Category Archives: Photobooks

Old, “Worn” Family Photos

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All elements from One Little Bird and Sahlin Studio

I have several friends right now that are coping with sick parents and I can’t help but think of my mom who passed away almost ten years ago.  It is very difficult to watch your mom or dad be sick and my heart goes out to those friends who have to go through that now.

I don’t know if it was coincidence with these thoughts of my mom, but I discovered an old CD of photos this week that had so many pictures of my mom and her family when she was young.  Then this new digital kit was released by One Little Bird and Sahlin Studio called “Worn” that I thought would be perfect to showcase some of these photos.  I loved it so much that I even changed up my blog a bit using these elements (checkout the “About” and “Contact” tabs).  I think this kit would make a great heritage album!  Here is a peak at the full kit:

A few years ago I went through the thousands of photos of my mom, my dad, their families plus all the photos of us kids growing up.  I made an album for each of my parents with as much history as I could dig up from my Dad and my cousin, Neath.  It took me six weeks to complete the albums as they were done by traditional paper scrapbooking.  I wish I had waited for digital scrapbooking because it would have taken me a lot less time!  Maybe I will end up making a photobook with my mom’s pictures or maybe you feel as inspired by this beautiful kit as I do and would like to make a heritage album for your parents.

Leah

It’s Time to Catch up on Baby Books!

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I think 2012 should be the year everyone stops procrastinating and finally finishes those baby books!  How many times have you thought about getting your baby photos organized and put into books? And how many times have you started only to give up after a few pages?  To make matters worse, now you probably have two or three kids and and there is no way you have the time or energy to make keepsake books for all of them! Lucky for you, you know someone who loves making baby books. One of my main motivating factors for starting Birdwing Paper Designs is that I don’t want any child to grow up and not have a beautiful baby book.  Both of my kids have their own First Year scrapbook as well as a little story book that I created using all those baby photos.  My son is almost four and he already loves looking at pictures of himself as a baby and reading the story made just for him. My latest project that I have started for all you moms is a First Year Baby Book.  Here is a look at the kit I will be using to make it from Kitty Designs at oscraps.com:

Kitty Designs

Kitty Designs

Here is a sample of the Baby Boy book:

Cover

Page 1

And this is how it is changed up for a Baby Girl book:

Cover

Page 1

With this photobook I am doing a similar process as with the 2012 Family photobook in that you can send me your photos every month so you don’t get overwhelmed by the thousands of photos of your baby(ies).  This is a 12 month project that will cover the first year of your baby’s life and you can start this any time you are ready. If you would like more information about this project, please email me: lfedynak@gmail.com or leave a comment.  Let’s stop procrastinating and just get it done!! Leah

New 2012 Family Photobook

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I am so happy to finally announce the new 2012 Family Photobook.  I have been searching all the great kits created by some of my favorite designers and finally chose one to use for this photobook.  It is called “Small Talk” by Fei Fei’s Stuff and TaylorMade Designs.

I love the colours in this digital kit and the element are so versatile which makes it a great choice for a full year album.  I will also be using this fantastic word art kit from TaylorMade Designs:

This is the cover page for the 2012 Family Album:

The photo for the cover page can be whatever you want it to be, but I am waiting for a great shot of our family to put on my cover!

If you are interested in having a family album for 2012, I am trying something a little different and hopefully easier for you.  We (you and I) will be working on this album every month.  At the end of each month all you have to do is email me 10-12 photos that you want in your album for that month and a short note about those photos and memories.  Here is an example:

And here are the pages that I created using the information provided and the photos:

Inside Title Page

January Page 1

January Page 2

Extra Page 1

This book will be a 38 page 10″ x 10″ photobook with custom front and back covers.  Each month will be a 2-page layout except December which will be 4 pages.  That leaves 4 extra 2-page layouts that can be used at any time you choose if you have a special event that you want to include (birthdays, anniversary, date night, vacation, etc). The book will then be printed at the beginning of January 2013.

The price will be $250.00 for the photobook.  If you would like, you can pay in full by the end of February 2012 or do two payments of $125.00 due Feb 29, 2012 and July 31, 2012.

I hope this will be a project that we can work on together and help you get your family memories organized and printed.  It is easier to go through a hundred photos every month than a thousand at the end of the year!

If you are interested in starting this photobook project or would like more information, please leave a comment or email me: lfedynak@gmail.com.

