Build A Baby Book

- Baby scrapbook ideas? (for a baby boy.)?
my aunt's having a baby, and i'm going to make her a scrapbook to record memories like his first steps, first words, etc. i want to make her the bestest scrapbook ever. :) we went to walmart yesterday and i grabbed some stuff, i don't think i'm going to have enough though, so i need to know what else i should get before i start to make it. yesterday i got: -a big blue scrapbook, which i have to hide because my uncle doesnt know its a boy yet. -30 sheets of cardstock paper, in pink, yellow-ish orange, green, blue, and purple. -and stickerss!!! i got a bunch of stickers. i need some ideas for the pages, i'm going to make the first page have pictures of the different ultrasounds, with the dates. and i'm going to title it "in mommy's tummy" is that a good idea? anyways, what are good page ideas for it? thank you a bunch!! :) also, i got a colorbok scrapbook, with fabric on the cover, can i still put stickers and stuff on the cover? and if so, what would be a good layout for it? THANK YOUUU!!! :)

A The link below has some great ideas to get you started including a list of "firsts." Good luck and have fun.

- Can you sew fabric onto cardboard?
I have an empty scrapbook, and it's covers are made of cardboard. The pages and cover are held together by ribbon, so they're separate until I put them together. I really want to use it. The only problem is, the book was meant to be used as a baby scrapbook. The cover is blue, white, yellow, and pink, striped and polka-dotted, and it has a cute little purple elephant on it. Yeah, I really want to cover that. How should I do it? I wanted to paint over it, or cover it with fabric. Would either of those work? More importantly, would the fabric work, because that's what I have right now. Would I have to glue, staple, sew, tape the fabric on, or what? A little help, please? The cover's about an eighth of an inch thick! I think an eighth of an inch is about a third of a centimeter. And I don't have anything against purple elephants. I did say he was cute, didn't I? He's just not my type, that's all . . .

A You don't say how thick or dense the "cardboard" is that's acting as the covers and that could make a difference in how you'd attach the fabric. But first, you could always just glue the fabric to the cardboard (proably with a PVA glue --Sobo, "bookbinder's glue," etc... ask for that at an art supply store if possible), or you could even apply it with a spray adhesive or in other ways (don't think you could easily sew through most dense book-cover type boards though on a sewing machine). Generally the way fabric is added to a book cover is to staple it on over a layer of batting (thin or thick) --though you wouldn't have to use that-- using staples on the back side all around the perimeter. You'd start with staples in the center of two opposing sides, then do the other opposing sides, then begin to fill in the other spaces (oppositely) doing the corners last. If the matte board is too dense for staples or too thin, you could do that instead with some kind of strong tape. The inside of the covers are then mostly covered with a sheet of decorative paper (almost to the edges on all 4 sides) to hide the fabric edges and the rest of the board, generally using glue. If you wanted to paint it, you'd probably want to make sure the surface is not too slick so it can take the paint (could sand a bit, even with 0000 steel wool, then dust off and/or wipe with alcohol to clean). You could also use a spray paint if you wanted, especially for the first coat. P.S. As another option, you could cover your bookcover with a sheet of decorative clay of some kind. We do this with polymer clay all the time and it can create quite interesting covers (the entire covers can be made from polymer clay too). If you're interested in seeing what all that's about, check out this page of my site: http://glassattic.com/polymer/books.htm ...click on the category called **Covers--Notebook, Journal, Other** HTH, Diane B.