Last year, my friend Katie posted her Christmas gift to her husband.
I was so inspired!! I knew that this was something that I wanted to do for Adam.
I immediately hopped on etsy and ordered a HUGE handmade journal.
The concept was this, I would write love letters to Adam all year from January 1, 2011 all the way until Christmas 2011. I literally carried the book around with me EVERYWHERE. Which is crazy because after I gave it to Adam, he said he had never seen it before.
I guess I was sneakier than I thought :)
I tried to document as much as possible. I taped in ticket stubs, movie stubs, tons of photos, cards, postcards, and I even made a couple of mixed CD's throughout the year and a couple of DVD's too.
Here is a little sampling...
I tried to make sure that I wrote at least once a week but a lot of times I wrote even more than that. It was addicting :)
Adam says it's the best present he has ever gotten. He loves handmade gifts and I can tell that it really meant a lot to him. He read the whole thing, cover to cover, in a couple of hours. It was awesome.
2011 was a wonderful year full of milestones for us, especially with our adoption. I loved documenting it, I loved being sneaky.
I will admit at the beginning I wasn't sure that I would stick with it, but I did, and I loved it.
I think this was a great project to get me amped up for Project Life this year too! Another year of documenting things the way that works for me :)
What is the best gift you gave this Christmas?
xo
janel
P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks. 
ahhhhh! i LOVE this, wish i'd heard of it, because i wish i had a years worth of stuff to give my man for valentines day! maybe 30 days of love letters will work? another awesome project you've inspired me with :)
ReplyDeleteYou are the perfect wife. That is such an amazing idea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a BRILLIANT idea that I think I will copy!
ReplyDeleteThis is the cutest, sweetest idea ever. No wonder he loved it :)
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I am so inspired!! I want to do both, they're amazing! Thank you for this post! :)
ReplyDeleteI love this and am totally stealing this idea! I'd been looking for something special to do for my husband. Thank you so much for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteOMG greatest idea ever. This looks so awesome - you did a great job!
ReplyDeleteHoly Batman I love this!! This year my goal is to write a love letter a week (52 love letters) to Andy... I love this too... Mmmmm....
ReplyDeletexo,
Christen
ChristenKrumm.com
Such a perfect gift! You have one lucky husband :)
ReplyDeleteThis is the sweetest idea I've seen all season. I have a box of our "momentos" we've filled over the years, but having them in a journal with letters to re-read is so special. :) I can't wait to start one Jan. 1st!
ReplyDeletethis is a wonderful idea!!! thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is the best thing I've seen in a while!! My fiance and I are expecting our first baby in April and I think I might do something like this for my fiance, so he knows how special and important he is to me even as our attention shifts to our baby and not as much on each other. Thanks for sharing this project :)
ReplyDeleteOMG i want to do this now. haha, wow janel. you are SO freaking thoughtful! this is absolutely incredible. amazing...i'm truly blown away and would LOVE to do something like this for my mister. ahhh!! what a neat idea!!
ReplyDeletealso...HOLY CRAP!! YOUR NEW BLOG DESIGN!!! it's amazing. best i have seen in a long, long time. eeee!
side note: i just visited the shop and was amazed at her prices so i ordered one of my own! thanks for the great gift idea...i can't wait to fill mine with special memories!
ReplyDeletethis is am amazing idea!! I bet my mister would adore something like this! *ponders*
ReplyDeleteThis is SUCH an amazing idea. I'm thinking of doing it as well. Maybe starting from the beginning of the year until our wedding date in November. Thank you for this inspiration!!
ReplyDeleteSarah
http://comingunstitched.blogspot.com
Wow, what an awesome idea! Absolutely love it. I love leaving Hubby love notes and scrapbooking and documenting our life, so this sounds perfect. And of course, the motivation to do it all is there in the love we share and the anticipation of giving it as a gift. Ahh, love it! Thanks so much for the idea. Also, my fingers are crossed you'll get 'the call' any day now - good luck :)
ReplyDeleteRosie xx
Just Listen
What a fantastic idea - I love it! Thank you for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThat is amazing! Kudos to you for being able to fill that big book!
ReplyDeleteThe best Xmas presents I gave this year were crocheted amigurumi animals.
i just adore this idea and how yours turned out. what a precious gift. :) thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWow this is such an amazing idea! I am so doing that this year! You are such an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteLOVE This post!! When mark and I were dating I made him a book very similar to that, he was traveling the west coast and I was traveling the mid west.. I documented everything and 8 years later we still read the book and I still get all fluttery in my heart :)
ReplyDeleteThis is the most amazing idea ever!! I'm going to look for a big notebook right now so I can do the same thing for my bf in 2012! Thank you so much for being such an inspiration!!
ReplyDeletethis is such a lovely idea! your journaling looks so cute and creative :) i have all sorts of journaling ideas swirling around my head for this year - we'll see if i actually accomplish any of them!
ReplyDeleteYOu know, I might give this a go. Thanks for sharing this idea!
ReplyDelete