I made it in CraftArtist with the Bambino Thoughts kit. I made the giraffe with shrink plastic - it was my very first one and I'm totally hooked with the stuff now. It's also my very first handmade album too, so I've been introduced to a few things and loved all of them. I just printed a giraffe from the internet to fit the size of the shrink plastic sheet, coloured it in with some of Maggie's felt pens as I don't have any fancy markers and then heated it- job done yet it's so so cute and perfect for this project. I do love the effect the lace has on this page. I've tried to make the album suitable for either girl or boy, so fingers crossed they agree.

The next page is basically blank other than the 'BABY' cut from Heritage. Then there's the page which I used my home made giraffe stamp on. I put a photo of this on the BPC class gallery and I had positive feedback, so that spurred me on. Of course I didn't own a stamp with a giraffe on, so I made one with Cricut Cuttables. I only have Distress ink pads in green, but I love the look it's created. The black giraffes were created with Archival Black. The tag inside the pocket was created in the same way as the previous one but I created a different tab and used the word 'cute' this time.

More adventures on these pages as I used my giraffe stamp on some seam binding. The distress ink I have is clearly not correct but then the whole album is distressy in nature, so that kind of fits. I loved doing it anyway. Just the word Child from Heritage again and some of the Debbi Moore corner stamps on the other side.

Fun and games with  the same ribbon just across the page, with the journalling tag hanging from it. The tag is one of the elements from the Cosmo Cricket Togetherness collection, which I distressed the edges with 'Shabby shutters' as I did most things.

The final page has another Cosmo Cricket journalling tag with a giraffe cut from Paisley cartridge and just a patterned paper on which to place the photo/s on the right hand side.The back just has some patterned paper on it.

The box I made and embossed with the help of my Ultimate Pro, then I sanded it all. I decorated it with the help of Craft Artist with the At the Zoo digikit. I ripped around it and then inked it with Dusty Concord. For the record, I wouldn't recommend buying that kit really, as it cost £3.49 and you don't get the brushes or the layouts. It's a generic kit for any software, so you have to add the items to CA yourself; it doesn't install it automatically as with normal CA kits. Having said that it suits my purposes down to the ground as that frame is brilliant for the box or any zoo themed item- there's a leopard striped one too.

What fun that adventure was. I want to make plenty more of these; so I've bought some 'proper' 8x8 chipboard pieces. Watch this space.

Take care out there