Happy Wednesday everyone. I am glad to hear that some ideas are brewing for you from the last two days posts. Now here's a tip "write them down right away!" If I didn't keep a running list of the pages I wanted to do, I'd never get any scrapping done! When I have some time to scrap it's easy to decide where to start since I have my ideas noted.
Now here comes my favourite part. Telling those everyday stories about Kieran. As a new mother it was a wonder for me to see this little human develop. And not just physically. His little personality was showing itself in the early stages, giving me lots of thing to note and later scrapbook about like
- the fact that he really hated tummy time
- the day I realised how much like a little boy he was looking already
- the story about his pacifier that was really big for his tiny face
- how amusing it was to see him "reading"
- the fact that he loves to chew on his shoes
I also wanted to document specific items and events like
- the nursery he came home to
- all the tools we used to help ease the pain of teething
- his first vacation
And then there are the pages I did just because.
Just because he looks so adorable in the wrap (note - I took these photos by holding my arm out and snapping in his general direction).
Just because my friend sent him this (way too big for now) t-shirt (and at the time he was a willing subject)
and just because he looked way too handsome in his turtleneck
And don't forget to get some photos of your family!
Still on my (super long) list to create are stories about
Our daily routines
How the word "Ploof!" makes him laugh
Our experiences with Baby-led Weaning
Mummy and Me
Papa et Moi
Bilingual Baby (I already have a blog post about this so I am a step ahead!)
Teaching him to clap his hands
A minibook about his toys
How whether he looks like me or his dad changes depending on the day
And that's just the tip of the iceberg!
All these layouts (including the ones I posted yesterday) will be kept in an American Crafts Modern 3-ring album. And not necessarily in chronological order.
So here are some more tips for you
1. Make the most of those first six or so months when baby isn't moving around yet and take as many photos as possible! I have a pretty tough time getting non blurry shots of Kieran these days. And keep the camera close, you never know when you will get that perfect shot!
2. This one is worth repeating: Keep a running list of the stories you want to tell.
3. If you blog, use your blog as a way to get the stories told. That way when you're ready to scrap you can just find the particular post and have instant journaling. This also works if you keep written journals.
4. All the paper layouts above, plus most of the ones I posted yesterday were created using monthly kits. (The others were created using items already in my stash). Most of my digital pages are created using layered page templates, which make it nice and quick.
Monthly kits have been a life saver for me. I only subscribe to one, but have quite a nice pile up since I didn't scrap much in the last months of my pregnancy, or for the first few months after Kieran was born.
My new method for scrapping involves a sort of "batch processing" using blocks of time. First I decide what photos I need, and print out a nice stack. The next block of time I have I take the photos and go through my kits to choose which ones I'll use. I don't spend a lot of time second guessing myself here, if one sheet of paper in a kit looks like it will coordinate with the photos, I call it done, and move on to the next set. Finally when I want to scrap, I can grab a kit plus photos and get to work.
If you don't get a kit, perhaps you can first create "kits" from your stash, or just use the same method going through your supplies, but trying not to get stuck in scrapbooker indecisionitis!
Ok, here is one more for the road
I'll be back on Friday to talk about scrapping you during baby's first year. But come back tomorrow because it's giveaway day with a baby theme!
