Is your computer about to burst to photo overload?

Since we had Ebi-kun I have made a new photo book each year, picking out the best photos of the year. I usually do this in August so the books run in line with his birthday. This year I didn't get round to it - bad mommy!

BUT on the upside, the company I use Blurb, have a 15% discount until November 21st, that gives me a kick up the bum I need to get this years book put together. In the past I have done photo books for grandparents Christmas present too and of course our trips overseas.

I love Blurb and have used them for several books including Ebi-kuns portfolio books, I have tried other companies but Blurb always come out top. The software is super easy to use and if you haven't got time to lay it out yourself there is an automatic function that does it for you!

I have my eye on the Instagram books too and I could do with my own personalised recipe book...  so much you can do with digital photos these days.

Anyway, if you want to get the 15% discount you need to click here and use the discount code FALLTHANKS when you check out.

The links are affiliate links so if you planning on making some photo books you can be all warm and fuzzy inside knowing you are providing me and Ebi-kun some spending money for our upcoming trip ;o)

adorable little printable....

First off I want to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who filled in my questionnaire, it has really helped me see what I was missing and raised some great topics to tackle plus reassured me that I was on the right track with most of it.

I'm taking a business course at the moment, I'm the second week in, there is a tonne of homework which I'm really enjoying but it doesn't leave much time for anything else! Today I will be working on the new website and working through the next step in this weeks module and I will also be doing some tinkering over here again (I hope not too many people noticed that I crashed the whole blog last week!)

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to give you a little thank you for your help, so I rustled up a printable for you. It can be used in two ways - I love multi-functional things, don't you? So, you can fold it to make a mini colouring book - handy to keep in your bag with a pack of mini crayons for those 'I'm bored moments'

OR

You can colour them in then cut them out to make little play characters. There are instructions for both in the PDF below. (If need to click through to the blog to print it)

Little Animal Friends

If you like it, please share it with your friends, especially those on social media, your twitter followers and Facebook pals and if you come up with a different way to use the file, let me know!

MT tape T-shirts

Another fashion post? A tad more sensible than the last one. I spotted new T-shirts in Uniquo the other day, they have teamed up with MT, the company that is responsible for the sudden trend in cute washi or paper tape. There are several designs and styles and you get a free roll of tape when you buy a T-shirt, the tape design is a surprise. I was hoping for spots but I got flowers!

MT tape is a great addition for the craft box, it is perfect for kids because it can be ripped, you don't need to use scissors and it can be used for a whole host of ideas. Plus is comes in so many cool and funky designs, playing with tape has never been so much fun! I have used it for the mini books in boxes and the manuals that I made for the creative writing department but there are so many other ways to use it...

washi streets

washi party cups

washi vase

washi lightshade

There are plenty more ideas over on my pinterest board! Do you use MT/washi tape? What do you use it for?

Child Art Portfolio II

A couple of years ago I made a portfolio book with all of Ebi-Kun's artwork in it along with a few pictures of the artist at work. Doing this meant I could clear out some of the mountains of work without feeling guilty. When Ebi-kun finished yochien he came home with a big folder full of work and some of the pieces are on massive A0 sized pieces of paper, too big to hang on our walls!

Thanks to keeping the blog I tend to take pictures of all his work as he has finished them so I added the collection of work from the last three years to the massive pile of work from yochien and made a second portfolio book.

I used Blurb again, I actually use Blurb for all my photo books these days, I have tried several other sites but their software combined with the quality and price make Blurb my favourite site to use and if you sign up for their newsletter you often get discounts and offers.

So, I kept with the same style book as before, I like artwork displayed on plain black, I think it shows off the work better and is less distracting than a fancy background.

I included some of the things that have been made from his artwork too, like the Surfing Silver bracelets and added a bit of text about the story behind the Ninja Wendy bracelet.

A few pages show the work in progress, this was his fabric design for a Spoonflower competition, he started off with several dinosaur pictures, he picked his favourite and worked on the background. Once we had the fabric printed I made it into an art carrier for his birthday.

With the Blurb software, it is easy to check if your image is the right size, if an image is too small it will print out blurred. There are also several layout options to choose from and you can edit them to suit yourself if you wish. If you want to make a quick book they also have an option where the software auto-fills all the pages for you.

I love how the colours come out, the abstract pieces look like gallery works of art in a modern art museum, it also means we don't have to keep all the robots and sculptures he has made, we usually have them on display for a while, I take photos and then they get recycled.

And best of all, Ebi-kun loves looking through his book and showing it to friends. He often gets his first book out and will ask to paint with a specific method after remembering some of the work he had done previously.

Mini Photo Books

Since non of Ebi-kuns grandparents could attend the graduation, we made some photo books. Why are there 5? Well, I also send one to his Japanese great-gran, his English great-gran and his great-great-aunt Henrietta as non of them are net savvy!