Soft Photo Book for your Long Distance Grandchild

Woot woot! It’s Movie Monday and I’m super excited to share with you a special DIY soft photo book I made for Favorite Pixie. As you know, I love, love, love being a Nana, but the sometimes the long distance thing is a bit challenging. This month’s challenge was the perfect opportunity to address the frustration!

On the last (or fourth) Monday of each month, a group of bloggers participate in a #MovieMondayChallenge, hosted by C’mon Get Crafty! We decide on a topic, genre, or specific movie to use for inspiration and everyone gets free reign to create something wonderful!

This month’s challenge was. . . . Your Mom’s Favorite Movie!

If you know me at all, choosing my mom’s favorite movie is a little challenging as both my mom and my bonus mom have passed away. My Grandma is also gone. In fact, I am the oldest living Mom on my branch of the family tree! Does that make me some kind of matriarch?

I am the oldest living Mom on my branch of the family tree! Does that make me some kind of matriarch? Click To Tweet

Because of this lack of moms, I have the awesome opportunity to honor my Favorite Sister – Big K – by choosing her favorite movie for this month. Love, Actually.

love actually | diy soft photo album | long distance grandma | www.nonnio.com | movie monday challenge

Love Actually is a heartwarming movie obviously about love, but also about life, strange relationships, mistakes, perseverance. It’s just a really great movie with a not so disgusting looking cast. Can you say Hugh Grant?

The movie starts off in an airport with Hugh Grant’s character, the Prime Minister, narrating.

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge – they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.

And it is, right? And sometimes it requires an airport and an airplane or a really long drive to get to those we love. Like Favorite Pixie. She and her parents are about 900 miles away from me! That is a really long drive!

diy soft photo book | www.nonnio.com | long distance grandma | long distance nana | love actually | movie monday challenge

Lately, when we are Facetiming, she is very interested in that little red button that shows while we are chatting. You know the one that disconnects the call?

I know she can hear me, but she really wants to play with the button and ultimately hang up on me! LOL

So I thought I should create something with pictures of the people that love her so she can become familiar with them. Favorite Pixie can ultimately KNOW all of us that love her! Yeah!

Step 1: Gather Supplies
For the DIY soft photo book you will need:

Fabric – for the book background
Iron on transfer paper
Iron on adhesive
Pictures

Step 2: Create your pictures

I love PicMonkey, so I created my pictures there. I used all headshots of single individuals so as not to be confusing for Favorite Pixie. I also labeled each picture so she could see the letters and names. Can’t help it. Always teaching!

Step 3: Transfer the Images

Would you believe this part was a disaster? I thought that the image transfer part would be easy, but not so much. I think I may have a small issue with image transfers…

The first transfer paper I bought required me to “flip” the pictures so that when I ironed them on, they would be correct.

I followed the directions EXACTLY and when I went to remove the transfer paper…

Then, this happened! I could not peel off the paper!

This was very time consuming and made a big mess, so I decided to go ahead and try a different product.

I highly recommend this product. It was super easy to use AND it is a fabric sheet, not paper!

Mind blown!

Step 4: Add a backing

The only problem was that it was a little sheer so I needed to transfer these images onto some white cotton so that my print would not show through the picture itself. See the flowers bleeding through the photo?

Step 5: Attach to the printed fabric

I used an iron-on adhesive product to attach the photo appliques to the printed fabric. The difficulty here is getting the order correct. I had to lay out the pages, back-to-back, several times to make sure I was doing this correctly. Truth be told, I had to redo a couple of pages because I did it wrong.

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!!! Especially for your soft photo book!

Step 6: Stitch around the applique

Here I had the opportunity to try out some new stitch settings on my machine. Yeah me!

One little side note: I had a lot of trouble with my needle getting gummed up and stitches getting missed. This became such a problem that I was only able to stitch around the cotton, not the picture itself.

Some products are not meant to stitch over, and the transfer fabric paper, as wonderful as it is, is not designed to stitch over. A good lesson in adjusting your design when need be. 🙂

Step 7: Assemble the pages

For this soft photo book I chose to have a 10″ x 20″ cut length for the printed fabric. This piece will become two full pages when lying flat. Four full pages if you count the other side. The first page will be the front and the back. The second is page 2 and 2nd to last. And so on.

It is easiest to keep your pages laid out in order for this process. That way there is less chance of mixing them up and having the photos in an order you did not choose!

Next, put two sides back to back and add a light batting. Stitch them together, leaving an opening to turn. Turn out and press.

Step 8: Top Stitch each page

Topstitch not only around each page but directly down the middle of the pages on what will be the center of your finished soft photo book.

love actually | diy soft photo book | long distance grandma | www.nonnio.com | movie monday challenge

Step 9: Finishing

Place all pages together in book formation. Stitch directly down the center to create a “spine”. Add ribbon or trim to cover your stitching. And you are done!

I love how it turned out 🙂 Please check out my blogging friend’s fabulous Movie Monday Challenge projects. Maybe your favorite movie has been featured!

If you love this project, check out my other Movie Monday Challenge projects:

Origami Goose Mobile

Spinning Lantern

An InLinkz Link-up

It’s True. It’s Just a Stage. | 3 Stages of Parenting

How to Make a Tutu | Movie Monday Challenge | Bridesmaids

Space to Breathe

Long Distance Nana? Create a DIY Soft Photo Book for your Favorite Pixie | Movie Monday Challenge

Mind blown!

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!!! Especially for your soft photo book!

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It’s True. It’s Just a Stage. | 3 Stages of Parenting

How to Make a Tutu | Movie Monday Challenge | Bridesmaids

Space to Breathe

Mind blown!

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!!! Especially for your soft photo book!

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