All About MY Scrapbooking #2

I started this new series last month based on some questions I've gotten through the years about my scrapbooking.. I have no idea how long I'll keep it going but feel free to ask away if you have any questions you want answered! 

How I organize our albums-- By child/ event-- in chronological order. 

It started rather accidently that each of the boys ended up with their own scrapbooks.  Ian's books have always been navy blue and since I had nearly 2 full books when Alec was born it seemed weird to add his pages into "Ian's" album.  I started Alec with maroon/red albums. Then when Evan came along I used brown for his (which eventually became black as I could no longer find brown)... I have created a few vacation albums along the way too that are more "family" memories which means that sometimes after our trips I'm creating 4 pages using similar or even the same photos. 

Each child ended up with his or her own shelf on our bookshelf too!


Which Albums do I use-- When I first started out the only option was to use post or D-ring albums but I am very particular about my albums now and the strap hinge albums are all I will use.  They can be so hard to find and I've been known to buy 5 at a time when I do find them... and their refill pages and page protectors too. 

The D ring albums always looked like 2 ring binders to me and pages had a tendency to break or tear

Post hinge albums often bowed because the spine was so tight the pages were much thicker when filled.


I love that I can really fill strap hinge albums and they sill lay flat and look nice and professional

How I pick my colors/ patterns-- The page colors are often inspired by the colors in the photos. I also use what's going on in the photo to help plan my page embellishments.  



Here you can really see all the green and orange of the Nickelodeon resort that inspired the page colors

Favorite embellishments and materials to use- These have changed greatly through the years too: I mostly used to Jolee's 3-D embellishments, raffia, buttons, etc. and now that I have a Cricut I tend to use a lot of paper pieced items. 


I loved all the detail Jolee's stickers had and they were so easy to just stick!

Raffia, twine, and ribbon were such an easy way to add interest


Then the Cricut details really started taking over and now that's pretty much the main tool/embellishment I use. 



Where I get layout ideas-- From all over.  I used to have Stampin' Up! catalog/idea books that had scrapbook layout throughout.  I had subscribed to scrapbooking magazines and used layouts/ ideas I found in there.  I've checked out idea books from the library.  Mostly now I use Pinterest or pages I've made myself since I have so many completed books it's fun to look through and take an old idea/layout and recreate it with different colors, or rotate it sideways and change things just slightly to give a new look to a fun old  layout. 

Some of my all time favorite layouts:

I love the 3 photos in a row (or slightly overlapping) -- like in the Sunflower farm layout above.  I tend to use that A LOT. 




I also tend to like to cluster my photos together on one color/ pattern of paper and then lay them as a unit on another contrasting paper.




This map storage idea for Disney; I tried to collect maps each trip so now we have years worth of maps and we can see how the parks have changed over time.



Since this post is running pretty long with a lot of photos I'll tackle a few more of my favorite layouts next time and also some of my favorite "must have" tools and supplies. 

Some more of my favorite pages:

My hidden Mickey Indiana Jones was fun to make!

I love pages that sparkle! 


Both one of my favorite photos and I LOVED how the Little Mermaid paper pieced project turned out; especially after I glittered the heck out of Ariel's tail.  

I love a quick, easy, and striking layout!

Linking up with: Weekly link party, 











Comments

  1. Really, really impressive and creative! I could go on and on and but that sums it up for me ;). Your boys are lucky to have individual albums. Great job!!

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  2. On my, you are so organized and creative. Your gift of each child's scrapbook is really impressive. #MMBC

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    1. Thank you! it has been so much fun and I'm not really sure when I'll stop-- probably when they all move away from home/stop coming on vacation with us.

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  3. I think the scrapbooks are the BEST gifts for your boys- what wonderful memories and preserved in such a special and creative way :)

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  4. I could’ve written this post. Your pages, your albums, your organization of them looks so much like mine. Difference is sadly I haven’t scapbooked in 5 years. I miss it and the 4-H Fair judging of it. You do an amazing job!

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  5. That was a good idea having different scrapbooks for each child. It looks like a lot of work has gone into them.

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  6. This is really fun and almost makes me want to get back into it.

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  7. I scrap chronologically, and each child has their own bookshelf as well! I do a family Christmas album for me, and sometimes single photos that I really like in my 8X8 albums.

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    1. Funny enough I have very, very few Christmas pages at all since I'm usually so busy at Christmas that I rarely take photos at all!

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  8. These are so lovely and I can tell you put so much time and love into all of it.

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  9. Those albums that you use do look so nice! That was a problem I was running into when I scrapbooked. I couldn't ever find any that laid flat after I added all of the embellishments to the pages. Love how organized you are, and you already know how much I adore seeing all of your creative pages!

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    1. Yes! That drove me nuts!! I even tried buying and adding the post extenders but they didn't really help much either. The strap hinge albums solved that problem

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  10. These albums are awesome! The kids will have their entire childhood to look back on and reminisce over all the memories.

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  11. The albums look beautiful and I love how each of your sons has his own. What a fantastic and creative way to capture special memories!
    Ruth@playworkeatrepeat

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  12. I swear you could give classes on this Joanne. You've tried so many different options, and have great reasons for doing what you do.
    And I love the idea of keeping the maps. I would never have thought to do that,
    XOXO

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    1. Oh I bet I could! I used to hold card making camps/classes but not all that many of my friends and family ever got into scrapbooking.

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  13. WOW!! What a great treasure trove of memories for your family...I never had the time to do this....I am in awe of all that you did! Amazing! Hope you had a great weekend and Thanks for your visits!!
    Hugs,
    Deb

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  14. These are all so amazing, Joanne! But, I think I like the ones where you've kept the maps most! What a great idea!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Thanks! I was thinking on our last trip that it's sort of dying out. Maps were much harder to find as Disney moves towards using the app more and more.

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  15. I LOVE all the creativity I see here Joanne. This is so fun to see how your scrapbooking has changed over the years and what an amazing keep sake for your kids.

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  16. Such a fun way to preserve these special memories!

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  17. It's so nice to look back at old photo!! I used to scrapbook about 20 years ago but then it had gotten too time consuming so I went on to card making. I wish I could go back and re-start. At a Creative Memories party many years go we were told to start at the current time and work backwards. It's so overwhelming for me to think how many photos there would be to go through!! But I really would LOVE to do at least one family album for each of the past years.

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    1. I've pretty much done both scrapbooking and cardmaking right alongside one another from the very beginning but I began making cards first waaay back in high school. I kind of wish I had kept some along the way to see how my hobby has changed and grown over time.

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  18. I'm so embarrassed about how behind I am with scrapbooking! It's overwhelming. It's nice to see how you have organized the albums.

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  19. Thank you for this series! I am trying to make one scrapbook for each of my 3 grown up kids. I saved so much schoolwork, etc. to add to them. I have been struggling and it's taking me a couple of years already to even get started on them. I am hoping to find the inspiration I need to get them done by reading your posts. I wish I would have started them when they were born like you did. What a great idea you had!!

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    1. Oh you're welcome! I hope it helps. How fun that you have schoolwork and stuff to add to them too-- I'm pretty sure I have a page or two with their writing or artwork... I'll have to see if I can dig them up for next month's edition.

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  20. I love scrapbooking, your output is amazing!

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