Tip of the Month

With the holiday season approaching faster than we would like to acknowledge, this month I'm asking about different types of albums that you've made. Have you made them for gifts? Are they not albums, but planners or address books? Do you have any websites that had great instructions or ideas? Share your ideas and inspire others.

kathy m from San Jose CA writes...
Other than my kids\' books, I\'ve made school days albums, abc books, vacation albums. I want to make one of those 2 up albums that was in Simple Scrapbook\'s (january 2005 issue, I think) and a planner. Anyone know of any sites with directions for a planner? What albums have you made?

cherylp from camillus, ny writes...
Last year I made my older brother an album that had photos in it from when he was born to when he graduated from high school. I kept it really simple, made copies of all of my parents photos that they had and made sure everything was dated(with the hep of my mom). He really loved it and his son was able to see just how much he looks like his dad. Im making another one for my sister this year. I\'d like to do a planner, as well, so im curious to hear peoples ideas for that.

Victoria from Canada writes...
I have made albums for each of my children from birth to the time of their marriage. I have made gift heritage albums for 2 aunt\'s (90th birthday) and (85th birthday). one for my husband\'s brother\'s 70th birthday, and one for the younger brother when he retired. These where heritage using photos whuch we had gotten when h their parents passed. I\'ve made albums for each of my 3 grandchildren, and am working on heritage albums for each of my children and myself. I found good web instructions for making a planner... at http://ww.scrapvillage.com/Scrapbooking-Planner.htm I also found some cute cards at: http://www.bhgscrapbooksetc.com/pickacard.html

Barb from PA writes...
I have done and am doing vacation albums, military album, wedding album, I do my two boys and their albums with school trips, etc. in them. I also have done Pets I have and have had in my life and a little about what their personalities are. Also, I started doing my hobbies and things I like to do about me album. I do my grandson album, started heritage album. I am making a section for my boys and grandson on relatives and family added to each one. ***Also, a idea I had is to add at the beginning or at the end of each album that are for your children or as gifts a personal letter to them from you. Things you\'d like to tell them or say incase anything happens to you. ---I also am starting a letter album. Letters I get from my son while in the military and also, letters I get from friends through email.

Barb from PA writes...
P.S. I also like to do a Year in Review last page on some of my albums. I don\'t do this all the time but like to especially on my military album or sometimes on my granson and boys albums. Just a last page with bullets with a short sentence on what some of the major things went on in that year. Like when my son got promoted, moved in the military to a different base, married or whatever else is like a milestone or event in their lives. **On my miitary albums I do for my son, I do a tear page type with red, white and blue and then put the bullets on that. This makes it like a rap up for my album for that year.

Barb from PA writes...
Another P.S. post. Sorry but thought of one more thing. I did a album for my husband a few years ago for Christmas. What I did was wrote or called his family and friends to write about something they remembered as a child or some fun things my husband and his friends did or co-workers. I asked them for a photo if they could of theirselves or of their family. I told them if they needed it back I would get the photo copied and then send back to them. When I made my husband this he was all choked up with going down memory lane and with co-workers and friends writing about stuff he had forgotten. It was really nice. I included the shorter letters right on the page with the photo. The longer ones I reduced in size if I needed to or retyped like the person had it with smaller font. He normally don\'t care too much about the albums. He likes me doing them but not much interested either way. He loved this gift. Just wanted to share. Sorry about 3 different posts though.

mamichelle from Westford, MA writes...
I do albums for both ds\'s and a family album. I started my family album a year or so ago. I went back to 1977 when we were dating and went through marriage, children, etc. I\'m finally up to 2000 as of the other night. I\'ve also done a 70th birthday album for a gift. My next project (after catching up to this yr.) will be a book of me. I think it\'s a nice idea to pass along to your children.

