[JenC]

I had a very nice mama send me an extra copy of her profile a while ago so I could have something to go by. As for me, let's just say my scrapbooking skills compare to a 5th grader.

I'm finally hitting the profile hard this week. I'm looking for an honest answer - is it tacky/trashy/not-put-together-enough to (nicely and neatly!) handwrite on the pages instead of computer print? I tried a few times, but I couldn't get it to look right. I have most of it done now, but it would be easy to replace the handwritten words with typed.

Whaddya think??


ETA: If you want to have a bit of fun and vote on girl names, go here. Sorry, boy name already chosen!

[4everwaiting]

If it were me, I would go with typed on the computer...

Its just my opinion but, my handwriting is neat but not as neat and straight as it needs to be for such an important project. There are 1000's of free fonts out there if you want that hand written look but neat and straight that a computer/printer can offer. kwim?

S

[minibus]

I would go with typed. I think that you could include some handwritten parts, like maybe hand lettering some of the pictures, but I would type the majority of it.

[Fran27]

Definitely typed, but you can use a font that looks like it's handwritten.

[aclee]

We typed the main parts, and then hand wrote the picture titles, and a message at the back. Anyway, as time progresses, you might be surprised how many copies of that thing you'll need. We didn't like photo copying the whole page, so we got pictures printed and hand made all of ours....

I guess if you were making just one, you could hand write and then color copy the pages....

[sissyminsky]

For my first profile, we typed the letter and handwrote the captions, or labels. We integrated the pictures into the text. We used coordinated scrapbook papers.

This time the requirements were different (another agency), and I rarely get time or space to scrapbook. So I put the photos on powerpoint slides that I will print, labeled with a cute font. Our letter is simply a page and a half of Times New Roman text, with one photo in the top corner. But we all signed it for real (even 3 year old A) I like that personal touch of seeing someone's own writing.

I think the overall feel just needs to be "you."

[mommamarci]

Okay, a friend using the same agency said she typed everything because the instructions said something about the book being typewritten. Maybe that was just the letter part, but she was uncertain and decided to type everything to make sure...

[JenC]

The main letter is typed up. I just...I don't know what exactly I thought I'd accomplish by handwriting the rest - photo captions and such. It's all just pieced together for now, so very easy to redo, which I'm working on.

[mg1970]

I would not hand write it.

When I was in grade school not everyone had a computer or typewriter back then. I knew that I could make a better grade by typing my papers vs. handwriting, although both were acceptable.

There are many scrapbooking programs you can use that ANYONE could use. I used picaboo, which you can download for free. You can select predesigned layouts and all you do is drag the pictures to the boxes and use controls to crop them. I'm telling you, it's easy.

If you don't think you are up to it then this is the time to find a friend with these skills -- after you have already selected all the photos and written the text. Or there are companies that actually will do this for you.

Think about if you were shopping for something (anything) and you asked different companies to send you info in the mail. Would you be impressed if someone sent you a handwritten note on lined paper? You might think, wow, they took the time to write me a handwritten letter -- OR -- you will think, gosh -- that's really unprofessional.

M

[KIC1975]

I sent you a PM.

This is the only thing that birth mothers see when they make their decision. You want to know that it is the best possible representation of you. I know it's not fair, but they will judge the kind of person you are by your profile.

I'd make it as perfect as possible. Do you want to sit at home in a few months wondering "if only I had typed"...

-Kristin

[JenC]

and now I feel like an idiot for even thinking that might be a better way!

[Asha0314]

I would not handwrite anything, I would type it all. There are fonts that look like hand writing even though you know it isn't. I think it's called script or something like that.