Leah Fedynak

More samples from Two Thousand and Twelve album here.

December Daily

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I saw this great idea on dailydigi.com to do a scrapbook page every day for the month of December to highlight all the wonderful things you do for the Christmas season.  Thankfully I came across this Nov. 28 so I had time to think about this project before December arrived.  I looked at some ideas on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dailydigi/daily-digi-december-daily/ and decided to to keep it simple since I have to find time to do a page every day.  Here is the page for today, December 9:

I wanted to post this picture of the wreath I made because I have had a few people ask how to make it.  I saw the idea for this yarn wreath with felt flowers in the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Crafts issue.  Here is a link to the instructions on how to make it:  http://www.bhg.com/christmas/crafts/white-yarn-christmas-wreath/.  I also made one out of burlap for fall and it is much faster to cover the wreath in burlap than white yarn!!  I do love the look of the white yarn, so I am glad I invested the time to try it!

Leah

Our First Family Vacation

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A few weeks ago we went to Arizona for our first family vacation.  Our Dads are snowbirds and we wanted to know what Phoenix was like and why so many Canadians spend the winter down there.  After two days we were trying to figure out how we could become snowbirds!!  I think we would definitely consider a second home in Arizona when we are closer to retirement age.

Of course, I had to scrapbook our holiday pictures.  A full 26-page photobook template just came out from Stampin’ Up (part of my winnings with MDS contest) and it was perfect for this trip.  Here are a few sample pages:

This template is called “Delight in the Day” and had all the perfect colours and embellishments for a vacation photobook.   I like creating my own photobooks, but sometimes it is nice to have most of the work done for me!

Leah

Birthday Book – What a great idea!

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My latest photobook project was for a birthday gift.  They just wanted a few pages (14 pages is the smallest I can do) with pictures of the birthday girl and her friends and then everyone can sign the book.  It is like a really nice, personal birthday card and such a great gift idea.  I wish I could say this was my idea, but it was my client’s and I may be borrowing it in the future!  Here are a few sample pages from the book:

     

I bought this kit just to do this project and I love the colours in it.  It is another digital scrapbook kit from Micheline Martin called Petit Leon.

Leah

Retirement Photobook

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When I first thought about what kind of photobook people would like to have made I thought of babies, weddings, year in reviews, vacations.  I never thought about making a retirement book until someone at my work was retiring and I was asked to put together a photobook for her.  What a great idea!

I had so many photos to work with and her graduation documents were even scanned so I could include them.  It ended up being an 8″x10″, 26 page photobook using the designs of Micheline Martin’s “The Classic First Year” kit.  I was also asked to leave empty pages for people to sign, but I just couldn’t leave the pages empty.  I took some random photos of the place she worked at, reduced the opacity of the photos to make them lighter for the background and it worked beautifully for writing on.

The book was presented at her retirement party last week and there were so many great comments from everyone about it.  A retirement photobook is such a great way to keep all the memories of your career and coworkers.

        

(I removed all of the photos from this project, but I think you still get the idea!)

Leah

The Winner of My Photobook Printer Search

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When I decided to start this custom photobook company, I knew I wanted the books to be of great quality and to have an end product that I could be really proud of.  Finding the right printer was quite a challenge and I have spent the last 3 months reading reviews about photobook companies and testing out some of the favorites.  The photobook printng companies that I tried were: Inkubook, Photobook Canada, Shutterfly, Stampin’ Up, and Adoramapix.  I attempted to print with Mpix but didn’t find their software very friendly.  I won’t go into a detailed comparison but will give the links to the two reviews that helped me out:  http://thedailydigi.com/12-different-photobook-printer-reviews/ and http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/97676/0/1/15.

Once I received all the photobooks, there was one book that stood out from all the rest and also had the great feature of lay flat pages.  The winner of my photobook review was Adoramapix.

The cover is beautiful and thick, the title can be printed on the spine, the pages are like a thin board book, the software was easy to use, and their delivery time was only about 2 weeks.  (I had one company that took 5 weeks to deliver!)  The best feature was the lay flat pages.  This is especially important for scrapbooking because this means I can create a 2 page layout and not lose anything in the gutter of the book.

Now that I have seen how nice the lay flat pages are, I don’t think I could ever print a photobook without it!

All photobooks that I create will be printed through Adoramapix and if you order a custom photobook I know you will love it too!

Leah