Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,612 
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Post by Elsabelle on Sept 18, 2016 1:22:15 GMT
What is your approach to getting current on your scrapping? Have you switched to pocket scrapping? Have you done some month in review layouts for busy months to scrap one layout instead of several? Have you tried something like this scrap an entire year of pictures in one album approach? Do you plan crops to get a lot done in a short period of time? How about a simplified memory keeping approach like this? Or this? Or do you prefer to chip away at all those pictures as often as you can but the same way you've always scrapped. I'm considering scrapping my 2015 pictures using the simplified memory keeping style in the youtube video linked above. I could include more pictures and stories than I probably would with traditional scrapping and I like a clean, simple look. And I can get through them quickly. I can't really think of any cons. Please share if you've tried something like this to get caught up or even if you're just thinking about it or if you have a thought to share on any of the above approaches. |
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Post by 950nancy on Sept 18, 2016 1:28:20 GMT
I do a mix of mostly 12 x 12's and some pocket pages. I am really trying to narrow down my favorite pictures. I am working on 2001 and have it narrowed down to 25 layouts. I have 256 pre made layouts, so I try to pick about 15 pre made layouts and make 10 for each year. I have 2001-2009 to catch up with. Current pictures are caught up until August of this year.
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,612
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Post by Elsabelle on Sept 18, 2016 1:36:05 GMT
I do a mix of mostly 12 x 12's and some pocket pages. I am really trying to narrow down my favorite pictures. I am working on 2001 and have it narrowed down to 25 layouts. I have 256 pre made layouts, so I try to pick about 15 pre made layouts and make 10 for each year. I have 2001-2009 to catch up with. Current pictures are caught up until August of this year. That's an interesting way of doing things. Do you ever have a hard time matching pictures with pre made layouts? I've never given much thought to scrapping current pictures and older pictures. Probably because I'm too rigid.   I've always scrapped chronologically. But I'll have to add that to my options. |
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Post by 950nancy on Sept 18, 2016 1:50:05 GMT
I do a mix of mostly 12 x 12's and some pocket pages. I am really trying to narrow down my favorite pictures. I am working on 2001 and have it narrowed down to 25 layouts. I have 256 pre made layouts, so I try to pick about 15 pre made layouts and make 10 for each year. I have 2001-2009 to catch up with. Current pictures are caught up until August of this year. That's an interesting way of doing things. Do you ever have a hard time matching pictures with pre made layouts? I've never given much thought to scrapping current pictures and older pictures. Probably because I'm too rigid. I've always scrapped chronologically. But I'll have to add that to my options. You can say crazy. Years ago I bought the CTMH books and went crazy with designing pages. I probably made every single one once or twice in each book (four books, I think). I also have a friend who makes pages kits and has sent both of her kids through college by selling her kits online at a big crops. I usually help her design the kits (maybe 9 or 10 in one day); she buys all of the paper, cuts, bags, and writes the directions for each kit. My part is easy and fun and she gives me two kits for each one I help her design. So for one day's work, I can get 18-20 kits. I have done it for years and they have just added up. Now I am making myself use as many as possible. I can use most of them and have easily given 100 kits away to friends. I did 1996-2000 when I first started scrapping and then my kids started high school and I knew that I wanted their books more recent and wanted them to have a great senior book (and something to have for their party to show). So I jumped ahead and got caught up with both of my boys' books and now am going back to 2001. I also do 2 vacation albums a year and have done maybe half a dozen albums for other people through the years, so I am finally getting back to when my kids were just starting elementary school. I am very left brained, but for some reason, this works for me. In my noncreative life, this would not work for me whatsoever! |
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,612
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Post by Elsabelle on Sept 18, 2016 2:17:32 GMT
Wow, 950nancy ! I can't imagine all that back and forth. One of the reasons why I scrap chronologically is so that if I have a longish period of time with no scrapping I know exactly where to pick up when I get back to it. Well, most of the time I do anyway. The times where I can't remember where to start editing pictures or if I have some printed pictures lying around somewhere waiting to be scrapped are the times I realize I can't scrap whichever pictures appeal to me. I'd be a mess because I can't keep track of it all. |
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Post by grammadee on Sept 18, 2016 2:35:41 GMT
The only premade pages I have done consistently is the baby albums I have made for moms of my dgk's. I did them with a few family pages, a few milestone pages, a birthday spread, but mostly 2 pages for each month, usually with a seasonal theme. The last few I did one 12 x 12 and one PL style page for each month. I helped one dil (not a scrapbooker) to go through her photos and print them in orientations that would work with the premade pages.
