I have a friend with whom I have traveled quite a bit. We’ve been on trips to Hawaii, California, and St. Louis, as well as weekend road trips closer to home. Along the way I’ve taken lots photos and as I scrapbooked them I made two copies of every layout (she is not a scrapbooker). The second set of pages has been in a book for quite some time, with additions made from time to time. As my style has evolved, I had always intended to go back and change some of the older layouts; add some embellishments, change the colors or improve the journaling to make the page a little better. Time is always at a premium and I never really got to it so the pages have stayed as they are.

With the move, I knew I just needed to give the scrapbook to my friend, confident she would love it just the way it was. One evening last week she was helping me pack and I for about a half hour, rather than getting anything done, we sat on the floor in my closet, revisiting all of the places we had been together as we looked through the scrapbook. Of course she loved the book and loved seeing the memories preserved.

I learned two valuable lessons that day. First of all, scrapbook pages don’t have to be perfect to be great. Every layout can be completed in hundreds of different ways and none of them are wrong or better than any of the others. Second, I learned that a great way to get a non-scrapbooker interested in taking up the hobby is to give them a scrapbook of their own. The scrapbook I gave my friend inspired her to start small, with a batch of baby photos or pictures from a recent trip to Peru. We have some mutual friends who scrapbook and are willing to take her under their wings. I’ll be anxious to keep in touch and hear how she is doing with her new hobby.

If you’ve been thinking about making a book for a friend or family member, take on the project and I’m sure you will be well-rewarded!

	Michelle@inspiregraphics.com
P.S. Have you tried our new collection of alphabet stickers? They are great to have on hand for quick layouts. The EA Disks stickers fit perfectly in metal-edged circle tags as you can see in this beach-themed layout. Would you like to save $5 on your next LetteringDelights.com purchase? Refer a friend to the Lettering Delights newsletter and you'll both receive a coupon code good for $5 off a purchase of $15 or more. As a new newsletter subscriber, your friend will also receive seven fun and creative Lettering Delights fonts.