Yosemite Ave Mini Book

Two weeks ago we moved out of our beloved apartment on Yosemite Ave. Sure it had its quirks but it had so much charm and character too (and I'm not talking about us two). Most memorable is that it was our first apartment together after spending nearly three years living 90 miles apart. When I saw the posting on Craiglist for a cute apartment, within our price range on Yosemite, a place near and dear to our hearts, I was sold. Thankfully the landlord agreed and so we lived there from June 2010 until the beginning of this month.

Last year I took an online workshop to learn the art of making mini books (aka as the BIG mini workshop by Elise). The workshop was fun and inspiring! I learned these books are a great snapshot of memories, like a scrapbook, but mini. To me they feel easier, less pressure to fill an entire book of 12x12 page. Rather bundle up as many memories as you wish and bind them together. Sadly until now I have not put my learning to use. As the end of our time on Yosemite Ave grew closer, I started a collection of little things I wanted to remember within a mini book.

I knew creating an entire book (all the paper) was a little more than I could pull together while moving and job searching. So I looked at Elise's shop and realized she had a custom album option - perfect! After a few emails, a paypal transaction and one short week, this album arrived in my mailbox! It measures 4x6 inches with thick card stock front and back, filled with a variety of patterns, colors, sizes and textures of paper all held together with two binder rings. Icing on the cake cover is our house number.

Over the weekend I went through all my pictures and printed several at the local CVS. After several hours of this...

I finished this sweet not-so mini book jam packed with memories of our time on Yosemite Ave! I love it. As you can see I added more to the cover. I think the row of houses on this paper was made for this book.

I wasn't joking about packed, check out the side view! I had to buy larger binder rings to hold it all together. A majority of the thickness is from all our house warming cards I included in here!

To start the book, I decided to make categories so there was a flow. I sorted all of the pictures into piles. Apparently I'm stuck on tabs, because I decided this book needed them too!

 

And here's a look inside the first page! On the left, a photo of the actual numbers on the door. On the right, welcome home - the start of the book!

Throughout the book I included several little details. For example - here is our spare key, which I glued to the other side of the "welcome home" page seen above!

The first section is Home Sweet Home: a photo tour of the apartment from the front door through the house and into the backyard. Although not shown here, I added some creativity into the "tour" by cropping pictures in different sizes and shapes to capture the most important aspects. Below on the left is a photo from our engagement session standing on the front porch, on the right is a nice daily workout - the stairs into the apartment.

Next section is Neighborhood which included photos of the places we frequented the most. We were so fortunate to live off Piedmont Ave! I will miss that street so much (already do!). To the left is a totally Oakland shirt outside of my favorite shop - Nathan and Co. To the right is a collage of most of favorite spots (minus Catos Ale House, which has a full photo on the next page!).

 Party time! And the next section, Parties! I wanted to remember the parties we threw, starting with our housewarming. On the left is a velum envelope where I tucked photos from the housewarming party. On the right are the cards we received from friends and family when we moved in! Beyond the cards are more pictures from parties we hosted.

Visitors We were fortunate to have so many people come visit and stay with us! 

As a thank you to many visitors, I made Bay Area "welcome bags" as seen on the left. On the right is a photo from our visitors this time last year! Beyond that are single photos from all the other visitors.

Holidays Of course I included photos from holidays, aka my craft projects, all of which I've shared here on the blog.

We had some great photos and other random things from around Oakland that I wanted to include, so I made Oak-town, (San Fran is often referred to as "the city" and Oakland as "the town", hence Oak-town).

This might be my favorite little part. Memories: a mini envelope, with loop closer, which I made to include the memories not captured by photos. I already started a mental list, but plan to fill out this part when I'm with B next. I know I will cherish this whole book, but especially reading back the funny, everyday memories.

The last page is a photo of the moving truck and all our stuff! It was a sentimental day watching our lives be packed up and taken out. I am so excited for our next adventure, in Colorado, but will always remember our time in California and especially on Yosemite Ave!

I LOVED this project! I haven't made a scrapbook in years and this process reminded how much I love to compile memories in a creative form. I'm not sure what the theme will be, but I plan to make more in the future. Next time I think I'll try to start from scratch on my own. However, I wouldn't hesitate to order another book from Elise, because I loved the quality and randomness chosen by someone else!

This post is part of my September Creative Challenge. Follow along as Inspired Honey Bee and I do something creative Monday - Friday all this month!