Jill in Chicago writes...
I make \"flip books.\" I buy small, blank, hard covered albums that are wire bound. (Barnes and Noble always has a good selection.) That way they stand up, and each page can flip over to the next. Each page is for one week of the year, features one photo, and a quote. The quotes go with the photos. For each person\'s birthday week the photo is of them. For December I use Christmas photos from the year before. This is a great way to use up bad, wierd and/or wacky photos. All year long I collect photos and quotes and toss them into a shoe box. Then I write the quotes on post its, and attach them to the back of the appropriate photo. They turn out adorable and are a huge hit with the grandmas.

Andrea in Ut from Helper writes...
Eash year for Christmas I make do a page for each month of my kids for my parents and grandfather and a 2 pg 7 X 7 LO for seach month for ILs. This year I am thinking of doing a 7 X 7 book of My kids and thier cousin for my SIL. I am also going to scrap my parents trip to Alaska. So the next couple of months are going to be buzy.

Gail from NJ writes...
Besides my chronological kids and family albums, wedding, and vacations, I\'ve done a couple of gift albums. One was for my mom for Mother\'s day a few years ago. It was a 7x5 albusm and on the left side of each page was a quote, poem, or song lyric, and on the right a LO with 1 or 2 photos. It was pictures of me and my sister, our kids, my mom\'s parents, my dad, their dogs, and sons-in-law. The other album I just did recently for my parents\' 40th anniversary. A little over a year ago, they moved into a new house from a house they lived in for most of their married life. So, I made an album all about the old house and memories from there since they built up a life for themselves and their kids (my sister and me) there. I also wanted to be able to have a record for my own kids of where I grew up since that house is now sold. They really like that album.

Niki from PA writes...
For Christmas this year I plan on giving my parents, the in-laws and all grandparents a 6X6 album with the first page completed then at the end of each month I\'ll send a double page layout for them to add to their scrapbook. So page 2 & 3 which will face eachother will be pictures from January, pages 4 & 5 will be pictures from February and so on throughout the year. I\'m going to get the albums at Michaels with a coupon when they are available and in the meantime I\'m going to make the pages without the pictures so I\'m ready at the end of the month and not overwhelmed.

Jill in ohio, now TX writes...
I have done many different kinds of albums. I love giving them as gifts and I\'ve been paid to make some for others--some by friends and some just by word of mouth. I\'ve done soccer albums and other sports, memorial albums, school, Christmas, reunions, parties, anniversaries, weddings and trips. My rule is that when I have more pics and memoribilia than a 3 page spread will hold, it gets its own album. My favorites gift size is CM\'s 7x7 or K&Co\'s 8x8. I\'ve never done a journal. jill

Chris from Indiana writes...
I\'ve made a few different albums. My best and most favorite one is of my mom growing up. I actually took without her knowing her box of black and whites and supriesed her at christmas with 2 albums of her past. I also included a silver pen so she can write any special memories she has with each photo. I also make my DH a (car) racing album every year in chrono order. I use his standings every night, over all point standings, newspaper articles, ticket stubs, etc. These are my most used albums that we keep looking back on. I also made one for my sister who went on a cruise recently and used everything from boarding passes to sand to toothpicks from dinner. She absolutely loved what I did for her that got her into scrabooking for herself.

Dorthy writes...
For years I\'ve made mini-albums for my Sunday School students. Items I\'ve included are the name of the church and a photo of the church\'s saint. I\'ve included photos of the students and what their names mean. I added the prayers we said, some discriptive words about them, list of their favorite things (from a questionnaire), and a photo of their teachers signed by us. The students loved these gifts better than anything else I gave them. I have also recently made a decorated \"All about Me\" jar containing 200 questions. I also covered a composition book and titled it \"All About Me Journal\".

sosew writes...
I have made a \"visit\" album, a mini filled with pics of a vacation-visit to family and sent it to them. Kind of a thanks for a good visit gift !

Barb Z from OHIO writes...
I finished one album for my daughter, from birth to 8th grade, started a high school album. I have also started an album for my oldest son, from birth to 8th grade. I have not finished. I am now working on a Boy Scout album. He is getting his Eagle rank in the next six months, so it is mostly all Boy Scout stuff.

