Retail is SO Boring

I went out a little while ago to try to find a picture album for Rosie's first baby pictures. Unless you want something severely overdecorated and ridiculous or something sadly bare, there is nothing out there for you. Frustrating, to say the least. Some of these people who decorate these things need to just edit themselves. Edit, people! So this is what we ended up getting.

This was the lesser of several evils but still horribly boring, right? It's a nice color so I can work with that. I thought to myself, "Self, you can add a pretty ribbon. That would be one small step for you and yet one giant leap for this horribly banal photo album.". Then I got to thinking, "Self, you could be really clever and connect it to her baby announcements that you still need to blog.". Good ideas all, Self. I'll try it.

I added 2 strips of cardstock; 1 patterned leftover from her baby announcements and 1 plain white; and I added a wide satin ribbon with a bow. So you see, retail doesn't HAVE to be boring. It just is. It is up to us as creative, wonderful crafting people to make life exciting sometimes. And it doesn't always take a lot of supplies, money or work. I was able to use supplies I already had (so this upgrade was essentially free) and about 10 minutes to make a completely new photo album. And this one has come leaps and bounds from the original.

So go out and be creative! I challenge you to accept the inevitable drab that comes from mass producing items and make it your own. I'd love to see what you can do!