THE Farm Book!

I have taken on a pretty large project over these last two months!  And I am here now to say that it's done!  Whoo hooo!!!  Do the happy dance!!!!!!!  It was a pretty daunting task, I do have to say!  I was asked to create a scrapbook for a baby nursery that is a farm theme!  And it should have gotten to the baby BEFORE the baby was born.  But, since life has a way of interrupting even the best of intentions, well.....it's a bit late!  But, still within the month he was born, so not TOO bad.  But still.  Not quite good enough. 

Anyway, it's done!  And I am VERY proud of the way it turned out!  I just hope the mother who will be filling it up w/ baby pictures will love it as much as I do!  I mailed it off today, and I wanted to keep it for myself! 

 The project, when looking at the whole picture, should have been easy.  Create a scrapbook, farm themed, for a baby.  There aren't any pictures, because the darling baby wasn't born yet.  And leave pockets throughout for advice cards to slide in.  Ok, easy peasy, right?!  Well, when you're Erin Smetak, that's not the case!  I don't do easy.  And I don't do fast.  And I don't do sloppy or simple.  I take time to research the project, I pay attention to detail, I'm all about color combos, and I like to work outside the box. 
That being said, I had an absolute BLAST working on this book!  I drew quite a few things free hand, and was pleased as punch w/ the results!  I used my Cricut A LOT!  And lots of paper!  Lots and lots and lots of paper! 

Ok, let's get on w/ the show!  Just a warning:  This is a LOOOONNNGGGG post!

 The cover!

 Page 1!  Why not start out w/ cows in the pasture?  And a sweet message to the recipient!

 Pages 2 & 3!  The farm! 

Page 2:  I found a picture of a waving OH flag, and printed it out and attached to a flag pole that I made and colored.  The chickens and fence were cut w/ my Cricut.  The green panel is for a 4x6 picture.  I have these on every double page layout, just so you know...  The clouds I drew, cut out and sponged.  The grass was sewn along the edges for some detail.

 Page 3!  I drew (w/ my ruler) this silo.  Behind the silo is a hidden pocket for advice cards!  I made the sign using Spellbinders dies.  I drew the chickens and wrote the welcome message.  The fence was cut w/ the Cricut.  I sewed the edge of the grass on this page too.  To match.  And the clouds are the same as the first page, and will be the same in all upcoming pages!

 Page 4:  Who doesn't like pigs?!  Especially nice and clean ones?!  That's a rarity, I'm sure!  The heading, so to speak, is made into a swirl to mimic the shape of a pig's tail!  I wrote, "This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home...."  I layered it w/ a scallop circle cut on my Cricut, along w/ those cute piggies, and then created another pocket!

 Page 5: And here we have some very dirty piggies!  I reversed the c/s when cutting the piggies and put Crystal Effects (liquid glue from SU!) that once dried, it gives off a nice shine!  I drew the flowers along the back edge of the muddy pond and colored w/ Copics.  The fence was cut w/ the Cricut.

 The double page!

 And the closeup of those bad little piggies swimming in the mud!!!

 Here's page 6 w/ rows of corn stalks ready for picking!  When brainstorming what each page would be featuring, I HAD to add corn to the list!  What's a farm book without it?!The corn stalks were all cut w/ my Cricut!  I tore Chocolate Chip cardstock and sponged the edges to make it look like it was just watered or it had just rained.

 Page 7 features a cob of corn (hand drawn and colored w/ copics) and the title for the layout cut w/ my Cricut.  The wonderful thing about the internet is that I found free fonts to add to my collection and was able to download/upload them to my cutting software and what you see above is how that idea turned out!  LOVE IT!

 Pages 6 & 7 double page layout!

 Page 8 we travel to the barn!  This barn is one of a kind, as it was hand drawn and colored w/ Copics.  The hay bales and barrel of apples are courtesy of Kitchen Sink Stamps.  The horses are from My Favorite Things.  The "B" stands for the last name of the family receiving this, and "F" for Farm!  The chicken in her nest at the top of the page is cut from my Cricut.

 Page 9 continues the horse theme w/ a great quote that I found online!  I used the Bleeding Cowboys font for this.

 

 Pages 8 & 9 double page layout.

