Beginner - Help on Making a 1 year Anniversary book for boyfriend?

So may 11th is my boyfriend and i's 1 year anniversary,also the day after my birthday. as a gift i wanted to make him something special, I figured a scrapbook would be the best thing to do, hes an artist and its something he could appreciate and enjoy. This coming from someone who is completely artisticly ignorant basically..lol I need help trying to put this thing together. I need ideas and tips as to making a good scrapbook.



i figured i'd put pictures and quotes in it

specific pages for certain events with pictures that coincide and a little quote on the page..im horrible with set ups tho, does anyone have any pointers they can give me

im such a newbie!

but i really want to give him a gift fom my heart.



any pointers would be greatly appreciated thanks!



- Megan

I like to pick my pictures, then I find a title or quote to go with them, then I proceed to find a paper and embellishments. So hobbies that he likes, or things you've done together, might be a good place to start. Don't worry about him being an artist, he'll appreciate your effort.

I would suggest doing a mini-album. A smaller sized album requires less embellishment (and work and money) per page and focuses on the pictures themselves.

I did this for my [now DH] guy when we first met and have made books for the past 11 years! I kept EVERYTHING we did, movie tix, business cards from restaurants, EVERYTHING... and made a "journal" of sorts to tell our story. It's pretty cool to look back at them. We like to sit down and read "our" story. AND my creativity has come a LONG way in the past decade! I'm sure he'll love ANYTHING you do.

I agree on the mini album. I am doing an 8x8 to send with my dbf when he leaves for Kuwait for his deployment.

You can do a 24 page album by doing a double page for each month of the year. (if you take as many pictures as I do, then this wont be an issue!!) just put a few of your favorite pictures from each month on each double layout, throw some pretty stuff on it, then work on the next month!! I suggest doing hidden journaling. since your pages will be smaller, and you will want to journal as much as you can. (to do hidden journaling, I usually just cut a piece of paper down, do my journaling, staple some ribbon (for a pull tab)on the edge and slide in behind a photo or peice of decoration paper, and there ya go!!

If you don't feel like being that organized, then maybe you can just do random pages! most men don't really care about stuff like that! scrap your favorite pictures over the last year, do some pages about major events, and do a nice journaling page at the end to show and explain how much he means to you!

I love doing gift albums, usually they are so easy! Good luck!

Try looking online for sample layouts to get ideas and to get inspired. Also, since you are making the album for a man, my suggestion is to keep it a little simpler, and not make it too feminine.

Have fun making this... he is going to love it, especially since it will be so obvious how much time and love you have put into it! =o)

• -Jenn- Said:

this is more my style for our books. They're in 8x5 (I think) Canson albums that are just paper pages w/no page protectors. I don't do background papers, I put pictures and journaling and whatever else I have that I've saved over the year. I put stickers or Jolee's that go with what we've done and I cut out titles with my sizzix. It's pretty basic and not all that exciting but he LOVES it and I enjoy doing it.

That's a very sweet gesture megan_nicole! I think a mini album would be great and really handy too. I mostly like to organize mine chronologically...but it's totally up to you. Best of luck scrapbooking!!

that sounds like me i save all of our things as well.
he works at the movie theater right now so we see movies almost every other day! haha

everyone has been so great also thank you very much! i should prob get started soon i have my actual scrapbook and page corner protectors my mom got me haha and and pages of course, im still a little hesitant to try this, its not too hard right?
im not really artistic at all! hahaa

so, how's the progress? You can TOTALLY do it! Just jump in and get on it. He'll LOVE anything you do for him. Mine CRIED when I gave it to him!

I am doing this also for my partner we just had our year anniversary, and I've done him a page for the wall for Christmas, so he hasn't got it yet

Hey--- this is exactly what I am working on myself! I've got about 7 layouts done so far... I should post pics

i also wanted to do this for fiance we just had our 7 year anniversary on thursday but i didnt get it done in time so i think i will do it for v-day! good luck and keep us posted on how it turned out!!!

I agree a small album is a great way to start scrapbooking. Also maybe a kit would be best. That way all the paper and embellishment match, one less thing to worry about.

your story is so close to me and my boyfriend that its crazy lol our anniversary is May 27 and my birthday is May 26 we are getting ready to have our one year and i want to make a scrapbook for him

by now it is past 5/1- so doing a follow-up how did he like or love it I WOULD really like to know

by now it is past 5/1- so doing a follow-up how did he like or love it I WOULD really like to know

Mindy - check the dates on this - it's from 2009! It would have been nice if the OP had come back, but I somehow suspect she won't.