I finished my 2016 Project Life album over summer and I’m so excited to finally share it! I created a quick flip-through video of the whole thing which you can watch HERE.
I am also sharing five practical tips I’ve learned over the past few years which have made scrapbooking easier and more fun for me. Whether you’ve been memory keeping for years or you’ve just begun, I hope you find a thing or two in this list that will be useful to you too!
1. Narrow It Down
While I would love to document every single day and week of my family’s life, I don’t have the luxury of scrapbooking all the time. But I do want to keep some memories alive for my kids. So I’ve decided not to scrapbook weeklies or monthlies but only special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, trips and major milestones.
This is very manageable for me. Even if I only get to sit and scrapbook once every quarter, I am not overwhelmed. In this way, scrapbooking doesn’t become a chore but an activity I always look forward to.
2. Thumbnail It
Before printing photos, I learned it’s best to thumbnail my album layouts. I sketch out page protector configurations first and based on that, select my photos. This way, I only print the photos I need and don’t get overwhelmed with content.
3. Make the Most of Memorabilia
Postcards, flyers, tickets, posters, party invitations and calling cards can be very useful and interesting PL embellishment. These things help tell my story so it’s best to keep them. But when I realize I don’t have any use for them, I throw them out to avoid accumulating junk.
4. Mix and Match
I almost always go bright and bold. Even when I create a minimalist layout, which is rare, there will always be a pop of color. But regardless of the color scheme I choose, I do enjoy mixing patterns. Stripes and dots, florals and geometrics, big lettering and tiny pattern — there are so many possibilities!
I also rarely buy journaling cards because I discover, I can either make them by cropping patterns and photos I like from magazines and calendars (just like that floral card on the left page shown above) or use postcards I receive from the mail. I also use stamps to create my own patterned journaling cards.
5. List The Moments Down
I’m not much of a writer. A lot of times, instead of writing down detailed essays about what I’m documenting, I simply make lists of highlights.
It can be a blow by blow of what took place at an event or a list of things I ate, saw and felt. When I want to include a lot of photos to a layout (which is often!), lists help explain things without using too many words.
To end, here is the flip through video of my 2016 scrapbook. Enjoy! 🙂
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