I wanted to make a photo project for my niece for her birthday.  Since she was turning 5 today (Happy Birthday Ally!).  I wanted it to be something that was durable enough for her to handle and play with.  So I decided to create a My Digital Studio swatchbook because it comes with the plastic covers on the front and back and the pages are a sturdy weight.

In the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Mini catalog there is a Designer Template called Twitterpated (#125615) and I decided that would make the project quick and easy.  The hard part was getting all the pictures together.

The template is 26 pages or 13 front and back.  It included photo boxes on the fronts and some journaling lines on all the backs.  I decided to fill the photo boxes on the front using them just like they were in the template.  I opted to delete the journaling lines and leave the backs with just the designer paper and embellishments.

On the very last page I did include a note that said it was made with love by Aunt Monika.

On the cover I added punched letters to spell her name and then played around with filling them with different designer papers but I ultimately decided to use part of a photo instead.  Can you see what I filled the letters with?  I used the same photo of Ally on the cover and then for each letter positioned it over her dress – so its like patterned paper that matches my picture exactly!

The swatch book is an assortment of pictures from her whole life – from the day she was born up to our trip in December.  Then for each page I added some little quote or saying to go along with the pictures – so were already part of the template and others I either pulled from stamp sets that I have in My Digital Studio or I added as text boxes.

Throughout the book she can find her cousins, her grandparents, her parents and brother, the new puppy, and of course Aunt Monika had to be included too.

I also added the month and year of the pictures on each page so that we knew when they were from.  She changed a lot in 5 years.

One important thing when you create a swatchbook – turn the bleed guides on!  Then you can see where the hole will be for the rivet and also where the book will be trimmed around the edges.  I made sure the quotes and dates and important parts of the pictures were inside my bleed areas.

I hope you like this little My Digital Studio Project.  If you would like to try the software out for Free you can go to my website and download a free 30 day trial from my online store.  Have fun creating!