Advice please!

[swirlyarts]

It is my in laws 40th wedding anniversary in January and I thought about doing a scrapbook for them. However, although I am a keen card maker I have never done this before. What kind of things should I concentrate on in the scrapbook - their life together and the family now? Should the majority of it be made up of photo's with captions? As you can see I have no idea so any advice would be gratefully received!
Lynsey

[Seahorse]

When my friend got married me and other put together a big picture in a frame made up of piccies of her from her past, with friends, on holiday etc with captions.
As it was for her hen night we decorated it with those table sprinkles you can get of little learner plates.Im sure you can get 40th anniversary ones.
A pic may be preferable as its a limited amount of space and its all on one page, plus they can have it on display.

I think seeing pictures of people from young to old is lovely, put in key points in their lives, weddings, births, holidays.If its a wedding get some confetti and stick it on the page.
Maybe have a colour theme for each page.

Will you make your own book so you can determine how many pages you have?

[Craft Chick]

I'm not great at scrapbooking and have never really pursued this as a hobby, but I think that's a lovely idea, and something they will be able to keep forever.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about doing it 'right' I would do what you think they would like.

Some pages with special photos and captions would be good maybe, and if you've got any pics of special occasions that mean a lot to them perhaps. Another nice idea might be to see if you could find out where they went on their honeymoon and where they got married etc and then theme a page each on that; either with a picture of the church on just the essence of where they went away.

You could also get other members of the family to sign a special page with anniversary wishes or something. If I were you I would just think of something you would like to receive on this kind of occasion and just let your imagination go with the flow. Good luck I hope it works out for you I'm sure they will really appreciate the gesture.

[Jane_Russell]

Using online resources you could have random news stories from the day too. Also perhaps moon phase pictures and something that denotes the season they were married in.

Then again which chinese year were they married in? What star signs are they? Maybe they are strongly aligned to a religion and wouldn't like those ideas!

Where was his favourite football team in the league when they were married? How much was a loaf of bread or a sack of coal?

All the best
Jane

[swirlyarts]

Lots and lots of great ideas but I don't think I will have the time to make one before the start of January!! I'll consider it for their birthdays etc!

[scrappyqueen]

Hi, I'm a custom scrapbook designer based in the UK. I'm not sure whether you wanted to do the scrapbook for your in-laws yourself but I can offer my services. I have a website but am not allowed to disclose it on here yet although it can be found on the uk crafts websites under custom scrapbooking - I have completed albums for 18th Birthdays, 60th Birthdays, 65th Wedding Anniversaries, even an album full of dogs for a client. Thanks

[manwanis]

I think most of customer are on holidays now and January will be best time to revisit on promotions.

[Sammy Potter]

Hi Lynsey,

Just before my husband and I got married we did a collection of our best photos (Not really the best ones) and had a fun time laughing at the changes over the years up to our wedding day.

We still look back and chuckle at it now after 12 years of marriage. Sounds like this may be a fun thing for you to do up to their most recent photos. The whole family will enjoy the results for year to comes

Sam.

[MellyMJ]

Doing a scrapbook is a great idea. My advice (though I'm no expert) is to arrange the photos and pages in a logical progression of time. Take them through their lives together just by going through the book. Even though you don't have time now, you should still do it for them sometime. I think they would really like it. A scrapbook is such a personalized gift.

Melanie

[swirlyarts]

It's on my to do list still!!!

[Memories4ever]

They'll appreciate it, whenever you get it done.

Why not concerntrate on a very simple scrapbook design, running through the whole album, that way you'll be able to make the book quickly, and let them enjoy it, rather than spending months agonising over what to do.

You could try an album kit - my clients who are 'stuck' or with no time have found this a good way to complete a project (and boy does it feel good when you complete it!)

PM me if you want specific advice :)

[Samm]

or you could do a mini album, rather than a whole large scrapbook.

[Sade Setchfield]

Photos and captions is a really gd idea !! and maybe get some of the other fmaily members to help out as a secret ? and involve some of their piks and memories ??

card makin will give u a gd start as it mean ur still quite creative in ways :)

Good luck !

[rowanb]

I think you definitely need to include pictures from their past because they always provide so much entertainment, but it might be nice to create the book in the style of a hobby they do togther, or something like a map of the area they went on honeymoon.

I don't know, those ideas might not be appropriate. Good luck with it! :D

Bx

[gedavies40]

The photographs are the basis for the "story". Start by laying out the photos in chronological order but also grouping them by events. Try utilizing other ephemera - e.g. press clippings of events that happened on the same day of the wedding, or any other ephemera that relates to the couple. When you have your materials - photos, ephemera etc., place them loosely in the pages of the scrapbook and then start to think about page design.