Friday, April 27, 2012

Saving the Blankie

Hello everyone,

This past month I have kept these hands busy.  I finished 2 scrapbooks orders. One was for a scout who had started out as a cub scout at the Wolf rank and made it to Eagle, along with earning a Triple Crown. If you're not a scouter, a Triple Crown is an award given to a scout who has finished 3 separate high adventure trips: Sea Base, Philmont and Northern Tier.  I trekked vicariously and it was amazing. More on the scout album in another post.

The second was an album for a baby's first couple years.  The little boy, Tristan, is so cute. Mom had all of his items gathered and ready for me to put into an album that had been started but was not finished. Along with the pictures was remnants of what was once a white, soft and cuddly baby blanket. It looked as though this little boy had slept, played, and worked over this 24"x36" blankie.  The satin edges were worn, the middle was mostly missing and the it hung in shreds of 8"x10" sections from the edging.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this but I was confident that I could work it into the album.

For the first page I trimmed up a section of the blanket and used it a 
background for the portrait. You can see how threaded it is but I
love the fact that it is a personal item of his.
(Journal tags from Elle's Studio)

On this page I used a portion of the blanket on the tag.  It was a piece 
that was more closely woven and made a good dimensional
topper for the tag. The stream of pictures were originally mounted 
on a dark background that made the photos look dark.  I removed them and 
redid the page using a lighter background which I think helped brighten up the photos.
They were stuck down pretty well on the original cardstock so
I kept them in the sequence that was originally used and 
added the border to the top to for a softer transition to the 
lighter color of cardstock.
I then added the tag with a few dies that helped the page
have a fun and springy feel in colors I thought would say boy,
hopefully the pink butterfly will not offend Tristan when he is older, lol.

Here I used a string from the blanket to tie around
the little heart pin above the journal tag.
Here's a closeup.
(Background paper is LilyBee Designs, heart pin from Maya Road.
Tape measure tape from 7Gypsies(?))
And of course, we need a page that is dedicated to the 
story, "About the Blanket." These strips are the best 
representations of the life of the blankie.
 The bottom is of the tape binding that went around the edge of the
blanket.  This section was in the best condition.

For the portion of blankie above the star, I removed the 
tape binding to reveal what the blanket looked like before the years 
of lovin' took its toll. Soft and fuzzy.
The little section that runs across the top and under the photo
is obviously the more worn area and shows the blanket's 
condition in later years.

This flower is made from some of the tape binding that went around
the edge of the blanket.  You can see how thin it is. Not quite as
satiny as it may have once been. I liked the addition of this flower to 
the blanket page since it was a part of the blanket itself. The sea shell
buttons made a perfect center and complimented the paper color to.
(The little flag is from Bella Blvd's Baby Boy line, 
and the cardstock is from Bazzill.)

I will have more about the books and soon another
Front Porch Kit to reveal.  It's another fun filled kit too.

Thank you for joining me today.

Merry Creating!

Rhonda

4 comments:

  1. What a fabulous way to keep something that otherwise might have been thrown out!! And it is so pretty too!! Love your creativity!

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  2. Lovely layouts Rhonda and how clever to include his blankie.
    Two of mine still sleep with theirs x

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  3. These pages are precious! I love all the creative ways you used the blankie and this will be such a keepsake for his mother and him.

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