If you are an old school reader you might remember that six years ago I made a first words book for Henry when he was Edie’s age. He LOVED it. We made it when he was about 18 months, just starting to talk. I photographed his favorite toys, food, park, and family members. We read it every day, and it was one of the first books he learned how to read when he was in kindergarten.
I knew I wanted to make another one for Edie, we’ve loved Henry’s book so much! I went with the same exact concept. It was a fun challenge to improve on my original idea! I photographed simple things she loves around the house: her toys, her binkies, her favorite food, her blankie, family members. It was hard not to get carried away, there were so many sweet things I wanted us to remember.
I love how it turned out!
Keep reading to see the whole book and how it was made…
You can see the whole book above. I shot on a whiteboard overhead next to a window with scrabble letters (you can buy them from amazon in bulk right here). In the picture below you can see the set up. The board is on the floor here because I was testing it out with the strobe light, but ended up using natural light instead next to the window
I grabbed some of her favorite objects that she would recognize like her shoes, toy cars, Munchkin apple plates (aren’t they adorable? Edie grabs them whenever she’s hungry) and little toys like the fruit basket set for the bath and of course her binkies.
I did a lot of research this time and made the book through Artifact State. They had a great deal going on which was $10 for a hard cover custom book, I think normally it was $50! I think the deal is still on, fyi. These kinds of books can be expensive to print but there are so many companies which means there are always great deals going on so do your research before you start. I highly recommend this printer, the quality is exceptional.
I love how these family shots turned out. They were actually photoshopped a bit! I took pictures of some mini instax photos I had taken years ago of our trip back to New England. The pictures were of hiking in foliage and apple picking. In photoshop, I swapped in some recent photos of us and then filtered them a bit to make them look like they were taken with the instax camera. Voila!
There was no photoshopping here. I made an ice cream sundae, photographed it, and then ate it up (waste not want not!)
It’s such a treasure! I love how it turned out!
This post is sponsored by Munchkin. Munchkin items we love that are featured in the book are: apple plates, pacifiers, toddler spoon, fruit basket bath toy.
Photography by Liz Stanley. Assisted by Sarah Iveson
How adorable is that book!! I will have to make one. My sister made my daughter a “who loves baby” book with photos of family members that is totally cherished but I love this idea even more.
And those red shoes are the cutest! Where are they from??
Oh thank you Sally! Those red shoes are a thrift store find from several years ago. I know- such a great find!
Darling!
Oh I love how this turned out too. Adorable
This is seriously so fun! I totally want to make a book just like this for my daughter! It would be such a great christmas present for someone too!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
I love this! You link to Artifact Uprising and to Artisan Slate. Which one did you use? I need to find that $10 deal!
Sorry! I thought they were the same but I guess not. It’s artifact state. the second link is the deal!