Well, I did it! I finished scrapbooking Finley's 1st year! I say '1st Year Scrapbook' in the singular sense, but it actually is four albums.
I knew that I had to change how I scrapbooked in order to keep up. I started using the We R Memory Keepers divided pages to help get the photos into the albums in a faster way. Sometimes it's tricky to use these page protectors, as sometimes I'd be one photo short of filling the page, or have a vertical photo where a horizontal photo is supposed to go.
I developed a system where on the first of every month, I'd organize my photos from the previous month, rename them using a date system, and then copy them from my SD card to three different places. I would then get that month's photos printed. To me, getting your photos printed, organized and ready to scrapbook is half of the battle.
I used to use a lot of different sizes of photos. I'd get 4x6 prints made of all of my photos and then would use Page Maps to plan a layout and then get reprints made in different sizes, based on the layout I was creating. Shamelessly, I wasted A LOT of 4x6 photos.
Nowadays, I try to just use the 4x6 photos. On the photos that I really like, I'll get a reprint made (usually an 8x12). I LOVE 8x12's. It's the exact ratio as the 4x6, so I don't have to worry about cropping the photo.
I also made myself accept the fact that each page I create cannot be an it-took-six-hours masterpiece. I love and appreciate those pages that are so artsy and creative, but to keep up with all of Finley's photos and to document the stories and our everyday life, I had to revert back to a simpler approach. I'm not crazy about every single layout that I created, but it's done. I guess if I end up having ample time on my hands years down the road, I can go back and re-do them (but I also guess that's not going to happen).
Also, I realized how much I loved Finley because all of that special KI Memories paper that I'd been saving for years for that "special page", I was using in her scrapbook.
Finley's first album is from December 23rd (the day I went into the hospital) to December 31st.
I had a lot of text to add in the beginning of this album, so I had to find a creative way to add in the photos. All of the text was copied and pasted from this blog. At the time it seemed daunting to type out all of the details, but now I'm so glad I did.
The first page and then a sampling of pages from the first book:
Using the Horizontal 6-up page protectors (I used A LOT of these along with the Verticual 6-up page protectors):
Using the 6x12; 4x6 3-up page protector:
Side note: I hate this style of page protector... when you turn the page, the 6x12 insert starts to slip out. I wish they would have put the opening at the top on the 6" side, versus down the middle.
I ordered this 12x12 page from Birthday Keepsakes. It has Finley's birth stats, plus other tidbits for December 24th and also for 2010. I started to google all of this info myself, but I quickly ran out of patience and realized it was worth the cost of $12.99.
I made this "Welcome to the world Finley" as an insert for a 12x12 shadowbox and had it ready when we brought Finley home. I made it about three months before she was born. We still didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, but I just knew it a girl. :) (I'd told Jim I was also going to make one with the boy's name on it to have it ready, but I never did) After I took it out of the frame, I added it to her scrapbook.
I also used a lot of the 6x6 4-up page protectors for her book:
When I had text to add, I printed it on a 6x6 cardstock square and slipped it in along with the photos. Throughout all of her albums, I used the same two fonts to keep it consistent.
I made a few dozen of the 'Favorite Photo' circle labels so I could quickly add them to my favorites.
"Just hand over the bottle and no one gets hurt." She'd get so feisty when she was hungry!
Coming up: volume 2! :)
