Valentine day gift from Grandkids to their Mommy!

Well, this gift has taken me a whole month, and right up until 2 am of Valentine's Day to finish. It has been a labor of love! I wanted to make something special that could be from the grandkids to their Mom. They assisted by allowing me to use their photos, and letting me trace their hands. I have shown them each page as I created this book/card so they would know what was up with it all. I had to find time ot sew it when my DIL was either not home, or in bed!!! It was tricky!
FRONT COVER:

I was happy with the whole project except, as it turns out, the FRONT cover! Darn it all. The front cover uses heavy paper/cardboard elements. The rest of the book is felt, and fabric and sewn into place. I am leaving it at this point because I am out of time. It is still a really wonderful peice, and I think she will be amazed and very happy!

I used two sheets of felt to make each "page". This way I could sew elements on each side and then I sewed them together using a blanket stitch (except one page, which was a straight stitch). Each page sort of just came to me as I went along.

All pages are hand embroidered except the last two, when I switched to free sewing using the machine. It is a much finer line, and actually I could not get it to show up at all on the red page, as you will see when you get to the page...
THESE ARE THE LAST TWO PAGES:

My 2011 came out weirdly!!!

The last page (pink) showed the writing just fine, but not that red page...no way...it would not cooperate!

I enjoyed crafting each page...especially the "LOVE MUNKY" page. Wondering why I spelled it this way? For space, of course! Plus it was CUTE! There are little heart charms on each munky, and some green sequins sewn into the tree for leaves too.


The other page, which came out of my mind and thin air, was the "Bound by Love" page, where I sewed a big red heart and stuffed it. I put MOMMY on the heart, and the kids hands are holding it, and it is bound to their hands by a red cord. I had to use rows of ribbon to sew behind the fingers of the hands, because it needed structure to be able to hold the heart. That was tricky and had to be all pinned together to hold in place as I hand stitched it all.


I had all of these elements in my house already, which was ultra amazing and wonderful...(except a few felt hearts, and the star buttons on the "Super Stars" page). This makes it feel very special to me since it was made from all the stuff I had been attracted to when I had originally bought or found them.


I bound the pages together with some Valentine fabric I had. My Mom had made a dress for my daughter when she was in 1st grade with it...and she is 21 now!!!

The "Tresures of my Heart" page started with a big zentangle heart I drew out. I included on section of zebra print, as she loves animal prints. I sewed it down with a covering of photo sheet plastic over top to protect it. Then I hand cut all the white letters out and glued them down. I did not like that, so I decided to make it look more treasure-like I would hand sew all of those various colored beads on top. Then I stitched the black line going under all the words and I think it looks kinda like a treasure map!


I found a beautiful poem by Charles Swain called "Home Is Where There's One To Love Us". I printed it out on pink paper, and glued it onto white to frame it out, then added a few heart stickers. I stuck it inside the book for her to find.


Here is the poem, if you care to read it:

Home Is Where There's One To Love Us

Home's not mearly roof and room-

It needs something to endear it;

Home is where the heart can bloom,

Where there's some kind lip to cheer it!


What is home with none to meet,

None to welcome, none to greet us?

Home is sweet-and only sweet-

When there's one we love to meet us!

~Charles Swain
________________________________________
Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!
xoxo- Julie