last-minute toddler gift idea

Lately, Jonah has been swiping all of the Christmas cards we've been receiving and loving them to little bits.  He's got a thing for photos, both of people he knows and of people he doesn't.  I've been meaning to get him one of those little squashy baby photo albums, the kind where you just slide a few photos in and hope they don't get too mangled.  But then I had this idea, instead.

You get the idea.

Earlier this year, Wendy's was handing out board books in their kids meal, so that's where this one came from.  You could use any old board book, though.  The only other thing you need is some double-stick tape and some basic photoshop skills.  This is how I did it:

Make a 8.5x11 page in Photoshop, or any program that will let you do measured squares.  Measure the pages of your board book, and then make a rectangle that is a quarter inch taller and wider than your pages.  In the layer styles tab, click the second to the last box, the one called "1 px stroke."  Bump back the opacity in the layer tab until it shows up as a light gray.  This makes your template.  Save this page so you can use it over and over again.

Hmm, sorry, that's all really tiny.  Lemme try this...

(The steps are almost the same for the cover.  Just make three separate template rectangles, two the same size as your pages and one the width of the book spine, and plunk them together with the spine in the center.)

Choose a photo and crop it to the size of your template box, minus an inch or so at the bottom for your text.  Select all and copy, then pop it into your template page. 

Type text at the bottom, position it where you like it, and then flatten the whole thing.  Is that all clear and making sense?  I never know what to assume as far as how much people know about Photoshop.  Seems like everyone is using it these days.

Print on cardstock (if you don't have a color printer, Kinkos/Fedex does nice color printing--you just have to email them the files saved as PDF), cut it out, and then stick it to your board book pages with your favorite adhesive (I just used double-stick scotch tape, which worked great).  Trim the spare paper down to the edges with either an exacto knife or really snippy scissors.  Repeat for as many pages as you have in your board book, and you're done!

 

Comments

[Heidi]

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing!

[Jennifer]

Oh my goodness! This is THE cutest idea ever! I need to make some....maybe before Christmas??? We shall see! Now to find me 3 boardbooks asap! Thanks for sharing all your amazing craftiness!!!!

[Myra]

Adorable!

[Kim]

Thanks, guys! You definitely have time for these! I just talked to a friend, and she seriously didn't believe me that this took less than an hour to do, but, for real, it's quick and easy. Another idea is to get the books at D.I. I saw them there today for 50 cents!

[Sara]

This is such a great idea! I can't wait to try it. Thanks for the Photoshop explanations. I'm a novice but I think I can do it!

[amy]

I wish i had photoshop :/ but this is an amazing idea!

[Jami J]

This is an amazing idea! I just pinned it in my pinterest account! I'm so excited to make this! I was going to just print pictures and put them in one of those cheapy photo albums made of sheet protectors... this is WAY better! thanks for sharing :D

[Kristin]

Marshall's and TJ Max always have board books real cheap! Thanks for this great idea!

[Meg]

Board books.. GOODWILL for less than 50 cents, I believe! :D What a cute idea. Thanks!

[Jeri Smith]

can i use the free online Photo Shop tools? or do i need to OWN photo shop to be able to make this?! My 2yr old daughter is autistic and would BENEFIT GREATLY from one of these...

[Jenn]

Mycustomstory.com will set this up for you if you don't have photoshop. We made a great one there for about $35.

[Gaynor]

Love this idea.. I made coasters with her baby pics and she loves looking at herself and this idea is suberb for her i just know she will love it

[Cheryl]

Thanks for the great idea! I am definately going to try this one... I'm worried about the books getting wet and smearing...I wonder if a thin coat of modpodge would seal them without changing the colors...

love this!

[sally]

Could you use Mod Podge if you don't have photo shop?? Just Mod Podge the photos onto the board books?

[Cait]

Yeah... I wondered the same question about the mod podge. My Em eats everything.

[Kim (aka Chef Messy)]

You know, I have no idea on the mod podge! I know there are certain printers with ink that doesn't bleed, or you could have them printed at a photo center (seems like that's usually safe for not-bleeding, too). I would worry about a kid licking mod podge, personally, but that's just me! Probably a better bet is to cover your pages with clear contact paper.

[Christine]

great tutorial...board books for babies are awesome!
if you don't have photoshop or want your pages to be laminated check out hullabaloostories.com

[Adelle Dowling]

Maybe I just didn't read good but how do the edges of the pages stay down? I mean the corners - do you lap them over the back of the page in front?
Love this idea!!!

[Linda]

Hi!

I just wanted to let you know that we used your board book as one of the examples on our site: ThoseCraftySisters.com

Thanks for the inspiration!

Linda
Sister #2
ThoseCraftySisters.com

[Terry]

Are we buying blank books or covering pages in store-bought board books. I'm a little confused...

[lk]

target always has board books by the front doors in the 'dollar section'

[tracie]

how wonderful of you to share this idea!! thank you!!

[Breanne]

Target has a board book kit with 3 blank board books

[Jessyca]

love this idea! I don't have photoshop or any other kind of photo editing program...but I'm going to try making something like this anyway!!!

[DA]

If you don't have photoshop, GIMP is a pretty fantastic FREE substitute.

http://www.gimp.org/

[Melissa @ Love Bug Living]

Love this idea! My daughter loves our photo albums, so this would be much better to let her have. I featured it on my stocking stuffer round up! http://www.lovebugliving.com/2012/11/handmaking-holidays-stocking-stuffer.html

[Rita]

Great idea! I'm going to make one for my little niece for Christmas. You don't need photoshop. Go and have your actual digital photographs printed, and stick it on the cardboard book, leaving some space at the bottom. Cut around the edges as explained above and write the text with your own hands. Even more personal touch. If you want it to be more fancy, buy some scrapbooking paper and use that as background. Thanks for the idea, love diy personal presents!

[gina]

You can do this with paint.net which is a free program that you can download at download.com. It does a lot of the basic things that photoshop does.

[Roberta]

This is so adorable! I started making one from scratch but I think reusing an existing board book is an even faster and easier way to go! Great idea thanks :)

[Sondra]

How funny! I had this same idea not too long ago and am working on one for my daughter! I had found a website that sells blank book boards for about $6 and started picking out photos. I saw your post on Pinterest and just had to comment! I just used regular printer paper and mod podged it on. Then to keep it from getting too dirty (as my little one sometimes still chews on her board books) I bought some adhesive laminate paper and stuck it on the pages.

[Kat]

I don't know if anyone answered about the modpodge---it made mine too think and I was worried the baby would put her mouth on it. I am going to make another one without the modpodge

[Ashley]

What an awesome idea! I'll have to keep this in mind for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents Day...lol!

[Melissa]

This is a really great idea! I love it!