My albums are chronological, but I don't scrap pages in order. I tend to scrap from most recent to earlier pages. When I did the kids' albums, I found I needed way fewer photos. Good thing, because I HAD way fewer photos of them than I do of my dgk's. But doing an album for 10 or 20 years ago, I could do one 2 page spread for hockey, for example, not a page or two or four for one weekend tournament. When I started doing grandkid albums, I focussed on particular personality quirks or favorite activities over time, so again didn't have as many pages when I did it that way.
I don't have any "catching up" to do, or not much. I am not worried about the years before I started scrapbooking. And I keep pretty current with each season. When I DO need to get a lot of pages done, I attend a weekend crop, or invite a friend to come here for a few days to play. For a smaller project I may go to a friend's or the LSS for the afternoon to scrap. I pack up or pull out papers and embellies that will work with the event or theme I am chasing, and then do as many pages as I can in the time I have allowed.
Because my stash is stored seasonally, I think that if I were doing multiple years, I would do all the Christmases for example when all the Christmas goodies were out and ready to use. Maybe all the sports? All the school photos & school work, awards ceremonies, grads...
I applaud you gals who are working away getting all of those memories of past years onto pages. Anything that can make it less stressful and more fun should be a good thing!
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Post by 950nancy on Sept 18, 2016 2:56:00 GMT
Wow, 950nancy ! I can't imagine all that back and forth. One of the reasons why I scrap chronologically is so that if I have a longish period of time with no scrapping I know exactly where to pick up when I get back to it. Well, most of the time I do anyway. The times where I can't remember where to start editing pictures or if I have some printed pictures lying around somewhere waiting to be scrapped are the times I realize I can't scrap whichever pictures appeal to me. I'd be a mess because I can't keep track of it all. It was really not too much back and forth other than the vacation albums. But those are my favorite, so I will stop any scrapping and start a vacation album. I can knock those out in two or three months. I have already ordered next year's vacation albums and we haven't even talked about a trip. The nice thing about my style is that I already have every single picture printed. My 2001-2005 were back before I had a digital camera and I have boxes of photos in chronological order already printed and the larger prints are in bags with the year and event already in chronological order. 2005 fall to 2009 are already printed too! When I am ready to start a new year, I pull out the entire year's pictures and start putting them into piles. I toss out the bad prints (before digital) and the piles go into Avery Elle's 5 x 7 clear envelopes. Then I match the envelopes to pre made layouts and the ones that don't match, I pull out my favorite lines of papers/embellishments and then toss the envelopes into the paper line's baggies. Matching paper to pictures takes a day or two and then I have a year ready to go. I don't have a single picture on my computer that isn't ready to go onto a layout. I just got August 2016 printed this week and they are sitting on my dining room table because I am not sure I have the right paper for a new car layout. My organization skills rival those of The Container Store! I just need the motivation to get it all done. |
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Post by cmpeter on Sept 18, 2016 3:24:25 GMT
I don't want to get caught up, then what would I scrap?
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,612
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Post by Elsabelle on Sept 18, 2016 5:24:14 GMT
I don't want to get caught up, then what would I scrap? I know being caught up isn't for everyone. I want to be caught up because I feel that my journaling is more heartfelt and has more detailed information and memories. When I'm journaling years old pictures I feel like my journaling is vague. |
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Post by nitad on Sept 18, 2016 5:52:38 GMT
I do not scrap chronologically. I have some albums that are, for Instance, my kids baby albums or my family history ones following my parents wedding and first few years of marriage. But my children were born in 1987 & 1993 and I didn't start true scrapbooking until about 2005. If I tried to "get caught up" I think I would have quit long ago.
