a "book of notes" for my mom

 Here is another "book of notes" that I made recently.  This one was for my mom . . .

As you can see from the pic below, I call her Mama.  :)  That's what she called her mom, and that's what I grew up calling her.  She is originally from North Carolina, so maybe that's why?  I never thought a thing of this until I went to college and someone said, "You call your mom 'Mama'?"  Now I notice it when I am using it in front of anyone but a family member.  Oh well, anything else sounds too formal!

On the last book of notes, I was working with a simple folded card that would fit in an A2 sized envelope.  For this one, I folded an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of cover weight paper (cardstock) in half to give myself a larger canvas.  It still wasn't enough!  When I was finished with it, I showed it to Jeff and he said sarcastically, "Um . . . yeah . . . she isn't going to get distracted or overwhelmed by any of that, I bet."

And I laughed out loud.  He was right--it was a little busy.  To remedy this, I numbered the messages so that each one would not be overlooked and could be read in an orderly manner.  :)

The next book I make will have more white space like Danni's, but I love this one all the same, and it was made with lots of heart and love for my mom.  

My goal was that it would be encouraging--so I tried to share little things I thought would encourage her and things that had been encouraging to me lately.  Here are some more pics (you can click on the pictures to view them a little bit larger) . . .

Messages:

1.  Amber loves you.
2.  Accepted
3.  Be of good cheer.
4.  He overcame. (3 is because of 4)
5.  Thinking of you.
(Not numbered--the little envelope holding extra washi tape for hanging up notes.)

Message #2 "Accepted" folds out to reveal an excerpt from Morning and Evening by Spurgeon that elaborates on being "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6).  This has been a very meaningful verse for me ever since college.

6.  Psalm 103, one of my family's favorite Psalms, taken from the congregational reading section of an old hymnal.  This is kind of a half page that turns to reveal the rest of page 2 . . .

7.  You are a good mom.  

8.  Bloom where you're planted.

9.  A little envelope holding a letter.

10.  A little envelope of love notes for sharing.

When my mom wrote me a letter recently, she told me she had been leaving notes in my dad's work boots some mornings, and I LOVED that!  I thought I would give her some more notes to work with.  

I "packaged" it all up in a large vellum envelope that I happened to have on hand--it's the envelope you see in this post.  (Note to self:  keep some A9 envelopes handy for projects like this).

So there you have it--another book of notes.  They are my new favorite thing to make.  :)  Let me know if you make any!  And for tons more inspiration, remember to check out the "Notes" posts on Oh, Hello Friend!

"book of notes" for Joy

Earlier this year, I came across these amazing "book of notes" posts by Danni of Oh, Hello Friend.  I almost died.

I knew I was going to HAVE to make my own, but I pretty much spent the next several months just going back and looking longingly at the ones Danni made.

Finally, this summer I spent an evening making a book of notes for my friend Joy.  I still owed her a handwritten note from the calligraphy post earlier this year, and I wanted to do something special to congratulate her on her wedding in April.

I started with an envelope I made from a wallpaper scrap (you can see a better pic of the envelope here).  I had already decided this bright envelope was going to be Joy's because it was fun and full of personality, just like her.  I addressed the envelope to Joy months ago, but it sat unfilled while I decided what to put in it!

But, finally--a book of notes.  Here is the cover.

Pages 1 and 2 . . .



detail of page 1 . . .

There's a little letter inside the envelope on page 2.

 Pages 3 and 4 . . . the new couple's last initial and wedding date.  :)



























detail of page 4 . . .



Pages 5 and 6 . . . a little reminder inside the brown kraft pocket . . .

. . . and an envelope full of love notes for sharing.

I included the envelope of love notes so Joy could write little notes to her husband using the cards, hopefully spreading the cheer even further.  

I have more where this came from--these are so fun to make!  Hint:  the letter I wrote to my mom was full of notes.  I'll post pics next week. 

So what do you think?  If you haven't already, you really must visit Oh, Hello Friend and see the notes Danni made that that started it all.  Here is a little sample (click the caption to go to the original post) . . .

"Notes for Nicholas"

"Notes for Abby"

Are you inspired yet?  Now you can spend the weekend writing notes!  You are welcome.  :)

(Tomorrow I'll tell you more about the care package and try to round up all the great suggestions people gave into one list.  Stay tuned!)

diy envelope liner (from scribble art)

Yesterday, while Caroline and Lincoln were busy making cards for family members, Roman was busy scribbling with (and eating) markers.

Even though the activity ended in a meltdown for Roman (he was very angry after I took a bitten-off marker tip out of his mouth and declared marker time over), we did get a great piece of one-year-old scribble art out of it.

I copied it and made it into an envelope liner (naturally) for an envelope made out of black construction paper (I used the envelope and liner templates from Paper Source).

I really love the look.  I might just put Roman to work designing some more.  :)

(You can see some of my favorite diy stationery supplies right here.)

Greetings from Texas!

I have an oversized Texas coffee table book that I have been holding onto, eyeing the glossy two-page spreads for possible envelope making.  But a couple of weeks ago, probably because postcards were already on my mind, I got the idea to make some of the smaller photographs from the book into my own "travel" postcards.  

When I saw this picture of an old post office in Luckenbach, Texas, (Waylon and Willie and the boys not pictured*) I thought it would be the perfect thing to send to my friend Melissa.  

The photo I took with my iPhone is a little dull and grainy, but maybe you get the idea (I put a gold star next to the "U.S. Post Office" sign).  The picture itself actually looks pretty outdated**, but I think that is sometimes the fun of postcards--they can be a little cheesy.

The coffee table book lends itself well to being cut up into postcards because it has those captions describing the picture just like a travel postcard would.  I cut out the caption and glued it onto the back of the chipboard.   

 

These postcards are super easy.  Don't be surprised if you see more "Greetings from Texas" here in the near future.  :)

*I couldn't get "Luckenbach, Texas" out of my head while I was making this . . . "maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love". . . I love that song.

**Google "Luckenbach Texas Post Office" to see more recent/well-lit pics of the P.O. (which does not appear to have changed a bit since the coffee table book was published in 1990).