Album Organization

I think that anyone who is interested in scrapbooking along with anyone who does it is always faced the question: How do I organize my ablums?

There are different ways to organize:
*by theme
*chronologically
*1 album per year
etc.

I organize my albums this way:

THE BOYS
Each boy has 2 albums. These will be their albums to take when they leave home/get married.

*Album 1: The First Year. This album contains layouts of the pregnancy, ultrasound photos, showers, hospital, coming home, then one 2-page layout per month and a 2-page layout for the first birthday party!

*Album 2: Birth to 18 (or whenever!). This album will be added to every year. Each year there is a new 2-page layout done with my favorite picks in between birthdays, the birthday celebrated that year and a letter from Mom (that's me) about things they did that year. This letter will evolve over time as they go from being infants, toddlers, preschoolers to teenagers (gasp!).

So for the first year all I have to do for them is one 2-page layout a month, then a 2-page layout per year after that. Not too hard! (Although I haven't done Gavin's third birthday layout yet!...I have the letter done and pictures printed, though!)

THE FAMILY
For our family, I do one album per year. I like to scrapbook everything from the everyday snapshots to the big events and all the in between stuff. I need an album per year. I started this the year Gavin was born. I am still finishing up 2009's album, but if you read my last post, there is no such thing as being behind in scrapbooking!! You will always be behind because pictures are just like laundry and dishes in that they are NEVER DONE! There are ALWAYS MORE!

:-)

So...this is not meant to frustrate, but to inspire. Come up with your own way to organize your albums. This must be a way that doesn't overwhelm you. It must be a way that you can actually accomplish in the time you have to scrapbook. It must be something that works for your family. The way I do it is what works for us.

If you do not want to part with baby books or if you want to do an album for your kids all the time and an album for you all the time, that is okay, too. A good thing to remember is that you can always get color photo copies to do duplicate albums (most places do something around 11 1/2 x 11 1/2, but you can mount those on 12x12 cardstock).

DIGITAL
Another option is digital scrapbooking. I am getting interested in this, but I don't prefer it yet. I enjoy it for some layouts...I usually print 8 1/2 x 11 sheets and mount them onto 12x12 cardstock to put in my albums. There are also a few places I have found online where you can upload them as jpeg files and order prints in 12x12.

Adobe Photoshop Elements is the best program for this, and if you check them out, you will probably find that they come with a scrapbooking tutorial cd-rom. Mine came with one, and it was great. The best option is to take online classes from Jessica Sprague. She has many classes that you buy and watch the lessons when you have time. I can't wait to take a class from her! I need to save some money for that!

:-) Happy Scrapping!