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Help!!:arrow: How do many of you put together your portfolios? Is there a specific program that you use? Or is everyone having them professionally done? I would like to do ours but I don't have a clue how to even begin. TIA. Jim
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I'm a scrapbooker, so I did mine by hand - the hardest part by far was getting organized and getting started... it seemed so overwhelmingly important that I struggled with starting it. I picked several theme colors, gathered lots of paper and embellishments in that theme and style, gathered every possible picture I thought might be a good idea, and then bought a report style folder with sleeves. I took blank sheets of paper and made headings to describe what each page was supposed to portray (ie family, our wedding, pets, home, etc), and sorted all of the pictures into those categories, and with help from family and friends, narrowed them down to the best/most insightful pics (a great tip I got was to get other people to help pare down the pics, because we tend to be too hard on ourselves and would throw out great action pics that tell a lot about us as people because we didn't like some detail of how we looked - which was definitely true of me!). Once that was done, I started looking at each category of pictures to see if there were common colors or themes that could tie them together, and put the colored papers and embellishments in the sleeve with that particular category. Once I had all of that done, it was much simpler to pick a certain page to work on at any time, and I felt like I had a cohesive book that was polished and very much representative of DH and I by the end. It was a lot of hard work, but it's an important part of who I am (my mom and I scrap together) and I am very very proud of the final product. Once my book was completely ready, it had to be proofed by the agency, a few minor changes made, and then I took it to Office Max and had it copied and spiral bound. (First I tried Kinko's, which were more expensive and I wasn't impressed with the quality, but I think that was more the fault of the worker, not the equipment). Any place you take them to should offer to do a sample first, and I would definitely request it!!! Feel free to PM me if I can clarify something or offer other ideas or more info! :) Katy
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We just used plain old Word. The first portfolio was pasted pics onto the document and printed it on photo paper. We used pretty, colorful graphics and then assembled the whole thing in a portfolio with a clear front. The second portfolio was again made with simple Word. This time around we used columns, dropped paragraphs, and section or column breaks to allow space for actual photos to be pasted. We printed the pages on cream card stock and brought them to Office Max to have it coil binded with a laminated back page and clear front. Went back home and pasted in the actual photographs, and then decorated each page individually with tasteful stickers. The two portfolios have the same exact content, but the second one looks a million times better. And it was the one that got us picked!!! Even our adoption agency was impressed!!! Celina
Thanks for all the helpful tips.:prop: I'm just nervous about doing this, I don't want to mess it up. I have tried my hand at scrapbooking and I think my pages look ok; I don't scrap all the time, so I don't have all the fancy techniques under my belt yet. Thanks again everyone! Jim and Debbie
We downloaded free electronic scrapbooking software. [url=http://www.scrapbookflair.com/]Scrapbooking | Free Digital Scrapbook Software Embellishments Backgrounds Templates[/url] If you PM me with your email I will send you a link so you can look at mine. I am NOT crafty at all, things like this are always easier for me when I see an example first. I had it printed and spiral bound at a local copy place. Honestly, it took a lot to put it all together, but I am proud of how it turned out. I can't wait to show our baby when he gets older. I hate to put any more pressure on anyone about it, but the books really are important when you think that this is what many PBM's use to choose parents for their child.
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:coffee: I am new to this adoption stuff. I am just now getting started on my homestudy paperwork. I am wondering if this adoption portfolio is something I want/need for the homestudy. I am planning to adopt a child from foster care. I want to do this if it will help me and the agency and whoever else get to know me better. Thanks for your input.
Hi, (I adopted thru a private agency, so I don't know if this will apply to foster care adoption.) I felt abit overwhelmed before starting mine. For basic guidelines, I did a google search on "dear birthmother letters" and found some helpful guidelines for the actual "letter". Also, my agency showed me some samples other adoptive parents had turned. Other than that, I was on my own. Once you get started with a few basic guidelines, your creativity will probably carry you along. I used MS Word, played around with different styles, colors and sized fonts. I attached pictures with a scanner and from a CD I had compiled of family, friends, our house, neighborhood, etc. I printed the pages on fancy pastel and/or flowery stationery from Staples and put it into a sturdy binder, keeping in mind that it might be handled alot and you don't want it to wear out too soon and start looking raggedy. The most expense I incurred was from getting pictures developed, and the cost of the stationery and binders. Some agencies do have specific guidelines, so make sure you follow them. But, I'm sure you will be given plenty of opportunity to use your own creativity.
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Glad I found this post. Thanks for all the input and ideas. I am in the same boat. We need to get started on our profile and DH has organized some of our digital pictures but we will also need some from before DS was born and they are just regular photos. I keep meaning to head down to the agency to look at some other profiles to get some idea of what to do, but with a 2 year old it is a bit hard.
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could you please send me more information on your portfolio? my email is haylielynn@aol.com. Thank you. Your post made me think that I could do this. Thank you for your kind words........