honor the men in your life

Although this mini-album for my Father-in-Law was given as a gift for Father's Day 2009, I wanted to share it with you today. You might be wondering, "Why today?" No special reason other than I think that it's a gift that takes a little time, time to get the photos together that is.  There are three months until Christmas, so time you do have.

This would be a gift to your father-in-law at any time of the year that would be treasured more than any expensive trinket you could purchase. Trust me. When I presented this to Gordon's Dad, he was quite touched. From the cover photo above, you can see that it has seen some wear and tear. And I love that it gets looked at. Makes my heart happy.

And, even though I have gifted my mother-in-law with many a special mini-album as a gift, she looked at this album lovingly and in a way that I thought that she might like something like this for herself one day. Who wouldn't like an album full of Papa/Nana/Oma photos with the grandkids over the years?

Throughout the album, all the patterned papers are from K & Company as are the small journaling spots and the cardstock is WorldWin. The brown gingham ribbon is from Hobby Lobby, the heart punch is from Paper Shapers. I used pop dots behind each of the sentiments/quotes on each left side page and I used a brown Zig marker.

Left side and right side of the first spread which documents Papa's first meeting with each of his two dear granddaughters. There's no baby photo of Zach with Papa as the first time they met, Zach was already six years old. Zach is my son from a previous marriage and Nana and Papa have throughly enjoyed getting to know Zach and have loved him since day one.

ADORE bingo card (Jenni Bowlin)

circle stamp (Micheal's Dollar Bin) + date stamp

Left side and right side of second spread.  Lucky to have a Papa that really spends time with the kids. He loves to teach them some of the simple things he learned growing up in our mountains, like making a turkey call with a branch and a leaf.

apple card (October Afternoon?) + letter U (American Crafts?)

Left side and right side of third spread showcases some Zach and Papa time. Zach's most favorite gift ever came from Papa.

remember card (October Afternoon

I was so not loving that live snake Papa just had to show Zach this long ago afternoon.

Left side and right side of spread highlighting time that Little Bit and Papa have spent together.

Fun Times journaling spot (October Afternoon)

Left side and right side of Papa with his Squirt:

Can I just tell you that I adore this photo of Isabella and Papa walking on top of the mountain? Perfection. It was Zach's {early} birthday party. We squeezed it in so that Zach could have his special day before Victoria arrived {ten days later...she was 8 days early}.

Left side and right side of Mama catching Papa spoiling the girls with their own cup of Mountain Dew. But he always ask me first, and I can't deny him when he has that twinkle in his eye and crooked little grin. I'm a sucker for it every.single. time.

Left side and right side of spread showing just a few photos of our heavenly trip to Aruba with our in-laws. The girls still talk about the beach there!

I don't care for how the white pen I used wrote on the photos. I saw Ali Edwards do it on her photos and loved it when she did it, but obviously I wasn't using the right kind of white pen.

Left side and right side of the closing spread. Here you'll see a LUCKY bingo card from Jenni Bowlin, just like the ADORE bingo card on the opening spread.

Love. Love. Love. this photo. Love the contrast of the sweet, gentle hand of Isabella as she holds Papa's tanned, calloused, work-worn hand at the Father/Grandfather Breakfast at her school. 

Back cover. The "handmade just for you by:" stamp is from Stampabilities.

The page design is repeated throughout the album, which is a timesaver. The pages could be made ahead so that you can print the photos you might be taking for this album at a later date. You could even do it assembly line style and make several at once and gift one to each grandparent or set of grandparents.

I found a few of my quotes online by doing a search for Grandparent quotes and some of them I had in a notebook that houses my quote selections.

You can see what I mean about the time factor. It does take a little planning, so start NOW by taking photos of the men in your life with the kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews and make your own treasured gift in time for holiday gift giving.