Five Must-Make Mini-Albums Series- Tribute Album

Today's album was made for my mother on her birthday a few years ago (it was a significant one...) and was not only my most well-received gift EVER, but the most fun for me to make.

To start off, I chose my standard 8" x 8" album size and a package of Basic Grey's Skate Shoppe paper and letter stickers.  I purchased some matching Bazzill cardstock to use for the page bases and photo mats.  Embellishments were from my stash.

Then, I enlisted the help of others by sending the following email to my mother's friends, relatives, etc.:

Dear Friends and Family,
   I am putting together a special tribute scrapbooking album for my mom, (insert name), for her upcoming birthday in (insert month) and I need your help!  Each one of you has a special place in my mother's heart and I would love to highlight your relationship with her in this album.
  If possible, please email me a photo and short response to these statements/questions:
  1) "I'll never forget..."
  2) "I laugh when I think about..."
  3) "Things that remind me of Carol..."
Please keep this to yourself as I want it to be a surprise!  THANKS!
Sincerely, Joy

Here's where I explain that in the album:

Tip #1: Get others to help by writing and providing photos.

So, by now, you are probably wondering how well that letter went, or if I got a lot of responses, etc.  Well, someone emailed me within two hours of that email and it was a fall-off-your-chair, laugh-out-loud story that I didn't even know!  I was thrilled!

Here's some things I did along the way:

Tip #2 answers "What to do when you don't get a response but you know the person is special":


Write it yourself!  Maybe even write a story they've told you in the past about your loved one or that you know they think.  Do not get angry/annoyed.  Just roll with it and fill in as needed.  If you don't know a story, just put their picture in the album with their names.  There are no scrapbooking police that will come and tell you that you did it wrong.  Do whatever you want.  But make it fun for you!

Tip #3 answers "They told me their story and mailed it to me on ugly paper or in a card that doesn't match my chosen paper scheme."

Here's what you do: make a pocket page at the end of the album to store the paper/card with the writing. Then, re-type it on your journaling block/tag/etc.  Or you could make a flap, adhere the letter to that, and then she could lift it to read it.  Don't let this bog you down - just keep on rolling.

Tip #4 answers "They didn't send me a photo, now what?"

I snuck over to my mom's house and went through her photos when I knew she was out.  Then I used those.  I did not remove them from albums, unless I took them away and made a copy and put it back.  I kept the whole thing a secret and my mom never found out.

I printed a lot of the journaling on transparencies due to the fact that I wanted it on the background paper and it just made it easier.

Finally, since her pets have been such a large part of her life, I had a little section about the pets.  In fact, the final page is from the family chihuahua (a dog I loathed), in the dog's voice.  I thought it was hilarious, myself.  You can see it at the end of the photos below.

I finished this album late one night and first thing in the morning, I was over at mom's house making her look at it.  She got such a kick out of it!  She still enjoys looking at it, as does everyone in the family.  What was fun is that there is a variety in how people answered things - such as, my brother did a "things that remind me of mom" by each of the senses.  I put these on tags and make a pocket page.  It's really an interesting way to describe someone.  I loved it!

Here are the photos:

What do you think?  Ready to make one of these?  It really was a blast and so fun to see what people said - so much love expressed in those notes.

Check back for tomorrow's "home sweet home" album...

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