To Scrapbook or Not?
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Years ago, I was a scrapbooking queen. I spent every spare dollar on supplies. I drove miles to visit scrapbooking shops and to attend scrapbooking conferences.
This was all pre-internet, too!
As our family grew, I determined that I would make sure that every milestone of my children’s lives would be carefully documented within the pages of color coordinated scrapbooks. I was a dreamer.
Yes, yes, I was.
Fast forward ten years or so. The boys, ages 13, 10, 8, and 6, each have at least one album. The girls? None. Other things have taken precedence over my scrapbooking hobby.
However, I don’t want my girls to follow the typical pattern of “the baby doesn’t have a baby book.” So, I’m turning to you for advice and input.
What would you do?
As it’s been four years since I last cropped a photo, I’m a little “behind the times” in terms of products that are available and techniques that are being used.
One of my goals this year is to do something with our photos. I figure this project is a good one to figure out.
I don’t have time for cute or elaborate layouts. I have four years of photos stored digitally. The choices, as I see them, are
- do nothing
- do my best to physically cut and paste simple designs and get my girls’ albums complete
- create my albums online via Kodak Gallery or Shutterfly
- or ?????
Any suggestions?
If you had four years and two albums to document, what is the quickest and simplest way that you would approach it?
Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, etc. I love scrapbooking too, but it simply does not fit your lifestyle at this point in time!
I really think you will be happy going digital! No mess to put away!
I am not a scrapbooker at all, but I love our Shutterfly type albums. This year, I also did a blog book which basically prints all of my blog entries for a given time and all of the pictures associated with it and it serves as a pretty good “baby book” by marking all of the important events in my son’s first year. It might work for you if you blogged your girls’ baby years.
@Kendell, How much did this cost, Kendell? Any about how much a page? Page size? I know! A lot of questions, but I am thinking about going this direction and want to consider the cost. Thanks!
apparently this is a common story :)…my poor daughter is not even out of the hospital in her baby book, whereas her brother’s first 3 years of life are documented on a monthly (if not more) basis…
My husband finally bought me iscrapbook for my mac and I love it. Click and drag, type a memory and move on to the next page. It’s simple, it was $30 for the software, and the books are cute. And I can do it when I have time and energy and not take up the entire kitchen table with it!!
Good luck!
I’ve just recently switched from traditional scrapbooking to digital from Creative Memories. You can have the books bound like you would at Shutterfly if you’d like or have the individual pages printed to insert into your own albums. Another bonus with digital is that boxes and boxes of supplies aren’t needed.
another one to look into is the
Scrapbooks Please website:
99 cent 12×12 page prints.
I have to echo Project Life – we did it last year and it’s terrific. I love the creativity of scrapbooking but with the kids, I just don’t make the time. So having the drop-in albums really saves time. You can buy other (more affordable) types but her kits are very high quality and pretty! I’ve done digital books too, and they turn out lovely, but I just enjoy handling the actual photos – not sure why!
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned just family blogging! I started blogging 3 and a half years ago, when I was 3 months pregnant with my first- and it has been an awesome way for me to document memories, reflect and share our pictures and stories with our families and friends! (And its FREE!) Why invest so much time and energy to have your work only sit on a shelf?
If I were you, I’d spend time creating a family blog with all of your kids/marriage and family milestones and I’d tag each child specifically. Years down the road EVERYONE in your family can enjoy all of the pictures and all of the stories!
@Laura Webber, And now there are sites that can take your blog and make them into a photo book too.
@jessica, More info. please!=) I want to hear about your experience with this. I am thinking about it.
Stacy Julian’s class, Library of Memories TOTALLY CHANGED my scrapbook outlook. I went from “can’t scrap, I am too far behind” to enjoying scrabooking in a way that is managable for my life right now. It seems expensive, but you get three years worth of classes for one enrollment fee. (Take the class one year and you get to audit the class for the next two years).
http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/lom2010.php
I know this years class is set to start in May. HTH.
I hear ya. I am “behind” and I only have 2 kids! While I love to do classic srcapping with paper and embellishments I have used digital to “catch up” on my family Christmas album. I use Close to My Heart’s program called Studio J. https://andrearuiz.myctmh.com/Retail/StudioJLanding.aspx?PageId=185 There are many layouts to choose from and all you have to do is upload photos, then choose your paper pack and drag your photos to the photos wells. It sizes them perfectly. You can make the layouts as simple or embellished as you like. The quality of printing is amazing. Beautiful layouts can be created quickly. You can try it out for free to decide it you like it at the link listed above.
It’s nice to know I am not the only one who has let her hobby fall by the wayside once kids arrived. 🙂
We moved to KY when my daughter was about 18 months, and all my scrapbooking supplies have remained in the attic. I think I will be selling/giving it away soon. Aside from not having time or space to work on it, there are literally NO scrapbooking stores here for supplies, classes, ideas, etc. So I have turned to digital.
I have only created photo books on Shutterfly so far, but I love it. At least once per year you can find a good deal on books and the printing is really nice. (I saw a friend’s photo book printed from SnapFish but it wasn’t nearly as nice in terms of quality.) I am glad to know about Picaboo, too, and will look into that.
I’ve just been keeping a family album, per year, and a small book yearly/as needed for the kids. It has worked out well, and around the holidays, it’s easy to order an extra copy for the grandparents. Makes an easy gift if you’re already ordering one for yourself! 🙂