Make a memory book of their drawings
A year of drawings, in one book, in the order they were made. It takes an evening, any photo-book service will print it, and it is the one thing from the pile that gets taken off the shelf and looked at.
1. One year, one child, one book
A book of everything never gets finished. A book of the year they were four does. Thirty drawings is plenty; forty is a lot.
2. Choose what goes in
- The firsts: the first face, the first name written, the first time the dog was in it.
- Whoever keeps coming back. The same cat, five times, is a story.
- The ones that made you laugh, and the one they were proudest of.
- At least one from every month, so the year has a shape.
3. Photograph them flat
Daylight, no flash, phone straight above, the whole sheet in the frame. Don't crop to the drawing and don't put a filter on it: the lined paper and the crease are part of what it was. More on photographing them.
4. Write down what you will forget
The drawing will still be there in ten years. What they said about it will not, unless it is written beside it.
- The month, and how old they were.
- What they said it was, in their words. “A sad bus.”
- Anyone in it, by the name they gave them.
- One line of your own, if there is a story behind it.
5. Put them in the order they were drawn
Earliest first, so the book is the year going by. Where someone turns up in January and again in November, put the two on facing pages. That spread is the one everybody stops at.
6. Lay it out plainly
One drawing to a page, white space round it, the words small underneath. No borders, no clip art, no backgrounds. The drawing is the decoration.
7. Before you print
- How many pages the price covers, and what each extra one costs.
- Whether the pictures are printed to the edge. If they are, leave room round the drawing.
- Order one copy first. Look at it before you order three for the grandparents.
Where Feltip fits
Feltip keeps the things a book needs, as you go: each drawing exactly as drawn, the day it was made, their age if you gave a birth month, a title and your own note, and who keeps coming back. Once a year has five drawings in it, that year is a page in their world. Feltip does not print the book yet. When it does, we will have held one first.