Profile Book

[grannypantiesrock]

Has anyone made their profile book? The agency said they will give us instructions, but I'd like to get started because I feel like it will take me forever. We don't have a lot of pictures
I'd specifically love to hear from anyone who did theirs "through the fart."

[badgergirl66]

We made ours through shutterfly. I have no idea how good or bad it is, but I posted crappy pictures of it to my blog.

Just don't tell me if you find a typo or hate it. :-p

meghan-haileyshouse.blogspot.com/2015/01/our-profile-book.html?m=1

ETA: and of course typo was spelled wrong. Damnit. Fixed now.

[badgergirl66]

Note: We received no instructions from our agency. They said it could be any size or length. It could be a binder or professionally done or just papers stapled together.

[wishuponastar]

For our agency- We were told 5 pages front and back- it had to be 8.5 x 11 and they recommended that the orientation of the paper be portrait because they keep them all in a binder and it's awkward to look at the binder from landscape angle.

Here is a link to our book. www.mixbook.com/photo-books/all/profile-book-10877154?vk=jNIrizqE14

(Notes: we ended up using the second page as our cover- but I made 2 options just in case. Also, we had extra pages at the end so I made some artwork for the nursery)

[drl]

We took a whole class through the fart. It was very helpful. We didn't think we had many pictures, but I put it together in a day. It was actually pretty fun

[pinkie]

We used snapfish because it's very simple and idiot proof. We are not good with those things so having less to screw up was good in our case.

We had major help from our local agency for adoption 1. It went through rounds and rounds of revisions and honestly we were getting so fed up. The second time we started with our first book and made edits. We took time with it but did not have such a level of review but we felt way more confident that we knew what we were doing.

Our agency suggested lots of photos and few words. We started with a welcome letter.

My best advise is really to be yourself. We are casual people and had very casual photos, with sunglasses, hats on. Even our cover photos were very casual photos of us at the beach. both of the EMs who chose us said they thought we seemed genuine.

[gnomesweetgnome]

We were only allowed one page front and back. We made sure to include pics of us together, with kids, doing hobbies, of our house, etc. A short greeting to the EPs and just captions on the pics, I think. I'd gather pics and think about what info you might need/want to include for now

[grannypantiesrock]

drl, Did they have you make a book through a program like Shutterfly?

[grannypantiesrock]

badgergirl66, wishuponastar, Those are both beautiful. Well done, ladies.

[theatrepal]

Can you review others from your agency? I found it very helpful to know what families that were waiting had done. I wanted mine to stand out but not look totally out of place if that makes sense.

[grannypantiesrock]

Well I made some definite headway. We had more pics that I thought. We used Shutterfly. I can PM anyone the link if you'd like to have a look. It's not finished, but some constructive criticism is welcome.

[pinkie]

I'm very happy to review .

[perumom]

badgergirl66, wishuponastar, Your books were sooo sweet!!! What lucky babies and birthmothers!! I really can't help you since our book was more tailored for a country rep to see and not birthmothers but it was so nice to see these and I am sure if you just compiled the best pic representation of what everyday life is in your family and life (home, family, you) some birthmother will not be able to resist:)

[drl]

Mar 1, 2015 7:13:21 GMT -5 grannypantiesrock said:

drl, Did they have you make a book through a program like Shutterfly?

At the time we were limited to 2 pages, so we just printed out 2 sides of a page. I think now it's 5 pages. I would assume you'll get guidance on how they want it assembled. We got a list of does and don'ts

[jenn]

I did mine in Word, believe it or not. If you want, you can msg me your email address and I can send you a copy, if that will help.

[chicago]

We were allowed to look through some sample books through our agency. That helped to ground us. They recommended 8X11 (landscape).
We took about a month to complete and did it in shutterfly. You can often find coupon codes online or on groupon to help with cost.
We first picked our sections (had to add 2 pages due to minimum book size)
- Thank You/Intro (1 page)
- About Me (2 pages)
- About Husband (2 pages)
- Family (2 pages)
- Friends (2 pages)
- Our dog (2 pages)
- Our home (2 pages)
- Our traditions (2 pages)
- Sports (2 pages)
- A bit more about us (2 pages)
- Thank you
- Picture with signature
My husband wrote the blurbs while I worked through pictures. We reviewed, modified multiple times. Stepped away for a few days and re-reviewed.
We also asked our agency for feedback and adjusted.
We later made our profile book available online, it's free with Shutterfly (I think). So now we can be found at XXXXXX.shutterfly.com. We provided this link in our waiting families blurb.

Obviously this is just what we did ... I can't say how it's working as we are early in the process, but hope it helps.

[wishuponastar]

Speaking of coupon codes-
Here are some shutterfly codes:

New Customers Only: (never placed order, or have not placed an order in the last year)

TWENTYMORE - additional 20% off site sales - Expires 03/04/15
DEALSEA for extra 25% off - Exp 03/04/15
GOODSHOP25 for an additional 25% off - Exp 03/04/15
FREEPHOTOBOOK - free hardcover 8x8 photo book. - Expires 3/4/2015
FREE8X8PB - free hardcover 8x8 photo book. - Expires 03/08/2015
YEARBOOK2015 - free hardcover 8x8 photo book. - Expires 03/26/2015
**50 free 4x6 prints with sign up (automatically added to account, no code necessary) - Expires 1 month after signup date

All Customers:

SPRINGBREAK - free luggage tag - Expires 02/28/15
YOUCHOOSE - one free 16x20 or two 8x10 prints. - Expires 3/8/2015
GOODCHOICE - free magnet or luggage tag Expires 3/9/2015
CARD4U - 1 free 3/4 fold card or 5x7 tri-fold card or 6x8 flat card or 4x8 flat card or 5x7 flat card or 5x7 folded card or 5x5 flat card on signature cardstock. - Expires 3/9/2015 **can be used once per month**
MAGNET4YOU - 1 free magnet, excludes glass. - Expires 3/31/15
FACEPLATE - 35% off faceplates for portable chargers. - Expires 7/31/2015
PERKOFFER20 - 20% off. - Expires 8/31/2015
TU2BDW98323JJ5 - 25% off regular priced purchases. - Expires 9/15/2015

[pinkie]

wishuponastar thanks for reminding me of these codes. I just got photos taken of DS1 and would love a free magnet

[grannypantiesrock]

wishuponastar, Thank you. I will definitely be using those.

[wishuponastar]

Hope you all can use them. They just added a free pet tag. Code: BESTFRIEND

[lovelyplanet]

wishuponastar, did you get your profile book printed from Mixbook too? I am not sure if it gives you an option to just get a digital copy and print elsewhere.
Also did you pick the "softcover"? Thanks so much!

[wishuponastar]

I think you have to print with them. What I did was print the softcover and the when it came in, I cut it up and took it to a copy center and made color copies. (I used the self copy section, but they came over to replace the toner and no one ever questioned me.)

[carolinah]

I want to add a bit from the other perspective because it seems this is often extremely stressful for PAP's. When I was looking at parent profiles, I didn't notice creative design, placement, etc at all. All I noticed were the pictures and captions. I was drawn to D&G because of the joy I could tell they worked so hard to keep in their lives and the love I could tell they had for each other. I also payed very close attention to the "dear birthmother" (ugh that phrase makes me angry) letters. If they felt faked/forced/ingenuine I wasn't interested. D&G were real about each other's strengths, their love for life, and the hurt that brought them to DIA. All that to say, the details don't often matter. What does is honestly presenting yourself in an unscripted way. I hope this helps.