Grandpa's Garden

For Father's Day, I decided I WOULDN'T make a homemade card for my Dad this year...

Instead, I made him a memory book!

Since he and my Mom recently moved from their home of 60 years, I thought he might like a keepsake of the beautiful garden he spent so many hours patiently tending. So after they moved but before the new owners took possession, I snapped a whole bunch of photos and snipped a few flowers and leaves to press.

At first, I made a book in the style similar to my Steampunk Journal, again following dear Anne (at Anne's Paper Creations) in her awesome instructional videos.

But when I started to add the photos, I realized it was much too small - I didn't want to drastically crop the images, so I set it aside for a future project and instead made a binder-style album with wider and taller pages.

Some photos were kept whole, some I fussy cut. I used Multi-Matte on the pressed flowers and leaves to preserve them. Tags and other embellishments were also added here and there in pockets and on flaps.

The beautiful iris on the cover is a fussy cut close up photo...

I also incorporated a few dimensional stickers and Tim Holtz die cuts. Graphic 45 papers from Botanical Tea and Secret Garden sets were perfect for backgrounds and beautiful tags / booklets.

I also used Tim's Remnant Rubs directly on the photos and tags - what a great (and easy!) way to accent the pages!

It took a few days to create; but I completed it with just hours to spare before gifting it Sunday afternoon (these are some - not all - of the pages inside).

It was so much fun to make.

My sister and I brought home a few plants from their garden to our our yards...

...and now Mom and Dad also have a piece of it too - and a book to remember it by as well!