Truthfully, when I started this project I had no clue what I was going to do. In retrospect, I realize that I should have started a lot earlier since he never got the finished product until 2 weeks after his birthday, but it's the thought that counts, right??
I started out by sending out emails and Facebook requests to as many people as possible that somehow knew my husband. Of course, I had to do some "detective" work and log in to his email to get some of his contacts, but there are no secrets in marriage! I asked for all acquaintances to send a memory that they have with him or to just write a birthday message/letter to him. I would recommend that you send out a lot!! I sent out about 100 requests and got 20 in return. You may have to do a lot of leg work to get some letters back, but it is completely worth it in the end.
Once I had all of the letters back, I got to work making a scrapbook. I use a digital scrapbook software, but this can also be done with the traditional scrapbook as well. I grouped all of the letters together according to their relationship with my husband. I then got pictures that coordinated with those letters (college, growing up, etc).
I was then able to put a 20 page scrapbook together. Some pages were full of pictures of him growing up or us being together and other pages were full of memories and letter from friends and family.
Here are a few examples of the pages in the book.
Once all of the pages were complete, I then had all of them made into a hard-covered photo book. Unfortunately, the photo book took a few weeks to be delivered, but I did have a back up plan. I took all the pages and saved them as pictures and then made them in to DVD movie for him to at least see on his birthday!
This was a very fun gift to make. It was great for me to hear from all of his family and friends, especially those I never met. It is a time consuming gift, but it is well worth it when it is finished!
Blessings,
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