 Page 10 brings us back out to the field toiling the soil!  When I created these pages, I felt like conveying the message, preparing the soil like you're preparing your home for a new baby!  However, I just couldn't make it work.  So, I'm stating that here on my blog!  Haha!

 For page 11, I mimicked the background paper and created large flowers grown from the newly toiled soil where the recipient can include circle pictures in the middles of the flowers!  Oh, the tractors were cut w/ my Cricut!

 Pages 10 & 11 double page layout.

 Page 12  we are grazing w/ the sheep!  The sheep and windmill were cut w/ the Cricut.  The grass was die cut using my My Favorite Things grass die namics.  The sentiment was die cut using Spellbinders dies.

 Here's a closeup of the quote.  I found this quote, which was quite lengthy, and tweaked it and made it my own. 

 Page 13 I wanted to use a LARGE sheep to drive that sheep theme home!  Think I succeeded?!  LOL!  I cut it out w/ my Cricut, which was nice, because this same sheep is what I used on the page before, I was just able to make it larger!  I LOVE that versatility!  I stenciled the Baaa! and then created a talking bubble and cut it out.

 Pages 12 & 13 double page layout.

 Page 14 is boring!  I know, I dropped the ball here!  But, I just wanted at least ONE page that didn't have anything other than a picture here!  I found this shape that I cut w/ Marina Mist cardstock, online, and thought it would be perfect as a layer behind the picture!

 Page 15 is a little more lively!  But not much!  LOL!  I used the same shape, w/ the same Marina Mist c/s and used that to create my little scene!  The lambs shown here are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  The sun is a My Favorite Things Die namics, as well as the sentiment panel.  The grass was hand cut, and I sewed the green beads to the bottom to add a little detail.  It looks like food for the lambs, right?!  I did a little research on lambs, to get the coloring and find out a few facts, and I learned that they like to eat grain, and grass.  Well, brown beads just didn't look right, so I went w/ green!

 Here's a closeup of the sentiment panel.  I wrote out the first stanza of "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

 Pages 14 & 15 double page layout.

 Page 16 is going in a completely different direction.  I really wanted to incorporate some sort of flower in this book.  I decided on sunflowers, because they are mainly grown in fields in the midwest.  I know Kansas is the Sunflower State, but, why not have them in OH?!  The sunflowers are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  The tag w/ a sun quote was cut w/ the Cricut after printing the quote out.  I sponged the background to make it look like a harvest sky.  I wrapped rafia into a bow and around the page.

 Here's a closeup of the quote and a sunflower.

 Page 17 continues the fall theme w/ pumpkins and fall leaves!  I drew and cut out the tree, and then embossed it w/ a woodgrain embossing folder from Tim Holtz.  The grass is the My Favorite Things Dienamics.  The pumpkins are from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I sponged the background to match the opposite page.  The leaves are a Martha Stewart oak leaf punch.  I sponged choc. chip ink around the edges, along w/ the tree to highlight the embossing.

 Pages 16 & 17 double page layout.

 Page 18 I bring another animal to the book.  Sweet little rabbits!  What a cute little family they make!  Just like the family who is receiving this book!  The rabbits and grass are from Kitchen Sink Stamps!

 Page 19 I made a little plate of vegetables!  The carrots are hand drawn, and colored w/ Copics.  The lettuce and tomatoes are from Kitchen Sink Stamps!  They won't be released until next month!  You should have come to Stamping Around OH!  You could have gotten them a month early!  The peas are a 1 3/8" SU! punch, and sponged.  The pod is drawn to fit the peas, and sponged as well.  The ladybug is cut w/ the Cricut.

 Here's a closeup of the vegetables and quote from Shel Silverstein!  I wanted to end the book w/ something humorous!

 Pages 18 & 19 double page layout.

 Page 20!  The last page in the book!  I made this SUPER simple so that there's LOTS of room to journal!  Since I didn't leave a whole lot of room to journal throughout the book, they can journal at the end.  The gardener is from Can Ya Dig It WTG from My Favorite Things, along w/ the new plants!  I drew a line of soil for the plants to have a base.  I went w/ this image of her planting new plants, because to me, when you have a baby, you're planting new life, just like she's planting new plants!

Here's a close up of the bottom!

Thanks for traveling through this farm w/ me!

It has been a joy to work on this book!