when did this happen?

When I became pregnant/had my first child, other parents and grandparents kept on telling me over and over to enjoy every minute, because "they grow so fast".

Initially was wondering, well, if they grow so fast, how come these first 9 months of pregnancy take FOR-EEEEEVER??

And then it happened, of course it did. I woke up and my first born baby was almost 10 and the little one...? Look at this!

Most of the new books, especially the thrifted ones, usually first get piled up in the studio, where my little girl joined me the other day, grabbed books and started to read. Fluently. I was stunned. When did this happen?

Usually I'm the one who reads to her at night and once a week she has to read a book for school, so when she started reading one book after the other, I was blown away by this "miracle". Do you think I should start looking for a suitable college????...

Ah, well.

I have yet to tell you, why books go in the studio these days: I had this idea of transformation, started collecting cheap boardbooks and finally have been working on this for the last days:

The magical transformation of a Winnie book into a little photobook of appreciation with pictures of a Christmasgift and some follow up photos for friends in Germany.

Boardbooks is the way to go for this, because it saves you the cutting of the cardboard, offers rounded corners or other fancy shapes, and shaping the patterned paper after glueing it to your page is an easy and fun task with a sanding block or a similar tool.

I chose an identical layout for every page, the only difference in the size of the handwritten page element. I added a stamped title on the front cover (which translates into "the perfect gift") and a stamped "danke"/"thank you" on the back. Since I am not happy with the book popping up (something that you cannot really avoid, since you are adding layers to the inside pages), I put eyelets in the back and will add a black rubberband to hold it shut. Ding dong - spur of the moment quick decision will place the rubberband over the end of the title on the cover. Hmm. Live and learn, right?!

I still like it. For a first.