my albums

Yesterday, my friend Brenda blogged about her new album shelves...gorgeous! And she asked to see how the rest of us do it, so here's my album (dis)organization:

Once upon a time I scrapped exclusively 8 1/2 x 11. Those pages are all in lovely binder albums under our TV cabinet. Not much to look at right now & I need to re-do those.

Then, in the late summer of 2003, I decided that I really liked the 12x12 format much better. And manufacturers were finally making mostly 12x12 sheets of paper (prior to then, most were 8 1/2 x 11). So I went and bought a navy blue post bound album from Making Memories. It bit the dust a few years ago. Once I filled that up, Chatterbox came out with the pretty faux-suede albums seen below (in red, sage, & lavendar). I thought (and still do) that they were so pretty! And they've got a nice 4x4 window on the front to label them. However, no label on the spine. And they no longer make them.

The albums above are 2003-04, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Sometime in 2008-ish I picked up the We R Memory Keepers post-bound album in nutmeg. But shortly after I got it, I realized that I needed to switch back to the binder-style. It's just so much easier for me since I don't necessarily scrap chronologically, but I want my albums chronological. With a binder style I can easily swap pages in & out (like when I decided that I was going to do my Christmas layouts all in an album of their own).

When I first made the switch to binders, I still wanted the classic brown nutmeg look for all my albums. Then I saw this on Becky Higgins' blog & decided I really wanted red albums for our family. So I started buying the red ones (which I *love*). So far I've bought three in red. The kiwi green album seen above in my Week in the Life album (which I'll get back to someday to show you how I've finished it!). The large black album in my Project LIFE album, and next to it is my new black family album. Yep, I've changed colors again!

So here's my new thinking: black for family, red for Christmas, and fun random colors for fun random albums. Slowly I'll be replacing my albums, which has been the plan for awhile. I don't like how they look all mish-mosh. And as much as I love the colored albums (We R Memory Keepers is coming out with aqua! finally!), I want to know that I can buy a matching album 10, 20, 30 years from now. It may not be "exactly" the same, but at least it'll be the same color. Plus, I can buy the black albums locally, with a coupon, so they're only about $20 with tax.

Here are some other albums. Starting on the far left: Christmas 2000-04 (a dark plaid KI memories), Alpha Phi, portaits from my childhood, the baby book my mom re-did for me, Brandon's baby album (the one I haven't cut the spine for so the protectors show!), Abbie's baby book, and our current Christmas album. I haven't quite figured out what colors I'm changing the kids too. I really like some of the new WRMK album colors! But we'll see...

As for the labels on the spines, I did my version of a label I saw on Ali Edwards' blog.

I used the font Century Gothic for the "c" (our family's monogram) and the years, and the CK Ali's Handwriting font for the script. I did these for each album so at least the spines match! Some albums don't have them in yet because I've been having a very difficult time getting the blank label out!

So that's my album "disorganization". Someday, when it's all nice & coordinated, I'll share again :)

Lego Master Builder

A few months back, the Lego Store at Arden Fair Mall hosted a Lego "Master Builder" event. Kids could come & build large blocks that would then be used to build a HUGE Yoda from Star Wars. Brandon is our Lego king, but he wasn't too into it. Olivia, on the other hand, build a ton of blocks.

I finally got around to scrapping it the other night, at my last Green Tangerines Scrappy Hour :( . Our last local scrapbook store is going out of business (they lost their lease). A few of us would gather & crop monthly, so it's sad to see it go. They will continue their kit club, so that eases the pain a bit.

Anyhow...I digress...I based this layout on a sketch I made of one in the Creating Keepsakes 4x6 Photos book.  I used more goodies from my September kit club.

And then, instead of scanning it, stitching it in PSE, and getting that horrid stitching line, I photographed it. I must've had the flash on for this one because there's a glare on the bottom. and the vertical sides are all wonky, like I didn't have the camera straight. So I definitely need to perfect this technique! Any hints?

First Day of "Four" School

It's such a great feeling to get a bunch of layouts done, isn't it? I have a list on my computer of "pages to do". And of course I have a HUGE stash of goodies waiting to be used.

I knew I wanted to use a bunch of goodies from my August kit for this layout, and I found this cute layout sketch at PageMaps. I love that site! As many of you know, I'm an avid Becky Higgins fan. But I'm also an avid Becky Fleck fan. I mostly use her sketches for my one page layouts. But I really like how she sketches in embellishments too.

What I like to do is open up a copy of the sketch in Photoshop Elements. I resize it to a 12x12 and add some photo layers. Then I can play around with the photos until I get them to the size I want. I enlarged the photos for this layout.

Brandon has always called his prekindergarten class "four" school. I think it's because his sister is three and in preschool. And he insists that we're saying "three" school.

baby notes

In my previous post I talked about my baby albums for the kids. And the fact that I'm just now finishing up Abbie's March layout at the end of November.

How do I remember all those details?

I have kept a separate calendar for each child too; this is where I write everything as it happens, so that I can scrap it later. This way too, I can keep the journaling simple & chronicle what happened when.

It started with one of those gifts in the mail from Nestle Good Start Formula right before Brandon was born. It was a spiral bound blank calendar. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, since I had a baby book & an album started already.

And then I realized I could use it as a journal of everything that happened! And use it later to journal!

Brandon's was filled to the brim (hello, he's the first child). When I found out I was pregnant with Olivia, I made sure to sign up on the Good Start website for the free goodies again & got another.

Two years later, I signed up for the free stuff while pregnant with Abbie. Month after month went by & it was July, two weeks before her birth & I hadn't gotten a thing. I contacted Nestle only to find out that product had been discontinued, but that I was going to be getting lots of formula coupons! Not exactly the same, especially since I would be nursing.

So instead of pouting, I made my own calendar. I still need to get it bound & make a cover, but I'm happy just the same.