Cynthia from Indiana writes...
I made a gift scrapbook for wedding pictures. I made a 5x7 book with adhesive corners for the pictures so they could take them out if they wanted to do so.

Dina Areno from Sulphur, Louisiana writes...
To make a 8.5 X 11 scrapbook with recipes. I have started one for my Mother-in-law, I\'ve included some recipes from friends and some of my own and I am planning to raid her ziploc baggie and add those to the scrapbook pages. I also have photos of my kids helping her in the kitchen and am planning to add those to her pages. She likes grapes... so for each divider page I stamped grapes and decorated the whole page with that theme. I did each divider page the exact same and just changed the names! Hope you enjoy this... I myself have one and I have lots of friends and family just LOVE IT!

Amanda writes...
I made a mini scrapbook for my husband for Valentine\'s Day. Each page had pictures and quotes on love. At the end of the book, I did a 2-page \"year in review\" of every year that we had been married (including significant events around the world and in our family). On the last page, I revealed the first significant event of the year...that I was pregnant with our first child! It was a great way to surprise him with the news! I also left enough pages in the book to continue on with our \"year in review\" for many years to come.

Louise writes...
I made accordian fold mini-albums with recipes as gifts. The covers were made from foam core board covered with fabric, the pages of cardstock decorated with patterned papers and embellishments. They tied closed with a wired ribbon and were simple enough for my kids to make, but cute! I made my own pattern. I cut 12x12 sheets of cardstock in half, then scored them i/2 inch from the end, and another score at 5 & 3/4 inches from the other end (mid-point between the score and the other end). The edge of one page was glued to the 1/2 flap and folded mountain/valley style. The flaps were covered with the patterned paper, so you didn\'t see the joints. The covers were two separate squares of foam core board cut 6 & 1/2 inches square and covered with fabric. The ribbon was glued to the inside of the back cover, the final page flap glued to the outside edge of the back cover overtop the ribbon, and a square of cardstock covering. The other end of the accordian page strip was a \"page\" and was glued to the inside of the front cover. The ribbon tied in front and kept the mini-album closed. They were so easy and fun to make!

Laura Williams aka LauraW68 from TN writes...
I created an album for dh\'s Mom for Christmas of 2002. The album consisted of layouts with photos of her grandchildren. I divided the album into sections for each grandchild. I keep creating layouts for her album and put them in page protectors. All she has to do is add the protected page into it\'s respective section and enjoy the album.

Laura Williams aka LauraW68 from TN writes...
I created an album for dh\'s Mom for Christmas of 2002. The album consisted of layouts with photos of her grandchildren. I divided the album into sections for each grandchild. I keep creating layouts for her album and put them in page protectors. All she has to do is add the protected page into it\'s respective section and enjoy the album.

Laura Williams aka LauraW68 from TN writes...
I recently created an altered cd mini album for my daughter. I used two photos of her friends and she can sit the cd open on her desk now if she wishes. The how-to along with step by step photos of how to make this is online at http://www.scrapfriends.us/articles/cdminialbum.html (Scrapfriends is a resource only site. There is no store there.:) )

Lois Belliveau from Lynn MA writes...
Last year I made an 8x8 \"ABC\" scrapbook for my parents. It started with \"A is for Andy\" (my father) and ended with \"Z is for Zoe\" (my sister\'s cat). It covered both current and past events - fortunately my parents had cruised on the QE2. it was a lot of fun to work on it and my parents were thrilled. The 8x8 size was easy to carry around to show their friends. The idea was inspired by a set of alphabet stickers that I purchased at a local scrapbooking store.

Kari from Hartford, WI writes...
I am in the process of making 2 albums for my sister. One for each of her older daughters. Other than that I have Made a Journal for my dad with questions on his Past, his hopes & dreams and his feelings of different things, so that his grandchildred can know him for who he really is, not just \"Grandpa\". I have also made an album for a friend for her wedding shower. So she could keep her cards and certian other things from her shower. She really liked it.

