What did I give to my friend for her birthday?

A little over a month ago, I was brainstorming on what to get my friend for her birthday and I've decided then that I wasn't going to spend too much on gifts (don't want another repeat of Valentine's). So, I went ahead with making something instead of buying from any store. 

What I put together was a little photo booklet that practically took a month to finish. It took awhile because I had finals to study for so things got pretty busy for me. Therefore, I had to not do everything all at once. It was going to take weeks. I called it a special project of mine on twitter knowing that my friend reads my tweets. Thank goodness she didn't figure it out when she read it! 

I got the concept from Stephanie who made, what she calls, a Polaroid card for her boyfriend as a Valentine's Day gift. 

So with my friend's birthday gift, I started choosing photos that were to be in the booklet. Since she's turning 20, I chose 20 photos that were 20 memorable moments. Of course, a lot of the photos were on my facebook but I still had to do some searching for the best ones. 

Once I have saved the photos on my laptop, I downloaded Poladroid in order to get the polaroid picture effect. I was totally having fun dragging and dropping the photos... and even shaking them! it's pretty simple too. 

The photos were in chronological order so to better keep track, I labeled each photo a number and a description of what happened when the picture was taken. The labeling was done on Photobucket. After that, I went over to an internet cafe to have the pictures printed. And to preserve the photos and ensure that the pictures will not bend or possibly stick to one another, I brought the pictures to a bookstore to have each photo laminated. 

And so, I didn't continue with the project until after final exams. 

I hole-punched the corner of each photo, attached a ring to keep the photos together, made the booklet covers and put my tape from Saizen (Japanese store) and  some post-it notes to good use!

it was actually a little pricey for a gift due to the printing and lamination but I think it was worth it since I didn't pay everything all at once. Like I said, it took me a whole month to completely finish! 

I must say, it turned out really well. I know I would love to receive a gift like this.