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Ok, I can't imagine this topic hasn't already been addressed on SCS, but as I haven't as of yet been able to find any threads on it I thought I'd put this out there:
Here's my dilemma: I've done a SMALL amount of scrapbooking (both 8 1/2 x 11 & 12x12) but now I'm poised to REALLY get into it (I just got a new photo printer!) so I need to decide which to do.
I'm still undecided because, although I love that you can fit more photos on the 12x12 (or a couple photos and also embellishments and journaling) I also know that lots of people just use regular 8 1/2 x 11 binders to hold their pages and it saves them money.
I want to starting making pages of special events for my kids (I have 2 boys) and I also want to scrap other events, special or just everyday life. Do I do individual books for kids and "Family"? Do I just do it all together in 1 big book? If I do individual books, do I put birthdays, etc for kids in BOTH their book AND the family book (I want a record of it to in case the kids books end up going with them once their older.)
Decisions, decision, decisions...I just can't seem to make one!
Thoughts? Impressions? Opinions? All would be appreciated!
I've done some of each size and now that I'm poised to REALLY get into scrapbooking (I have a new photo printer!) I really want to make a decision which way I'll go.
I vote for just doing one family album. I started doing a book for one niece, now there are 3 nieces and one nephew - it's just overwhelming. I do use 8.5x11 and also 8x8. 8.5x11 paper is easier to store than 12x12, but albums can be difficault to find.
__________________ Melanie in NC -
Stamp, scrap, read, knit - all on my blog www.mholles.blogspot.com
January pages scrapped 1/10
Each child gets books of their own starting with their baby books. The birthday parties, school events, etc., all go in their books. Plus the baby book gets a 1st Christmas page.
Then I have Holiday books. The Holiday books are, naturally, all holidays including St. Patrick's Day, Memorial Day, Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.
Everything else goes in what I call "Family Fun" books. This includes trips to the zoo, playing in the sprinkler, just about anything that doesn't fit in the other books.
I did baby albums until the age of 2 for my kids. After that all my albums have been chronological family albums with a special trip album thrown in once or twice.
I have one album for each of my children, and I'm so glad I did it. My three kids (ages6,5 and3) just love to look through hier own book. They have me read them the things I wrote about them over and over. It makes them feel so loves and special to have a book devoted to them. If there is an event like a birthday, I take lots of pictures anyway and then make a layout for their book and all other pages I make of the event go into my family books. I also (and I know this is just awful!) have told my kids that the books belong to me and someday when they are off to college, they can color copy all the pages they want to, but I NEED my scrapbooks of my kids.
You don't necessarily have to commit to one type/size. I am kinda all over the place depending on the subject....
My Albums:
dd's baby book (covers pg pics, showers through 1st b-day) 12X12
dd's second yr book (milestones, and fun times) 12X12
family book (family outings, vacations etc) 12X12
Christmas Book 6X6
our first family vacation 6X6
I like switching btw 12X12 and 6X6 b/c I can mainly buy 12X12 paper... of course, now that I have started making cards I also buy 8.5X11 paper so, ultimiately it depends on how addicted you get.
HTH
Ok, I can't imagine this topic hasn't already been addressed on SCS, but as I haven't as of yet been able to find any threads on it I thought I'd put this out there:
If you go to the General Scrappin' Talk forum this topic has come up in a couple of threads there. I hope you find the answers you need!
I like 12x12 because I always have more pictures than I can even fit on a 12X12.
I have 3 kids, and they each have a baby book, but I only have one family scrapbook (I can't keep up with the one book, never mind 4). When they get older and I have more time I will make each of them their own book.
Don't worry right now about how to organize your books - just start doing pages, the more pages you have done the better understanding you will have of how you would like to organize them.
Thanks for the question. Because I have the same dilema? I am just now getting into scrapbooking and I don't really know where to start. I did a 6x6 album for our disney trip and now I am ADDICTED...it's like making cards but with pictures of my loved ones. It is great! I love stampin' with my scrapbook too! LOVE IT LOVE IT!
Thanks for all of the info! You guys are great!
Many, Many Thanks to everyone who responded! I don't know if it's because I'm home with my kids for what seems like ALL THE TIME that I just need a good sounding board from time to time when my thoughts are muddled and I can't seem to make a decision - funny, since I guess as a SAHM I'm usually making decisions regarding home stuff - but I just need some good advice from time to time!
I'm just going to take the plunge and get started scrapping and try to focus on having fun! And I appreciate as well that I can always change my mind later and switch to another size if needed - that helps!
I have six kids with one on the way. I have a book for each child.
I also have a family book that has holiday's, vacations, etc. It has stuff w/ our extended families as well.
My little boys love their books, even my big kids like to look at theirs.
I keep them seperate, because I want them to be able to take the books with them someday, when they marry and move on.
I also scan all of my albums... It's a pain, but then I have them forever if anything ever happened to he originals. I keep them burned to CD's and stored away from the house.
my girls each have their own school books but other than that we just have one book each year with all our family pics. If my girls ever wanted one all I would ahve to do is really just copy it. I would say go with 12x12 for your family books! Tons of room for pics and journaling. I use CM albums and pages and if you cut off the egde with the holders into the album and then sticky strip to the outside of the page and fold it over you can have the page "open" up even bigger!! Not sure if that made sense but it was something my CM consultant showed me and I love it. I will see if I can post a pic. Not too good with that stuff though!!
