An Album of Precious Memories - Part 1

My husband's cousin Anita Chechi who leaves in the US, is one of those extremely generous and loving people who is frequently presenting my kids and me so many presents whenever she comes to town. So 2 weeks ago when she came to visit her ailing grandmother, I wanted to thank her with something really special and I felt a card just wouldn't do it. It was time for my first Mini Album.

The picture above is the cover of the album. The entire theme is vintage/ shabby chic and I have to give a great BIG SHOUT of thanks to the Gossip Girls over at Swap Central. Saumya did this awesome post on 'What is Vintage" a couple of weeks ago and it not only opened my eyes but inspired me to use these colours. I went with the Luxury Stack from DCVW which had just the right backdrop for the album.

This is the first page of the album and that's Anita Chechi in the photograph with her husband. I wanted to really dress up the page because this photograph is so fantastic. Hussena's bird cage card was posted at just about the same time and I thought - BIRD CAGE! YES! The cage, the leaves and the flowers are all cameo cut and the same layout exists on the other side of the page. Thanks Hussena! Again!

This is the next page of Anita Chechi's daughter when she was a little girl. I should mention that I wanted this album to be a complete surprise so I got all the photographs from Anita's facebook or her family's Facebook. I didn't ask her for any photographs. That's the great thing about Facebook - we only upload our best photos so I found some amazing snaps. Entering this page in Dream Valley Challenges 53 - Pearls and Lace

The next page is all about butterflies! The background page had some grey tinges so I made my butterflies grey. I distressed the edges and centre of each butterfly with some grey ink and that added really an aged look to them. Love it! Added some pearls following the swirls on the page - you can never go wrong with pearls right! Entering this page in Creative Creations Challenge 6 - The letter B (for the Butterflies!)

I've added some closeups of the detailing to give you a better look. And did you notice how all the photographs were tinted sepia? I did that because I wanted the photos to coordinate with the album theme. I personally feel that even the most beautiful album can lose its appeal when photos are added because the album is one theme and the photos don't complement it. So since I was going vintage with each page, I made the photos vintage too. It actually made each picture better I think. 

There are a few more pages to show which I will display in my next post. My only regret about this album is that I didn't get to take nice photographs of it since I was so so so pleased with the result. I spent three days and sleepless nights on it and it was ready just before we all met for dinner. So the photographs were taken after I presented it at night time - with my brother in law's couch as the backdrop.

Thanks so much for dropping by and would love to hear what you think of this creation. If you would like to know the supplies used or how I made anything specifically please write in to craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com. I am more than happy to share!