There's got to be a better way
I've been playing catch-up with scrapbooking. It takes so long to do a page. I have gotten to the point where I just print out the same pictures and make the same page for both boys just with different papers. I have long thought about going digital but the thing I really like about the scrapbooking aspect is that it seems so much more personal with the time I spend on each page. But does that really matter? I'm not a great scrapbooker in the first place so maybe if I just do it digitally it will be nicer. I have decided to just use the My Publisher program Marcy told me about to make a book for Mike and I. Mike suggested I make an album for each kid for the first year of their life and then just do some family books from My Publisher. I also have an album for Mike with all his career stuff--promotions, awards, pictures from OTS, etc. but that one doesn't take a lot of time and it's not cutesy at all. Then on top of that, I also have a journal for each boy that I write in only about twice a month telling of all the things they are doing. I'm just thinking that I can't spend so much time on all of this. Any advice? Do you really think it is more personal if I scrapbook each page? I enjoy doing it and creating but because I'm not super creative, it takes a long, long time that I don't have. I can only do it at night when the boys are asleep or they get into everything. What do you think?
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I am in the same dilemma and have been for a while and it is driving me crazy...so this is where I am at in my struggle...I have decided to make a scrapbook for my kids for the first 2 years of their life - then the others will be family scrapbooks. I am currently testing out the digital scrapbooking/ book making...I am using heritage makers website - it is secure and user friendly...so I am testing it out - I am working on my first book. I like that it is bound, no mess and I hope the pages will look just as good as my scrapbooks when they are done..we shall see. For our family scrapbook, I am taking our blogspot, copying and pasting the text and maybe add a few tid bits here and there, plus pictures and then embellishing as I like...It's true, we just don't have the time we used to have when we just had one kid..so we have to do the best we can...sorry for the long post..maybe I should send an email..oh well - it's already written! Talk to you soon!
Maybe when I have more time on my hands I'll do more with actual scrapbooking--but for now, this is a time saver that I love.
One of the frustrating things is that when I do spend tons of time on the pages, no one really appreciates them like I want them to. Jason will flip through the book and then be done. I want him to read everything and enjoy the work that I have done.
I LOVED the pages you did. That was so much fun to get to see them all!
GOOD LUCK!!
I had great plans to make scrapbooks for all my kids and have it ready to pass on when they graduated from high school. I did a great job on Jason's and Adam's but just couldn't keep up with all the kids -- the girls seemed to want to do their own so we now just keep a box, keep the photos we want and then give the rest of the photos (and programs, report cards, momentos, etc.) to each kid when they move or get a little settled. Jim and I are working on all the photos right now -- a huge (!) project. Jim scans them so we can use them however we want in the future once we hand them over to the kids. I am not at all creative and don't like to spend so much money on all the "stuff" that goes on the pages. In fact, I find it a little irritating to lose the photo amongst the cutsey stuff that gets put on the page. I think simple is better. Gillian has the program "Scrapbook Factory" and when the photos are scanned correctly, and the pages are printed off with a color printer, you have one awesome looking scrapbook page for virtually nothing.
The intentions are always good when you first get started with the kids, but life takes over -- don't stress -- keep the things you think they will want to remember throughout their school years and then hand it over to them unless you have time and it is your hobby. But don't stress over it. It's simply not worth it.
Mom
I haven't used MyPublisher, so I don't know how the functionality compares, but I like Shutterfly because you can occasionally get free codes and you can also buy codes on eBay for pretty cheap (I bought a group of 4 5x7 codes for $7). The regular prices are pretty much the same as MyPublisher. I think I will do a bigger book (8x8 or 8.5x11) for the family and smaller ones (5x7) for individual ones for the girls. The photo books are a lot more fun and manageable for me at this point!
Also, for purposes of having date and place and people with the photo, some photo places actually print your photo name on the back of your photo (Shutterfly does this), so all you need to do is name your photos well before you upload them and then you have all the info already printed on the back. I always caption my photos first with the date and then who’s in the picture like, “01-13-08 Olivia and Alison.” I love this system.
Another good thing about putting them in the album sleeves instead of ordering books already made is that if you ever need a copy of the photo it’s right there to slip out. We’ve done that with Olivia’s photos for her kindergarten “all-about-me” poster and some show-and-tell projects and even church talks. And I’m assuming the albums are cheaper than the digital books.
I keep any real “scrap”book stuff--like report cards or special artwork the kids have done + any 8x10 photos I order--in a stack until I’m ready to put them in a binder.
One other thing: there are actually websites that will publish your blog for you. They do all the work and send you your blog in book format. Interesting.
http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook
I just copy and paste the stuff I write about the kids to print out and put in their journals.
I've recently been working on this and trying to figure out what to do about it as well- here's what I've decided. I'm not artsy AT ALL and I really just want to be able to look at the pictures and remember that day. In addition to this, I don't really like spending money and we're on a budget this year anyway so I've decided to keep things real simple. I had already printed out a bunch of pictures of Lincoln and other stuff before I decided what I was going to do so I just put those pictures in a small photo album and typed up little comments about groups of pictures to put in with the pictures- no cute embellishments except for maybe a few here and there from the computer with the typed comments. Now that those are all taken care of I've decided to just put my pictures on a word document page, put a nice frame around the pictures and type up a journal entry about what happened that day- all on the computer.
I'd looked into the digital scrapbooking- which looks really cute, but right now I can't pay for all that stuff so I'm doing it the real cheap way.
I do enjoy looking at other people's scrapbooks- but that's just not my style- I don't have the time nor the talent or interest.