It was my much adored Grandsons 5th Birthday a few weeks ago. We weren’t able to go to his special Birthday party on the day of his Birthday so we (Grandad and I) decided we would surprise him with ‘Birthday Party 2 – The Return!‘ at our home the day after his Birthday. (Why have I never had two Birthday party’s? I obviously just wasn’t cute enough).

The ‘spine’ of the mini album, and the Spiderman tag (made using two Tim Holtz charms (thick, plastic, shaped pieces, much like you find Keyrings made from. I chose 2 rounds from an assortment).
We took tons of party photographs and I decided that I would make a Mini Scrapbook album to put all the photographs in.
I made him an album just before he started big school, all about the things he did with Grammy and Grandad in the summer before his first day at school. He absolutely LOVES the album. He loves to look through the photographs, pull out the tags and gets me to read them to him, and basically enjoy all the moments or occasions, which are pictured in the album, all over again. So it was a no brainer that I would have to make him another mini to house all the photos of his ‘5th Birthday Party 2 – The Return!‘.
The ‘plan’ was that I wanted to make the mini album as if he’d actually been sat there with me as I made it, choosing everything that went inside himself. So this meant that I had to think like a 5-year-old boy. Those of you who are followers or have read my blog posts before, know that I’d have no trouble thinking like a 5 year old. (I admit it. I never really grew up).
The following photographs are of the pages and tags, photo books, magnetic bits, openings, fun stuff … etc… and, I have to warn you, this post is VERY photograph heavy. Because of this I’ll keep the talking to a minimum so that you’re not here all day reading my yammering on!
The name of the Birthday Boy is all jumbled up on the front there …. he really wasn’t christened with a gobbledygook name.

Pages one and two

Tags from pages one and two

pages 3 and 4

Magnetic ‘book’ on page 3, … a hidden tag from page 4, … and a photograph ‘frame’ with a sliding out photo mat and room for notes on the back of it.

Close up of page 4 so that you can read everything. One of the ‘presents’ we bought for his Birthday was a Spiderman costume – hence the speech bubble which says: “Like the Suit? It comes with the job”. I’ll pop a photograph of Mr. Birthday Boy wearing his Spiderman Costume into that sliding out photo frame so it will make sense.
The long shiny black bit to the far right of the photographs is where the Birthday Boys name is. I die cut all the letter of his name – twice. Once in blue and once in red (Super Hero colours) and fixed them in place so that his name read ‘down’ that black bit. But for the purposes of sharing this mini album on the internet, I blacked out his name. (I’m a protective Grammy)

pages 5 and 6

Tags from the pocket on page 5

Tags & photo mats from the pocket on page 6.

the other side of the tags from page 6. All the tags and photo-mats in the album are all doubled sided.

pages 7 and 8 of the ‘Now We are 5’ mini album.

tags and photo-mats from page 7

I love to emboss the edges of some of the tags with this ‘deckled’ twinkly style of embossing. It kind of adds a dimension to them.

close up of page 8. That ‘POW’ is a magnetic fold out book for photos

page 8 with the magnetic book opened.

A hidden tag.
The poem written on this tag (above) holds such a special meaning to me. My Grandson has Cerebral Palsy. It affects different children in different ways, and for my Grandson it affects his speech to some degree, educationally to a degree, and his walking. He can walk, but he falls over a lot and has trouble walking very far. He suffers dreadful pain in his legs – and has to have injections into his calf muscles to try to help with this and also to relax the muscles in his legs so that walking is made a little easier. He has some other problems too, because of this condition. This is the reason why this poem means so much to me, and why it catches me in my throat whenever I read it.

the back of the poem tag

pages 9 and 10
That big spiders web you can see on page 10, is one I drew on, using an embossing pen. I then embossed it with Tonic Silver embossing powders (because their silver is the best I’ve ever found), and try as I might I couldn’t seem to get a photo to show up how much that spiders web shines!

tags and photo mats from the pockets on page 9

page 10 has a magnetic fold out booklet, for photos and journaling.

page 10 – the booklet folded out fully.

pages 11 and 12.

the tags and photo-mats from the pocket on page 11, – and … the finger you see pointing to the Happy Birthday – is to point out that it’s magnetic and will hold a tag or note under it.

page 12. The ‘Heroes’ is embossed all around it in Tonic Silver embossing powders. This is a book which folds out to hold photos and bits of journaling.

it folds out like this … and it’s double sided, so there are photo mats on the back too!

.. and when you look under it, there’s a little message for the young man himself.
If you’ve got this far and are still with me …. keep going .. the end is in sight!

pages 13 and 14
Page 13 holds a poem which says it all ….

I love this poem. There’s a space right next to it waiting for a photo of my little rascal.

page 14 which has a deep, deep pocket for special things ...

… his official SUPERHERO certificate; a postcard waiting for something special to be put on it. A very colourful tag/photo mat; some spare balloons from his Birthday Party; and there’s other stuff to go into this pocket.
And finally .... the back….

I found a fabulous picture on the net, used by someone else for their child’s birthday party, and I thought it might make a fun picture for my Grandson … only I removed Superman’s features and replaced it with my Grandsons face. (blurred out here because I’m a protective Grammy). It works so well and tickles the heck out of me when I look at it.

… the bit down the side reads: you will always be my favourite Super Hero
There actually is a little bit more which I wanted to share with you, not of this album but of something else I made for his ‘Birthday Party’, but I think you’ve suffered enough for one day so I’ll post a little blog post about it another day.
Thank you SO much for coming and taking a look at my Mini Scrapbook Album. I had so much fun making it – although it did take me rather too many days to actually get it finished. I’m such a slow worker! tsk tsk. I know that my little rascal is going to love it. I just have to get all the photos into it now.
If there’s anything you want to know – glues, papers, bits, pieces etc, please just ask away in a comment. I’m more than happy to share information.
Before I sign off, may I just take this opportunity to say a very warm hello to a couple of new followers. Welcome, it’s lovely to have you on-board, please make yourself at home here, and feel free to ask questions, make comments or just grab a coffee and settle down for a bit of a read.
Thank you everyone, for visiting me. I love you coming. I really do. It’s like having a stream of friends popping round for coffee and a chat. Fabulous. Absolutely, totally Fabulous with a capital F.
Have a wonderful day out there, and what ever you’re planning to do today, remember to stop, smile, and make a memory.
Have a blessed day all,