Last week, we talked about Amy Tangerine’s Daybooks, and how much fun they are. Want to see one in action? I used one to document our first summer after we moved.

The outside had a fun acetate overlay, and clouds printed on it. I added the labels, and made a sun by cutting two circles out of contrasting colors, laying them on top of each other, and cutting them into wedges. Made it easy to create a quilt-look, and I can make another sun out of the left over pieces! I wonder if I still have the pieces… 😉

Before I even started using the interior pages, I decided to add even more to the book, and glued a paper bag onto the front cover. The card for the pocket it made was made of a scrap piece of printed acetate. For any patterned papers that I didn’t particularly like, there were only a handful, I covered up most of them with a piece of paper, a photo, or a journaling card.

Photos didn’t have to fit exactly on a page, but if they extended past the end of a page, I made sure the photo or paper on the back covered the exposed back. I used a lot of washi tape, and scrap paper, as well as a set of die cuts from the same Amy Tangerine line.

My creative goal for this album was to have fun, and put together an eclectic and messy, yet still visually approachable book. Most of the photos used started as 4x6s, and were trimmed or cut to fit the space. One of my favorite things to do in the album was to have a photo lay across the gutter.

One of the coolest thing about the Amy Tangerine daybook, is the wide variety of paper shapes, colors, and textures. There was even an envelope that made a handy place to store vacation memorabilia.

This was so much fun to put together! Hopefully the kids will be willing to pose for some pictures this year. They’re getting old and crotchety. I’m raising little old men!

Looking at this right now, I’m debating on whether I’ll use the daybook I’ve chosen, which is a spiral bound, or switch to one of the sewn ones I have. I really did love being able to bridge the gutter, but I like the idea of a spiral bound better right now. I’ll let you know what I decide.

How are you going to document your summer? If you want to join me with a Daybook summer album, you can find some on Amazon: