happy birthday gift

Okay, so this was one of the sweetest things I've ever been given. My sister, Ashley, is a sweetheart and very creative. She sent this to me for my bday, and I want to share it with you because I think it is a fabulous gift anyone would love to receive. I'll post the pictures, and then Ashley can explain how she put it together.

Thanks Amy, I had a lot of fun making it. I'll try my best to explain it.

The album is 5x7. I already had a mat stack of papers that size so no cutting there required.

The front and back covers are thin pieces of cardboard/chip board covered with the paper. I cut the cardboard a little smaller than 5x7 and just sanded the edges after the paper was glued down. I used a tacky glue which I believe I got just at Roberts (or any other craft store)

I had these questions that I asked our family & grandparents to answer about Amy: How would you describe Amy, How is she like you, What makes her "Amy", What is a fond memory you have of her, What is her greatest accomplishment, What is a birthday wish you have for her.

The whole album I just ran through my printer and did the jrnl. in Word. When in Word I just changed my paper size to 5x7 and kept the text away from the side where I'd be punching the holes.

The pics I printed in my dinosaur of a photoshop. I believe they were 2x2.5 so when doing my jrnl. I just tried to type leaving a space large enough for a photo in one of the corners.

I have a nifty tool called the crop-a-dile that is a heavy duty hole puncher/eyelet setter. I used it to punch the holes through the cardboard covers and pages. I'm sure a regular hole punch would work too because the covers weren't too thick.

Umm...oh I just tied ribbon around the clasps (office supply store or even walmart) and added some patterned paper that matched to jazz it up. The cover letters "amy" are thickers (foam stickers) and the circle of happy birthdays I did in Word.

Here's how:

Create a WordArt (I usually just use the 1st option--the outlined wordart)

Type the word as many times as you would like it to appear in a circle

enter and right click on the word to select "show wordart toolbar"

click on the funky blue A in the middle of the toolbar that says wordart shape

select circle curve

now you can mess with the size of your circle by pulling at the corners

to change the size of the font/spacing refer back to the wordart toolbar and click the very far right icon that has an "av" with an arrow under it. Click the options given or customize. The larger the percentage the smaller the words get.

Change the color by selecting the paintbucket in your wordart toolbar

Well, I believe that's it. Sorry if this is confusing, I have a hard time saying things simply or shortly. Just post a comment if you have any questions. It really was easy and fun.