Memory Books for a Friend

Ok, it has been some time since my last post, but I have been busy on what turned out to be a mammoth project! I had a small MDF book with metal book rings. I had the idea that for my best friend's 30th birthday, I wanted to make something for her, other than a card. As we have known each other all our lives, I thought a memory book would be fun to put together in a few pages. Several hours and days of photo hunting later, I had found so many memories that I knew I was going to need more space. The few pages I had planned doubled. Then I needed more space again, and so one project became two books in the end!

If I had planned it properly beforehand, I would have certainly used a 12x12 book, but hey, we live and learn... Anyway, here are some of the pages that I made to celebrate 30 years of friendship, dodgy hairstyles, dubious fashion choices and memories of events past. I managed to organise them in some chronological order so that the books made sense, right up to the present day.

All the papers used were from a First Edition paper pad called 'Sweet Owl' along with some matching pain cardstock. The photos were cut using a range of Spellbinder basic shapes and D'Lites dies. All the other phrases, words, flowers and emblems have been using my Cricut Expression. My Cricut was a Godsend for this project, as it gave me pages of elements very quickly and I could manipulate text using the Design Studio. The main cartridges I used were Storybook, Type Candy Font, American Alphabet, Cindy Loo and Cricut Essentials.
I gave the books to my friend at her surprise 30th birthday party and she really liked it. I am sure however that there were a few cringe moments with some of the photos...!
Overall, it was a project that took far longer than I had envisaged, but I really enjoyed making it for a very special friend.