Lindy from Indiana writes...
I\'ve made a baby-to-be album where I left mattes for the mommy-to-be to put on her photos...all the way through potty-training. I made a wedding album for my Nephew, and my favorite album was just completed for my daughter...An 8x8 album of her Mission Trip to Ireland. My favorite techniques used were to enlarge actual photos and use them as background pages. I also scanned copies of a cloth that she was given as a departure gift...it was Irish Linen printed with folklore and names of families in their counties of origin. I used these scanned copies as background \"paper\" also, along with enlarged copies of Maps of the country, letters of fundraising and itinerarys.

Scrapmom writes...
Several years ago, I made a Christmas album for my mother-in-law, a woman with more \"stuff\" in a small house and no need for anything else. I started with the first Christmas of grandchildren (1984) and the first page of each year is the year and an 8x10 of all of the grandchildren. Each year is just 4 pages but the first 12X12 album is obese and I have since started on the second!!! These two albums are fun for the entire family and it is fun to see the grandkids grow and the newer ones join the pictures. Updating the album keep me connected and my 90 year old mother in law has spent many hours looking at the albums when it is too cold to go outside in Iowa. It may seem like a \"not much\" idea but an ongoing holiday album seems to be a gift every year!

Stephanie in VA writes...
I\'ve made a wedding album for my daughter, a prom and a graduation album for my other daughter, and a 10 Things I love About You acordian album for my husband. Last Christmas I made my girls a Scripture album with different Bible verses and a corresponding family picture for each page. They loved them the best of all their gifts. This year I am working on a Soundtrack of My Life album for them. Each pic has a corresponding song such as a baby picture with my late mother holding each daughter and the lyrics to the song she sang especially for them. Next Christmas I am planning a portrait book with all the family portraits and will start a Year in the Life Album consisting of a 2 pg LO for each year since I was married in 1975. That one may take longer than the usual ones. I liked the earlier idea of including significant world events each year as well. I also do a Christmas album with up to 15 pages per year of all the events we attend at Christmas--parties, children\'s presentations, piano recitals, dinners, Christmas Eve Services, Living Christmas Tree presentations, etc. This album is almost up to date except for a few years in the 80s which I can\'t find--surely I took pictures! For some reason I love these specialty albums the best. I\'ve only worked sporadically on my ongoing albums. (In fact I have never finished one because I don\'t work chronologically!) Stephanie

Phyllis in IL writes...
I do a special album each year for a neice or a nephew. I have all these pictures of when they were little, so I pick a neice or a nephew and make a special album of just them and give it to them at Christmas.

scraparr from Maine writes...
I made each of my kids an ABC album for Christmas when they were little. I made my parents an album that I added to each year. I made my parents a small brag book, also, with a photo each month. And I made them a calendar a couple of times for Christmas. The small brag book had a stanza of a poem about each month, and each month was a 2-page layout (poem and decorations on one page, photo, decorations, and journaling on the other side). I have no web site to send anyone to. Most of the stuff I made up on my own, except the brag book - I copied that from a friend.

Michelle from Iowa writes...
I made my husband an album for a wedding gift. I gathered up pictures that he had piled in a box, along with some that his mom gave me. The project really turned out nice and is something he really treasures. It was the perfect gift because it was so personal!

lana writes...
I have made pet albums for dd away at school, sport memory albums for dh, minialbum for grandma and recipe album as gifts. not an album, but have made boxes of cards as gifts. I gave a box of thank you cards to a friend who had a major fire in her home - she really seemed to like using them

glenda writes...
I am planning a recipe scrapbook with favorite family recipes. I shot pictures of ALL the ingredients then had my husband take pictures of each step in the process of making the dish and of course the finished product. I am placing pictures of the family member that is credited with the dish, i.e. Mama\'s Dressing, and a few memories about the dish and the person in the journaling. I hope to pass this book along to my daughter and grandaughter.

glenda from murfreesboro, tn writes...
I am planning a recipe scrapbook with favorite family recipes. I shot pictures of ALL the ingredients then had my husband take pictures of each step in the process of making the dish and of course the finished product. I am placing pictures of the family member that is credited with the dish, i.e. Mama\'s Dressing, and a few memories about the dish and the person in the journaling. I hope to pass this book along to my daughter and grandaughter.

