My Scrapbooking Approach

There are lots of different approaches to scrapbooking, I probably scrapbook more than a lot of people and I often worry that beginning scrapbookers might get overwhelmed if they think that they should be scrapbooking as much as I do. Anyway, I think it's interesting to see what people choose to scrapbook, what projects they make, for whom, and why.


My approach has evolved over the years. When I first started, I began a series of albums that I call "Family Albums." This is where I put all my favorite pictures from our lives, and I usually order things chronologically. I call these the "family albums", because they belong to all of us, and I consider these albums to be picture books about our life as a family.

After my son was born, I decided to make an album for him, about him...something that I will likely give to him when he graduates college, or gets married or something like that (when I can trust him to take care of it!). I wanted this album to remain a "single" album, so I knew that I would have to really try hard to narrow down the photos. So I decided to make several layouts of my son's first year, but then after that be super concise and have one 2-page layout for each year of his life. So far this has worked for me, though it is hard to choose which pictures to include in this very constrained layout. And as each of my other 2 girls were born, I've done the same for them, and someday I will give them each their keepsake album.

So most of the time I am making layouts for my Family Albums, but once a year I'll pick up each of the kids' albums and assemble one layout. This is the latest spread that I made for Avery's Album, for the year 2006. On the lower left of the first page, I put a little picture of each of his classmates and teachers (I covered them up for this since I don't really have permission to be putting their photos on the web). I get even more sentimental when I work on these albums because I can see how much has changed over the course of 1 year as I choose the pictures. And knowing that this is going to be a future gift fills me with joy as I assemble the pages.
Recipe


Stamps: Big Deal Numbers
Papers: Creative License Simply Scrappin' Kit (hostess), Wild Wasabi
Inks: Brocade Blue Craft
Accessories: Stickers from Kit, Chipboard Heart, Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon