Another Wedding Album and Gift

I had another order for a wedding guest sign-in book. It turned out quite similar to my sister's, except for a different print of paper for the cover (which was the same print used on the bride and groom's wedding invitations) and the ribbon which is orange instead of green. I didn't put any of the pictures in this one--the bride didn't have them yet--so she decided she would do that part.

As a gift to the bride and groom, I made these two 52 Reasons books for them.

Anniversary Gift

Just a few weeks ago, my husband and I celebrated our third year anniversary. As a gift to him, I made this book. But this isn't just any book I've ever made--this is Second-Year Law School Letters.

It all started on a dark and stormy night. Oops. Wrong story. It all started last year when I read Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright. My sister loved the book more than I did, but I did love the idea--write weekly letters to your spouse. In the book, the husband would give each letter to her after he had written it. But me, I decided to keep it a surprise. So last year, during the first week of his second year of law school, I wrote a letter to him. And each week after that. The letters became a record of each week--almost a journal entry--of what we had done that week/weekend, new milestones our daughters were reaching, and then an expression of love and appreciation for the little things he had done for me that week. Time passed through Halloween, the birth of our second daughter, Christmas, travels home for the holidays, Valentines day, law school competitions, Mother's Day, and then the summer. I'm a little disappointed to say that I missed two weeks out of the whole year, but I guess that's okay.

So for our anniversary, I compiled the letters into this book and titled it Second-Year Law School Letters.
The front title page:
The second "title page" had all the dates of the journal entries.
And a few sample pages of the letters. I kept the letters to a half page, which was nice because I didn't feel like I had to spend hours writing a lengthy letter.


And oh how embarrassing to notice typos in my journal entries! Don't look too close!


Ways to use this idea:
*Engaged? Write weekly letters during the engagement of all the preparations, stresses, and excitements.
*Pregnant? Write weekly letters of the anticipations of the labor, becoming a mother, weights and measurements, etc.
*Parenting? Write weekly letters as journal entries. I've started doing this as journals for my girls. I record cute things they do and say, their milestone progress, and anything else I think they'd like to know (and I'd like to remember). Here is a link to a journal I made for a friend's baby shower with this idea in mind.

Marriage Manuals

While I was home for my sister's wedding, I was also in charge of part of the bridal shower activities. Since there are no manuals for surviving marriage, I made these "Marriage Manuals" that all the guests could write advice in.

(front covers)

There were three volumes:

Volume I: How to Make Your House a Home

Volume II: How to Live Rich When Poor

Volume III: How to Keep the Love Alive

(back covers)

They were accordian books with pockets in them. The guests wrote advice on each topic on the slips of paper, then slid them into the pockets.

(Pre-bridal shower photos)

You could also use this at a baby shower for guests to fill in advice for the new parents.

Whew!

Finally! Christmas, a new baby, and a journal later, I'm posting again! Of course, I did go on break for a while after giving birth to Claire, but here is the most recent book I finished--just in time for my friend's baby shower.
It's a journal of 52 Love Letters from mom to baby. There are 52 pages, one for each week of the year, that way the new mom can write a letter each week describing the baby's developmental progress, milestones, idiosyncrasies, and stories to remember.

The inside cover has an envelope to hold the birth story. My birth story for Claire was definitely longer than half a page, so I thought to store it in the envelope in the cover. And the title page says, "Life, for us, would never be the same."

The back cover:

It's a great way to keep a journal, but not in journal form. I find writing a letter once a week to my girls alleviates the never-ending "I-need-to-write-in-my-journal" syndrome. Woohoo!