I scrap the photos I am drawn to at the moment. These can range from baby pics of my kids to yesterday's dog walk photos. I don't even try to keep them chronological in albums. My albums are as random and varied as my memories and every flip of the page brings a wonderful surprise.
As for journalling on the older photos maybe I can't remember exact dates or even locations but the pictures stir all kinds of emotions and memories and that's what I journal. If you think of going through a box of old photos there are always the ones that bring a story to mind and you say "oh, remember when...." There is your journaling prompt right there.
However you decide to scrapbook it should be enjoyable and relaxing not a race or a chore you have to complete.
We have enough things in our lives that fit that bill already.
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Elsabelle
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,612
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Post by Elsabelle on Sept 18, 2016 6:17:54 GMT
However you decide to scrapbook it should be enjoyable and relaxing not a race or a chore you have to complete. We have enough things in our lives that fit that bill already. I totally agree. Scrapbooking is not a chore for me. I enjoy it. Getting caught up isn't something I feel I need to do. It's something I want to do. We all have different ways of scrapping and have different goals and should do what works for us individually. |
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,479
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Sept 18, 2016 6:38:44 GMT
I want to be caught up because I feel that my journaling is more heartfelt and has more detailed information and memories. When I'm journaling years old pictures I feel like my journaling is vague. Would keeping a journal or even a word document on your computer with notes from today work for you? I often use this approach when putting together month in review albums as I always have great intentions of keeping up with them but inevitably end up putting them together well after the month has passed. I keep a word document that I add to through the month so when it comes time to put those pages together I can either copy and paste the words from my document or can re-write it but still have an "in the moment" feel to my journaling. I'm not a chronological scrapper but like grammadee I keep my layouts chronologically in their albums. While I do a month in review album for most years, interspersed with the occasional PL weekly album I don't really scrap any of the everyday stuff outside these formats. Most of my scrapping is vacations and the approach that currently works best for me is to roughly work out and print all the photos and put them into page protectors in the album. At this point I know if something will be a single or double page or include pockets. Then whenever I'm in the mood to scrap I just flip through the albums until I find something that inspires me. Eventually I have to put post it flags on the unscrapped pages to find them in the sea of completed layouts. I can see how the approach in the first video would be very appealing and it certainly doesn't look like a project that was put together in such a short space of time. If you try this I'd love to know how it worked for you. |
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Post by iheartpaper on Sept 18, 2016 7:05:23 GMT
Wow, 950nancy ! I can't imagine all that back and forth. One of the reasons why I scrap chronologically is so that if I have a longish period of time with no scrapping I know exactly where to pick up when I get back to it. Well, most of the time I do anyway. The times where I can't remember where to start editing pictures or if I have some printed pictures lying around somewhere waiting to be scrapped are the times I realize I can't scrap whichever pictures appeal to me. I'd be a mess because I can't keep track of it all. It was really not too much back and forth other than the vacation albums. But those are my favorite, so I will stop any scrapping and start a vacation album. I can knock those out in two or three months. I have already ordered next year's vacation albums and we haven't even talked about a trip. The nice thing about my style is that I already have every single picture printed. My 2001-2005 were back before I had a digital camera and I have boxes of photos in chronological order already printed and the larger prints are in bags with the year and event already in chronological order. 