{our town memory book}

 We moved away from our town this week...after ten years, a lifetime of memories, and gaining the most incredible friends a person can have. The tears have been ever present this week, and I know many of you can relate to what I'm feeling.  We love this little town, and it will forever be a part of our hearts.

One of my closest friends gave me the most thoughtful gift, and I love it so much, I just had to share it with you.  She created it for our family, with especially my children in mind, and it is a treasure.  She captured all of our favorite places in photos, then put together a picture memory book so we can always remember them. I've looked at it over and over, and over again, and I'm so excited to surprise my kids with it on the plane.  I know it will be as special to them as it is to me.

It includes pictures of the places we've lived...

our church and schools...

"our" park and library...

unique places to our town...

and all of our favorite spots...

I love the map on the back, and the ribbon on the ring...perfect touches!

LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Whether you create one for your own family, or someone that is moving away, I can guarantee that it will be the perfect way to hold these special places in your heart.

Here is her tutorial:

 {Our Town Memory Book Tutorial}

When I heard the news that our good friends were moving I knew that I wanted to send them off with something to remind them of this great town they have so grown to love over the many years they have lived here.  I have moved my own family many times and it has always been surprising and a little sad how quickly some of the younger children can forget about where they used to live.  Luckily, something as inexpensive as a photograph can quickly remind them of their many memories of these special places. 

This book was so quick and fun to make and could easily be adapted for your own family or to give to a friend moving away or I think it could even be a great welcome to our town book for a family new to your area.  If you are interested in making one for yourself or someone you know here is what you will need to do.

Step 1:  Compile a list of the places you want to put in your book.  Think of things that make your town special.  Some ideas could be your home, places of work, schools, favorite restaurants, church, parks, landmarks, museums, library…really anywhere your family sees or visits often.  I also added a map of our town as the last page.

Step 2:  Drive around your town and have fun snapping photos.  Keep in mind the orientation of your camera when taking pictures.  I tried to take all of my pictures in landscape so that you would not have to flip the book up and down when looking at it.

Step 3:  Edit your photos and make your cover page.  For my cover I found a picture of our state and then added the name of our town and placed a little heart where our town is located.  You could do this with any photo editing software or I just imported my photo into PowerPoint and did it all there.  Super easy.

 

Step 4:  Have your photos printed.  I chose to print mine 5x7 just so you could see a little more detail of the pictures but you could easily print 4x6 if you wanted a slightly smaller book.

Step 5:  Have your pictures laminated.  With little kids I wanted this book to be durable and the lamination really helps with that.

Step 6:  I used my little eyelet tool to punch a hole in the corner and add a cute colorful eyelet to match the overall color theme.  This is totally and extra step.  You could just as easily punch a hole in the corner with a hole punch and it will work just fine.

Step 7:  Put all your pages together using an appropriately sized book ring that you can find at any local office supply store.  They usually come in 3 different sizes so depending on the amount of pages you have will help you decide on what size you need.

Step 8:  To finish it off I added a few strands of ribbon to the book ring and I had my finished project!

{kierste}