Pam in IL from Elgin, IL writes...
Although I\'ve made small albums every year for \"Papa\" for Christmas of the kids throughout the year, a special one for my brother\'s 40th BDay, and am working on my mother\'s wedding album, I have to tell you about the most difficult, yet most beautiful album I have ever made... This album was for a very dear friend of mine. Last year on November 24th, Thanksgiving Eve, her dear daughter was killed in an automobile accident. She was 26 and the most beautiful person I\'ve ever met. In fact, she was supposed to be the next \"Bachelorette\"... Jen S. from Chicago ended up being it instead. I can\'t help but wonder if the car accident never happened, how would the show have worked out for my friends daughter. Soon after the accident, I got up the courage to ask my friend if she would give me some photos so I could make her a small memory album of Roya (her daughter). She ended up giving me ALL her favorite pictures of Roya and the family. WOW! The feeling I had just holding her photos, knowing the trust she had in me to just \'give\' me all her pictures after she just lost her beloved daughter! Making her \'little\' album turned out to be the biggest album I ever made. It was also the hardest -- I had to have Kleenex on hand throughout, even at the weekend I went to. There were times when I\'d go to scrap in the album and I\'d get so emotional that I could not do it. Pages took what seemed like forever because they had to be \'perfect\' to me. I tried to make it so special and a beautiful memory of her daughter... Seven months later I finished it! I presented it to my dear friend on her Birthday, just two weeks before Roya would have turned 27. Talk about an emotional mess again!........ We both had so many tears, I don\'t think she could see it all. This memory album means the world to my friend. She has told me repeatedly how much she treasures it. And I know she does... Mak

Pam in IL from Elgin, IL writes...
Although I\'ve made small albums every year for \"Papa\" for Christmas of the kids throughout the year, a special one for my brother\'s 40th BDay, and am working on my mother\'s wedding album, I have to tell you about the most difficult, yet most beautiful album I have ever made... This album was for a very dear friend of mine. Last year on November 24th, Thanksgiving Eve, her dear daughter was killed in an automobile accident. She was 26 and the most beautiful person I\'ve ever met. In fact, she was supposed to be the next \"Bachelorette\"... Jen S. from Chicago ended up being it instead. I can\'t help but wonder if the car accident never happened, how would the show have worked out for my friends daughter. Soon after the accident, I got up the courage to ask my friend if she would give me some photos so I could make her a small memory album of Roya (her daughter). She ended up giving me ALL her favorite pictures of Roya and the family. WOW! The feeling I had just holding her photos, knowing the trust she had in me to just \'give\' me all her pictures after she just lost her beloved daughter! Making her \'little\' album turned out to be the biggest album I ever made. It was also the hardest -- I had to have Kleenex on hand throughout, even at the weekend I went to. There were times when I\'d go to scrap in the album and I\'d get so emotional that I could not do it. Pages took what seemed like forever because they had to be \'perfect\' to me. I tried to make it so special and a beautiful memory of her daughter... Seven months later I finished it! I presented it to my dear friend on her Birthday, just two weeks before Roya would have turned 27. Talk about an emotional mess again!........ We both had so many tears, I don\'t think she could see it all. This memory album means the world to my friend. She has told me repeatedly how much she treasures it. And I know she does... Making a memory album for someone you care about who has lost someone so very close to them, in my eyes, is so priceless. Nothing can be more special. It\'s the hardest album to ever make, but the absolute most beautiful this you can do.