2005 fall to 2009 are already printed too! When I am ready to start a new year, I pull out the entire year's pictures and start putting them into piles. I toss out the bad prints (before digital) and the piles go into Avery Elle's 5 x 7 clear envelopes. Then I match the envelopes to pre made layouts and the ones that don't match, I pull out my favorite lines of papers/embellishments and then toss the envelopes into the paper line's baggies. Matching paper to pictures takes a day or two and then I have a year ready to go. I don't have a single picture on my computer that isn't ready to go onto a layout. I just got August 2016 printed this week and they are sitting on my dining room table because I am not sure I have the right paper for a new car layout. My organization skills rival those of The Container Store! I just need the motivation to get it all done. All your pictures printed? I bow down to you!!! If only I could be that organized I jump all over the place, but this summer I couldn't find my creativity, so I'm thrilled I have it back. I have a "working album". It's a hideous looking album that I drop pictures down into that I'd like to scrapbook. This is for when I want to tell a story, or just make a random page. I look in the album, find 4-6 sets that inspire me and grab kits that I think would work for those pictures. This is also where I might use my newest stuff. I've been working on these this past week. Today I did two pages from 2000. One was a Pokémon page to go with the current Pokémon layout of my 29 year old son. I also have albums in progress for many vacations, memorial albums for two of our kitties, college life albums for DD19 and ongoing Christmas albums for myself, my sister and each of our three kids. I love that I can choose any of these projects to work on at a moments notice. Grab the kit and pick up where I left off. I never think of them as needing to be caught up. Eventually they'll get done when the mood strikes. With all the December Daily talk, I'm in the mood to work on the Christmas albums. The pictures are sorted by year, so I just grab whichever one appeals to me and get started. A couple of years ago I went back and did albums from 1987-1997. It was split into four albums that made sense to me. I didn't have as many pictures as I would now, so I put our sons first and second year each in albums. I managed to fit three years living in Germany in one album. I wish there were more pictures of those years! The last album had five years in it. Three in Colorado, one in KC and our first year in Georgia. This was before our girls were born and I started scrapbooking. I LOVE those albums. They have tons of stories in them and were so fun to make. I love a good project! It's probably a crazy system, but it works for me. |
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Post by mikklynn on Sept 18, 2016 12:13:19 GMT
I do not scrap chronologically. I have some albums that are, for Instance, my kids baby albums or my family history ones following my parents wedding and first few years of marriage. But my children were born in 1987 & 1993 and I didn't start true scrapbooking until about 2005. If I tried to "get caught up" I think I would have quit long ago. I scrap the photos I am drawn to at the moment. These can range from baby pics of my kids to yesterday's dog walk photos. I don't even try to keep them chronological in albums. My albums are as random and varied as my memories and every flip of the page brings a wonderful surprise. As for journalling on the older photos maybe I can't remember exact dates or even locations but the pictures stir all kinds of emotions and memories and that's what I journal. If you think of going through a box of old photos there are always the ones that bring a story to mind and you say "oh, remember when...." There is your journaling prompt right there. However you decide to scrapbook it should be enjoyable and relaxing not a race or a chore you have to complete. We have enough things in our lives that fit that bill already. This is how I scrapbook, too. The exception is everything goes into the albums chronologically. Chinagirl828 I started keeping a journal about a year ago. When I print my photos, I sort them into letter size manila envelopes. Then I list them in the journal. I also make notes in the journal, to help me remember what I want to say. When I complete the layout, I draw a line through the journal entry. |
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Post by mich0222 on Sept 18, 2016 12:54:49 GMT
I personally just scrap through the topics I feel like doing. Right now I am working on our "things we do" albums which includes vacations. I am doing 2013. I like to do that chronological. I might take a break from that soon and work on my "home" book or "pets" or "heritage" book soon. Those are a few of the topic books I have.
I don't do project life, but I could if I wanted to based on the number and types of photos I take.
I think I might use the method shown in the video you linked with that simple stories year - but a different collection. I have a lot of photos of my mom as a teen with her friends that I want to put in a nicer book. she passed 9 years ago, but I love these photos from the 1930's and 40's. And I knew or "knew of" many of the people in the photos. I think it will be fun to do this method because I don't have a lot of stories about the photos, just one sentence here and there.
Thanks for linking that video. I had no idea there was a full book design available.
