when a man retires and time is no longer a matter of urgent importance, his colleagues generally present him with a watch - r.c. sherriff

One of my work colleagues, ms. giraffe, retired this summer and in lieu of a card or photo album I created, with some assistance, a memory book.  What is the difference, you ask?   A memory book is a card and photo album rolled into one, including photos of ms. giraffe and colleagues through her years at the office, co-worker salutations and some brilliant work done by the graphic artists.  And all was supported by my bestest enabler/amazing friend.  Thank you, I could not have retained any sanity without you.

WARNING: There are several photos in this post of the eleven page memory book.  I suggest a coffee, tea or apple cider, sit back and review at your leisure.

Every page has at least one pocket to hold photos and/or colleague greetings and/or well wishes and signatures.

Cover:  I cut out the follow your dreams: transform your life quote and layered it on top of a self-made paper and photo collage.  One of our graphic artists at work took the photos of the boots and birdcages at Fort Edmonton Park which, if you recall, is one of my favourite Edmonton sites.  It never disappoints.  For photographer fans, it really is a great find.  The dress form and bike die cuts are from Memory Box.

Page One:

This little envelope was created with my envelope maker.  Thought it added a sweet touch especially with the hat pin as a faux closure.

Page two: Developed friendships

Page three: Group events

Using Dina Wakley techniques, I transformed this image of settlers into a playful moustachioed group.  I was inspired by the fun and playful photos of the group events included in the pocket of this page.

Page four: This is one of my favourite pages.  I love the colour combination, the little Memory Box clouds, the mini red clips and the wood chipboard birds which I distressed with vintage photo distress ink.

Page five:  This was a super fun page to create using tissue paper, Dina Wakley stencils and book pages.

Page six: Last page of photo memories.

Page seven:  I wanted to create a retirement book that included both memories as well as ms. giraffe's interests.  Pages seven to eleven reflect ms. giraffe's love for reading, traveling, camping, biking, gardening and giraffes starting with a tongue-in-cheek photo of our team.  All of the photos on pages seven through to eleven were created by the graphic artists.

I made a little comic book out of some internet images I found.

Page eight: 

Page nine:

Page ten:

Page eleven:  I love this page.  The artists did a remarkable job superimposing ms. giraffe's face onto a person hugging a giraffe.  I built three gift card-sized envelopes for memory tokens and the gift card.

Back cover:  Image taken by one of the artists at Fort Edmonton Park.

Finished book:

I had a great time putting this book together.  Are memory books something you would like to see in my Etsy Shoppe?  What is a reasonable price?

Next up:  Retirement book number two for mr. chemistry.