Thursday, March 25, 2010

January 2009 Scrapbook Pages

I debated on whether or not to share the scrapbook pages I've been working on for my kids. The thing that scares me about it is not having any control over the pictures once they've been posted. I remember being sick a few summers ago when I read some mean comments left on someone's blog regarding her kids. Really cruel comments attacking the way one of her daughter's looked. That scared me. I decided then and there that I would never post my kids' pictures because I didn't want something like that happening to me.

With that said, I decided to go ahead and share these pages. I'm more of a visual person, so trying to explain what I'm doing without showing examples would be a mess!! Plus, I trust that we're friends....so no mean comments will be made about my kids. If you don't like my pages, that's a different story!

I am YEARS behind on my kids' scrapbooks. It has been a bit overwhelming for me, so I just didn't do anything about it. Until now. I've come up with a plan that will help me get 'caught up' without being overwhelming and that won't take forever to do! This may not be new to some of you, but it's not the way I've scrapbooked in the past....so it's new to me!

Instead of scrapbooking by event, I am scrapbooking by MONTH. For each month, I do a 2-page spread. Some months have lots of pictures, and some months don't have very many. And another new concept I'm adopting is this: You don't have to scrapbook EVERY single picture you take!! I just pick the best pictures for each month, trying to cover all the events of that month. Am I making any sense?! Here are my kids' January 2009 scrapbook pages to give you an example of what I'm talking about:

I only had 4 pictures for "January" for my 2nd daughter, so her 2-page spread is for January and February.

Another thing that is helping me is keeping the pages simple!! With 5 kids to scrapbook for, I don't have time to spend on all the frilly details! True, they do add a lot to the pages, but I'm more of a simple girl!


I was able to get January-August 2009 pages done for all 5 of my kids in 5 days. Not bad!! The best part is that I'm excited to scrapbook again!! It doesn't seem like an overwhelming, never-ending project anymore.

How about you? How do you keep 'caught up' with your scrapbooks?


9 comments:

seven thirty three said...

First off - how can people be so cruel to say something negative about someones kids? Just so wrong.

Second - your kids are gorgeous! Nothing to worry about! ;)

Third - love your pages. I too scrap by month for my kids, but I do one page spreads using my fav picks of the month.

Thanks for sharing!

Julie said...

Misty,

How someone could post anything mean about someones kids is just like you said cruel. Unfortunatly there are some of those bad seeds out there that can manage to ruin some of what makes blogging so enjoyable for those of us (I mean ME) that are photo crazy during blogging.

Like Kim said though, your kids are adorable for starters and you did excellent scrapbook pages to boot! Great job! I wish I could get back into scrapbooking, I guess I kinda lost that bug when I started sewing. Although working for a SB company kinda ruined it for me too.

Anyways, great job! I look forward to seeing more in the future!

-Julie

Tami said...

I found your blog a couple months ago when my sisters and I were trying to think of a fun craft to do together. My sister suggested we do one similar to something on your blog and I have been hooked ever since.

Your kids are adorable, and I love the layout that you have come up with for their scrapbooks! Ingenious! I love it!
I don't have kids yet but when I do, I think I may try that.

Thanks for the crafting inspiration!

Doty Family said...

Misty, your so good to do it by hand. I used to do it that way, but I've given up and become a cheater! I use smilebox and picknic to do pages. I am just overwhelmed with what I still have to do from the past. Atleast now I am staying cuaght up with the current. Anyway, it was good to see you last week! Let's get together next time you come to town!

Kaysi said...

They look great! I can't believe how much you got done, that's awesome! I think I'm going to put a ban on crafting other things and make myself scrapbook! You're an inspiration!

Administrator said...

Your pages look great. I think I am inspired to get busy and caught up. :)

Lana said...

What a great idea to scrapbook favorite pics/memories from each month. If I start now for 2010 I won't be too far behind. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

I am definitely far behind with my scrapbooking too. I like your idea of doing month by month. That sure simplifies things a bit. And i am impressed on how much you got done in such a short time period!

Crafty Mommy Diva said...

These are fabulous! Love that you included the month and year. Amazing that you did these for all your kids in 5 days! Even though these are older, I'd love if you linked up to Scrappy Saturdays: http://myscrappygifts.blogspot.com/2010/04/10th-scrappy-saturdays.html