Adding - I also have all my photos printed out. I currently have about 6 months of current photos to edit and have printed by shutterfly. They give free prints so often I take advantage of the free offers. Then all of my photos are stored in photo boxes in chronological order but in separate photo boxes by subject that matches my album subjects (pets, home, me, things we do and vacations, heritage, etc.). Each date or event has a divider index card with date and what it was and sometimes notes. I have separate notes I write during vacations each day what we did and those are in with the photos and ephemera from the trip too.
My albums are all in chronological order, but I scrap in any order.
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Post by guzismom on Sept 18, 2016 14:00:55 GMT
When I was a new scrapper, I always worked on CURRENT photos first; then as time allowed went back and worked on older photos. Worked for me and I am proud to say that most of my old photos are scrapped (not sure if I'll ever go back and do the ones from college as they aren't that good) and I'm am "up to date" (meaning all my photos that are 6 months or older are scrapped). I never want to be TRULY caught up; it's nice to always have fresh photos to work on.
I do not scrap chronological anymore (I used to, way back in the day) but all my pages are stored that way.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 17:07:48 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2016 14:19:51 GMT
It was never my goal to be caught up but it happened to me a long time ago. Now that I am retired, I normally do 2-4 pages a day. Sometimes I run out of pictures but I can usually find a project with old pics until I get some more.
Why?
1. I really love pictures...and photography. Dh also loves photography and encourages my hobby.
2. Empty nest. No family in town. But they send pictures.
3. No other hobbies except reading.
4. It relaxes me.
5. 2 things that come pretty natural to me are organization and multitasking
6. Scrapbook room next to kitchen makes it easy to work for a short period of time and leave everything in progress out.
7. Dh entertains himself and is not very demanding of my time.
8. Most of my pages are very simple with multiple pics. I don't use any of the cutting machines...computers can be very frustrating for me.
(No pocket scrapping, or crops...just " chipping away" like I've always done.)
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Post by gigi333 on Sept 18, 2016 14:22:18 GMT
That's an interesting way of doing things. Do you ever have a hard time matching pictures with pre made layouts? I've never given much thought to scrapping current pictures and older pictures. Probably because I'm too rigid. I've always scrapped chronologically. But I'll have to add that to my options. You can say crazy. Years ago I bought the CTMH books and went crazy with designing pages. I probably made every single one once or twice in each book (four books, I think). I also have a friend who makes pages kits and has sent both of her kids through college by selling her kits online at a big crops. I usually help her design the kits (maybe 9 or 10 in one day); she buys all of the paper, cuts, bags, and writes the directions for each kit. My part is easy and fun and she gives me two kits for each one I help her design. So for one day's work, I can get 18-20 kits. I have done it for years and they have just added up. Now I am making myself use as many as possible. I can use most of them and have easily given 100 kits away to friends. I did 1996-2000 when I first started scrapping and then my kids started high school and I knew that I wanted their books more recent and wanted them to have a great senior book (and something to have for their party to show). So I jumped ahead and got caught up with both of my boys' books and now am going back to 2001. I also do 2 vacation albums a year and have done maybe half a dozen albums for other people through the years, so I am finally getting back to when my kids were just starting elementary school. I am very left brained, but for some reason, this works for me. In my noncreative life, this would not work for me whatsoever! Could you show me a link to where your friend sells them? Something like that might really suit my mom |
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,333
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Post by amom23 on Sept 18, 2016 16:18:57 GMT
I am absolutely a chronological scrapbooker and always will be! Currently I scrapbook mostly in the pocket style with a few traditional pages here and there. It is so much quicker for me than traditional pages. Right now scrapbooking for me is mostly about the photos and stories vs. a creative outlet. I really don't have the time or desire to scrapbook like I used to so it's gotta be quick and simple when I do.