__________________ Today is Yesterday Tomorrow..so I guess I should just do it now??? :rolleyes:
I had a bunch of photos hanging around so instead of doing a scrapbook on just one theme, I started with the summer and went all the way until Christmas. I've started a new scrapbook that begins with January. I do theme books for gifts, but other than that, I just go in order so I have a whole years worth of memories in one place!
I do albums of all sizes though predominantly 12x12. I believe Michael's and JoAnn's both carry 8.5x11 paper, but I rarely, if ever, see it in our local scrapbook stores. I know that some people who do 8.5x11 have come into our local store looking for that size paper and didn't want to purchase the 12x12 to cut down. I'm assuming it's because there's a price difference on the paper sizes. So I'm guessing that over time cost of using 12x12 paper (if you don't have a source for 8.5x11) could negate any savings on your album.
I do my scrapbooking with no chronology to events or time. I just put my completed pages into my album in the order that I complete them. For right now I enjoy looking through my albums and seeing them jump back and forth between the kids at all different ages. I did pull all my son's sports pages out and start an album exclusively for sports.
Also, when I originally started scrapbooking I started out on 8.5x11. Within a short time (after doing about 10 layouts), I began converting those pages to 12x12. I just loved having more space.
__________________ Please Don't Squeeze The Lightbulb.
Both of my daughters have their own chronological albums (pregnancy photos thru school pics), we have a family album of vacations and a family album of stuff like Christmas, 4th of July etc.
For Christmas one year, I made 6x6 albums titled "The Many Faces of (insert name here)". These were a big hit and were not chronological. Just pages made around my favorite pics of the girls. They each got one.
We lost a family pet recently. So we are going to make a 6x6 album remembering her.
__________________ Aubrey
There are 3 types of people in the world. Those that can count and those that can't.
Ok, I can't imagine this topic hasn't already been addressed on SCS, but as I haven't as of yet been able to find any threads on it I thought I'd put this out there:
Here's my dilemma: I've done a SMALL amount of scrapbooking (both 8 1/2 x 11 & 12x12) but now I'm poised to REALLY get into it (I just got a new photo printer!) so I need to decide which to do.
I'm still undecided because, although I love that you can fit more photos on the 12x12 (or a couple photos and also embellishments and journaling) I also know that lots of people just use regular 8 1/2 x 11 binders to hold their pages and it saves them money.
I want to starting making pages of special events for my kids (I have 2 boys) and I also want to scrap other events, special or just everyday life. Do I do individual books for kids and "Family"? Do I just do it all together in 1 big book? If I do individual books, do I put birthdays, etc for kids in BOTH their book AND the family book (I want a record of it to in case the kids books end up going with them once their older.)
Decisions, decision, decisions...I just can't seem to make one!
Thoughts? Impressions? Opinions? All would be appreciated!
I've done some of each size and now that I'm poised to REALLY get into scrapbooking (I have a new photo printer!) I really want to make a decision which way I'll go.
Because I am so behind I am seriously considering doing away with my family albums in the future; the last one I have done is up to 2002 and then stops.
I started a few theme albums and think I might go that route instead, was just trying to organize my thoughts about this the other day;
One 12x12 Christmas album with 6 pages per year (three 2-page layouts per year, usually Christmas Day, Christmas Eve and the week after Xmas when I go to my Dads).
One 6x6 Halloween album with one 2-pg layout per year (one page per child)
One 12x12 school album, one per child, keep to 3 layouts per year, first layout first and last day of school with questions and then the other 2 layouts of activities and such during the year)
One Celebrations album to put stuff like weddings and graduations in as they come up, 12x12
One 9x9 all about me album for each child
One 9x9 scouts album for my DD
One 9x9 birthday album for each child
I think that is enough for now -- I might break into putting other holidays in separate 9x9 albums as well to make it easier, one for Easter, one for Fourth of July/Summer/Memorial Day/Labor day weekend activiites.
I am not scrapping everything in everybody's life since I take way too many photos for that, but trying to do the "simple scrapbooks" type of approach. Hope this helps you --
I'm a huge lover of playing with paper, but this area (dividing up between the kids) is a plus for learning how to digital scrapbook. I've got a friend who has gone digi and she does her layouts, and then has them printed at sams club on 81/2 x11 sheets- one for each child. Happy scrapping!
I am a wierd scrapper I do 8.5 x 11 for the most part except for our family vacation album (which hardly has anything done on it) and my mom's and MIL's calendars. Those items are 12 x 12.
I am now switching to 11 x 8.5 (landscape from portrait). Since most of my photos are in the landscape mode this makes sense to me. I just like the size and the convenience of having only one set of SU! cardstock. IMO, 12x12 is too easily cluttered and the focus is lost.
I do not really care how many photos can fit on a page since I do not scrap chronologically nor do I even do every event. I scrap because I am inspired by the photos of my children--not so much as a historian. Go ahead and flame me, but if I took ANY other approach NO pages would get done. (I would NEVER cut it in the CM world). Each child has a book and the family has the vacation one.
I do not really care how many photos can fit on a page since I do not scrap chronologically nor do I even do every event. I scrap because I am inspired by the photos of my children--not so much as a historian.
This is how I scrap too. I go thru my pics and look for inspiration there. I have a lot of gaps in time and missing events. Maybe I'll get to everything eventually!
__________________ Please Don't Squeeze The Lightbulb.
Calling All Scrapbookers!
A HUGE THANK YOU!
