50 ways to leave your lover.

Kidding! More like 67 reasons why you love your father. And first off, let me just say that my dad is a really difficult man to shop for. Ahem.

I can breeze through birthdays or holiday gifts for friends and family no problem, but come Father’s Day, October 15th, or Christmas, the question as to what to get or make for my dad leaves me stumped until the last minute. Every. Single. Time.

He’s a carpenter, a builder of things. He doesn’t wear ties and isn’t into watches or shoes or fancy leather wallets. He doesn’t really go fishing that often, and is basically equipped with everything he needs in that department. Any tool or building-related whathaveyou he could possibly need is undoubtedly out of my pricerange, and I’m sorry, but I can’t just grab a Home Depot gift card and call it a day (weird because I love getting giftcards but I haaaaate giving them).

My mom, on the other hand, is extremely easy to shop/make for. It seems like every special day devoted to her is really celebrated, planned out, etc. but my dad just kind of gets the bad end of the deal, when really, he deserves SO MUCH MORE PRAISE AND RECOGNITION THAN HE GETS.

And then I made that mini album for Mother’s Day, and I knew this Father’s Day creation had to be something REALLY special. And that it would also probably take the form of a book.

I’ve been crushin' on Elise’s minibooks (go buy her summer one; there’s plenty of summer fun left to document!) for a little while now and thought it would be the perfect format to work with, especially since I recruited my three siblings for Project Dad (binder rings make organizing pages SO much easier). I tweaked Elise’s design so that the final product was a 6x7” (not 4x6”) book bound with 1.5” binder rings. Our theme was I Love You Because…, and almost every page reflected one of the bajillion reasons why we love our daddy so much, with a few quotes, bits of scripture, jokes, and photos in between.

Since this was kind of a rush job (I had the idea/hit the ground running with it last Wednesday, and it just so happened that everyone else was working nights, etc so it was a rough situation of bad timing) we came up with the top 67 reasons (hence the front cover) of why we love him. The book ended up being 80+ pages front and back in length and we used everything from scrapbook paper and stamps to vintage book pages and brown paper bags. There were also a few transparent pages as well as an envelope insert. It was fun to experiment, and to collaborate with my siblings on a massive creative project…Friday night, my two sisters and I holed up on my side of the room, floor covered in craft supplies, listening to music, and laughing hysterically every time our brother would bring us more of his pages (his were all HILARIOUS; stupid family inside joke type stuff, but we were DYYYING haha. My brother is the comedian- he gets that from my dad).

We really loved the way the book came together, and I don’t think anyone loved it more than the man of the hour. Here are a few of my favorite pages from the book:

My dad works for UPS. What can brown do for you?

Left: my brother's ridiculous humor / Right: my sister goes chevron crazy

More of my brother's handiwork, haha. Silly goose.

One of my youngest sister's spreads...Bear Grylls jokes never get old around here.

True story. So now you know what kind of deodorant I use, and my dating pre-reqs; and knowledge is power, or something.

 Left: by my sister. This is a classic Brian face- I think I get my crazyfacemaking from him / Right: broseph's classic twist on the #YOLO trend ... bahaha.  

L: by my sister. He pays for her school and bought her a car, but mainly she loves him because he bought her a sandwich, ha.

Front of a mini page (again, UPS reference...)

Left: back of the mini page / Right: transparency insert (somuchfunaaah)

Left: by the brother / Right: envelope insert which is kind of seriously my favorite thing

Lotion is a Silence of the Lambs reference waiting to happen. And I have dry skin, courtesy of my father. So.

I hope y'all had a great weekend! Besides celebrating my dad for the rad person he is, I also went swimming for the first time this year (FINALLY) and watched Alien. Like, the 1979 original. Totally called Ian Holm's character as Prometheus' version of David. The robot is always way too sketch and docile. And if that's your natural temperament, be prepared for me to always assume that you're probably a robot too. As long as you don't plan to experiment on/sacrifice me for the sake of science, especially anything extra-terrestrially related, I'll love you forever. The end.