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Post by judyc on Sept 18, 2016 17:25:00 GMT
I came up with a master plan over a year ago, which started with identifying/listing all of the memories/events/pages I wanted to scrap -- the minimal # to document everything I wanted to document - and then estimated how long it would take to do at a rate of 4 pages per week. This minimal approach was going to take me 3 years. As part of the plan, after completing these 600 pages, I could go back and scrap additional pages where I had more photos I wanted to scrap of the same stories. However, implementing the plan is not going well. I am still only completing one page a week (I work full time and have not been able to develop the habit of scrapping after work - so most of my scrapbook work gets done on Sunday with an occasional snip-it of time on Saturday). And I spend way too much time on my pages- always have. So another element of my plan was to adopt a 'done is better than perfect' or 'good enough' attitude. That hasn't gone well either. I haven't even done well with limiting events to the planned number of pages. (For example, I just scrapped 5 pages about eating at a restaurant while on vacation where I had only planned to do 5 pages for the whole vacation - it was just a long week-end beach trip - not 3 weeks in Europe.) So, I lack discipline on all fronts: sticking with the planned pages, scrapping 4 pages a week, taking a 'done is better than perfect' approach. Time to reform maybe? (Yes, I'm still chipping away scrapping like I always have.)
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Post by 950nancy on Sept 18, 2016 17:35:21 GMT
Here is her Etsy shop, She shares the business with a friend in Ft. Collins. If you want to create an album for a gift or whatever, they have probably 350 different pages. I am going to Wichita this weekend with them to a big crop. www.etsy.com/shop/CropALatteToGo |
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Post by judyc on Sept 18, 2016 18:40:52 GMT
After posting previously, I watched the videos referenced by the original poster in light of the questions she asked. I don't think any of the solutions offered in those videos address my situation. I don't have 'busy months' -- some months nothing story-worthy happens that should be photographed and documented, and I definitely have no reason to consider a 'project life' weekly approach, although using pocket pages might be a good way to organize all of my photos until I have time to scrap what I want to scrap. My photos/stories/pages are mostly vacations and random family events and gatherings, and I have several years of school days to document as well. I did like the videos and approaches, they just don't work for how I prefer t0 document my memories.
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Post by sleepingbooty on Sept 18, 2016 19:24:51 GMT
So, I lack discipline on all fronts: sticking with the planned pages, scrapping 4 pages a week, taking a 'done is better than perfect' approach. Time to reform maybe? Gosh, if scrapping is your hobby and not just a medium for memory-keeping, you should totally ditch the guilt surrounding not sticking to some masterplan.  Just go with the flow and if you ask me, you're not lacking in discipline but just a perfectionist. It's not necessarily a bad thing! This isn't a task at work with a deadline, this is your life, have fun with it and don't feel so bad because you're "failing" to follow some schedule to have it all written out and embellished on pages. As long as you're enjoying yourself while you're doing it, you should not stress over how much of it you've done already/how much is left! To Elsabelle : I like to stay caught up just with my present life. If you feel like you want 2015 scrapped and put away in an album before the pictures land into an archive box and become a thing of the past you'll scrap someday, I'd say that you should go with your gut instinct. Simplified memory-keeping is actually a great idea. But I'm a big PL girl. I like to focus on something really memorable (one story) and also enjoy lists or little paragraphs with pocket pages. If you're working monthly but feel like you still have quite a bit of extra pictures of things you want to document but it's all too much/overwhelming in quantity, you might want to consider doing one monthly spread of little things. I'm a big fan of monthly "forget-me-not" lists to just get all the journaling out on one or two cards and let the pictures on the rest of the spread speak for themselves. It's a great way to get a lot of those memorable details of life written down and illustrated in one easy go. Monthly works best for this if your memories are still fresh! If not, you may want to consider doing this every season. I add everything and anything in those monthly recap lists. Quotes, events, things we did a lot that month/short-lived habits, impressions, etc. Not everything mentioned in there is illustrated on the spread with a picture but a lot of it is. Last month's spread in my album includes the following entries on my monthly list (roughly translated): - getting off one tram stop earlier to