Participants and Themes:

Name	Theme	Instructions
Kim	"Places I love"	Choose from the pictures I've included and create a layout of one of the places I've been and loved.
Kris	"2005 Calendar"	Use the provided blank calendar pages to create a 2-page spread for a month in the calendar.
Rita	"Unlocking the Secrets of Marriage"	Create a layout that gives me advice on how to succeed in marriage!
Sandra	"My Favorite TV shows"	Create a layout based on one of my favorite TV shows, choosing from the list I will provide
Tabitha	"My Old Kentucky Home"	Create a layout that represents the spirit of Kentucky.

What You Need to Do First:

• Buy an album. It can be 6x6, 8x8, or 8.5x11. Nothing larger than that (we want to keep the size small so that it doesn't take a lot of supplies to do a page). Make sure your album has 10 pages (5 sheets). I recommend something with top-load pages.
• Decide on the theme of your album. This will be a general or specific concept that people will follow when decorating your pages. Some examples are "Blue" or "My friends" or "My favorite things". In addition to theme, you can also choose a color scheme if you want.
• Decorate the first page of your album - using your theme - to serve as a title page. This will set the tone for the entire album.
• Decorate the last page of your album so that it serves as a "sign-in" page. Use your imagination and come up with a way for each of the people who create pages for you to put their name and/or a short note.

Swapping Process / Timeline:

Once everyone has completed the prep described above, we'll be ready to start trading and decorating the albums.

There will be a total of 8 blank pages left. Each person in the group will do a 2-page layout (two pages next to each other) for you. Once each person has had her turn with your album, you'll have a full album, decorated by your friends! Woohoo!

Here is the order (alphabetical) we'll go in for passing albums:

• Kim
• Kris
• Rita
• Sandra
• Tabitha

Albums will be exchanged on (or around) the first of the month. So that would put our schedule at something like this:

• Nov 1 - buy your album and decorate your title and sign-in pages
• Dec 1 - pass your album to the person after you in the list
• Jan 1 - pass the album you have to the person after you in the list
• Feb 1 - pass the album you have to the person after you in the list
• Mar 1 - pass the album you have to the person after you in the list
• Apr 1 - we'll all get together and we get our albums back!

General Guidelines:

• Every page you create should be sized to fit in the album you are creating it for. The best way to do this is to remove one of the paper inserts from an album page and use that as a template for cutting your background paper.
• A "2-page layout" consists of two individual pages. One page goes on the left and one goes on the right, thus making a full picture when the book is laying open.
• You may decorate the pages with photos, paper, stickers, ribbons, or anything else you can think of. Be creative!
• Be sure to sign the "sign-in page" at the back of the book before you pass it on to the next person
• Don't show anybody the pages you create for them until we're all done. It's best if it's a surprise!

* * FINAL RESULTS * *

We ended up extending our timeline by a couple of months, but the end result was a lot of fun. We all met on May 22, 2005 and returned all the albums to their rightful owners. It was really neat to see how everyone interpreted our themes and put the books together.

It turns out that exchanging books every month is very difficult with all our individual schedules, so we decided that next time, we'll make the pages individually and then all meet at the end to put them into a book. Picture of Sandra's completed album (sorry, I don't have pictures of the others!) are available here.