watch the sun set over the palace L******** - too many tomatoes harvested at once in mum's veggie patch so it's tomato everything everyday - "Fresh tomatoes for you, and you, and you! Organic and all!" Me @ work/any dinner with friends - S****'s birthday party with the crazy piñata - staying up extra late to watch the Olympics - sneaking in ice cold rosé at the movie theatre in my purse - David Guetta @ Ushuaïa, twice - texting mum only emojis and letting her try figure out what it means #hilarious - "This mango ganache looks like B******'s poop when he was a newborn!" L**** while we're picking macarons Anyhoo, have fun and don't put too much pressure on yourself for being caught up but if you're like me and are afraid of losing smaller things of life, you may want to find a condensed way to keep those documented as each month/season goes by. Whether it's a list, a proper write-up with several paragraphs, just test out everything that appeals to you and you'll figure out quickly what works and what doesn't.  |
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Post by Night Owl on Sept 18, 2016 22:32:51 GMT
I am way behind working on my daughter's baby album but I love those baby pictures so much I almost don't want to ever be done with it. Also I just know after I finish her album the perfect baby line will come out that I could have used on it  ... but I guess that can happen for any subject. So I guess I have the opposite problem. |
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Post by myboysnme on Sept 18, 2016 23:03:43 GMT
It is very important to me to be caught up so to speak with current photos so I can work on older projects. I am behind the month of August and September and I need to get them done in the next month so I can get back to my California albums.
I gather everything I might want to use for the current photos and then I scrap them 8.5x11. For me that is the fastest way - less real estate to fill.
I have ordered my current prints - they are waiting to be picked up at Walmart. I have to get them printed right away. Then I know exactly what product I need to gather.
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Post by 950nancy on Sept 18, 2016 23:57:53 GMT
I have told both of my boys that they are not allowed to even consider having kids until I am caught up with their elementary school years. So far so good.
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Post by iheartpaper on Sept 19, 2016 2:27:43 GMT
I have told both of my boys that they are not allowed to even consider having kids until I am caught up with their elementary school years. So far so good. That is hilarious! Sometimes I have to remind myself that someday I'll have a reason for all my sweet baby products. At this point, DS29 doesn't want children. DD19 thinks by the time she finishes with school and starts her career she'll be too old. And DD17 says she will send me every picture of her kids so I can make them scrapbooks. I'm not in any rush to have grandkids, but when the time comes I'm sure there will be tons more pictures to keep me busy! |
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Post by refugeepea on Sept 19, 2016 20:59:06 GMT
The only thing I try to stay caught up on is my Family Album. I'm currently 2 years behind but I'm okay with that. I'm so far behind on kid albums and have never made school albums. It's the one thing I try to do more.
I cannot do pre-made pages without photos. What I do is plan pages. I print out design A and design D Becky Higgins templates on paper. So on one piece of 8.5x11 paper, there is 2 copies of the Design D template (1 for the photos on the front and 1 for the photos on the back of the sheet protector). I look at photos on my computer and figure what configuration works best.
I'm also not super picky about the dates. If there are more vertical photos from a birthday in September and from the county fair in that same month, they share the same page protector. The next page protector may have photos with the Design A that work better. So early September birthday and late September county fair pictures are in the same sheet protector and on the next page is mid September photos from an event. As long as the month is all together, that's fine.
Then I loosely write on the printed templates where the photo goes and where the journaling card goes. I was able to plan 11 pages in a couple of hours 1 day with lots of interruptions. Once I have the front and back page planned, I put that paper in a 12x12 binder with the actual page protector behind that matches. So when the photos arrive, it's super quick.
It is not as cohesive as that album in the youtube video. Some pages are labeled with the name of events. Some say March 2014 if it's random photos that aren't significant but something fun to remember. Some use core kits and some I use the PL dies and I cut out my own paper and make it more themed or embellish more.
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Post by Linda on Sept 21, 2016 15:18:06 GMT
I don't scrap chronologically but my albums (for the most part) are chronological. I am NOT caught up, I scrap 8.5x11 and traditional but simple/linear pages.
My digital photos are organised as are the older ones I have scanned (not done scanning). I have the My Picture library and then a folder for each year. I temporarily re-label the current year 1_2016 so it sorts first. Within those year folders, I have folders labeled with year_month_day event/short description (for example 2016_08_15 Back to School). As I scan older photos if I don't have the day, I do usually have the year and month so they might be labelled 1979_09 Back to School). When I download my camera or get photos from DH or DS or DD - they go into the folders and are labeled.
Then I have an excell spreadsheet - I have a master page and then a page/year. Columns for date, description, upload/scanned (Y/N), ordered (Y/N), printed (Y/N), scrapped (Y/N) notes (if they aren't going in the family album or need to also go in another album, I'll note that), scanned (Y/N - that is if I've scanned the layout) and journalling (sometimes I'll make a short note there, sometimes I'll just note that I've typed journalling that's in my journalling folder on the computer as a reminder to look for it. If I'm not planning to scrap the photos, I usually just delete them but occasionally they are ones I want to keep but not scrap and I'll note that on the spreadsheet. I highlight based on printed, scrapped, and scanned layouts - so I can see at a glance what needs to be done.
As I print photos, I slip them by potential layout into page protectors in my albums (3-ring binders). So as you flip through the layouts, there are page protectors of loose photos waiting their turn.
I'm trying to scan my albums - this is a new-ish project so I need to go back and scan older albums that are finished. But as I complete a month of layouts (be it one or many), I scan those layouts - they are labelled year_month_chronological number so the first page for August 2015 is 2015_08_001 and the 13th page for that month would be 2015_08_13 - and they go into a Library called Scrapbook Albums into folders labeled by year (1998 album) (non-chronological albums have their own folder - ie Boy Scouts or Soccer...which are techinically chronological but cover multiple years). Trip or Special Event albums are labelled 2010_11 Seaworld and the individual pages are Seaworld_001, Seaworld_002 and so on
As for 'catching up' - I will probably NEVER be caught up but...the fun is in the journey...I try to alternate between current photos (2016 is complete through July, I think, it might be June) and older photos and I try and finish a full month in whichever album I'm currently tackling.
Right now on my desk...I have the 2016 album, the 2011 album, and our Chicago Road Trip album from January in progress.
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msliz
Drama Llama
The Procrastinator
Posts: 6,419
Jun 26, 2014 21:32:34 GMT
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Post by msliz on Sept 21, 2016 17:03:34 GMT
I'm just chipping away at them. I had a 5 year break from scrapbooking during which we moved twice. Things are unpacked, though still very disorganized, but I started scrapping again anyway. I'll sort through the mess over time as I get to it. I started again with 2016 and I'm moving backwards year by year. I just printed off most of 2013 and 2014, but I want to finish those years completely before I even look at 2012. I'm finding that my digital files aren't so nice and neat either, so some of the photos (like kids' random selfies) might end up in the wrong spot, but I don't have the time or inclination to get that fussy about it. I just want to get them in the books. I do want to get caught up because I want my kids to be able to enjoy looking at the photos and remembering the stories. It's great to hear them say "remember when..." Elsabelle, I guess the method I follow is sort of like your "entire year in pictures," but I do multi photo pages that are very light on the embellishments, so my finished product looks very different. And though I try to choose suitable papers for the photos, I make zero effort to coordinate the look of the entire album. Page 3 looks nothing like page 7. Usually I scrap randomly but file them chronologically, but this time around I'm trying very hard to complete my albums instead of leaving gaps I'll need to fill later. Whatever "method" you use, the only important thing to do is to enjoy yourself. We're playing with scissors and glue. There's no wrong way to do this! |
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I've always scrapped chronologically. But I'll have to add that to my options. 
Just go with the flow and if you ask me, you're not lacking in discipline but just a perfectionist. It's not necessarily a bad thing! This isn't a task at work with a deadline, this is your life, have fun with it and don't feel so bad because you're "failing" to follow some schedule to have it all written out and embellished on pages. As long as you're enjoying yourself while you're doing it, you should not stress over how much of it you've done already/how much is left! 
