Making Memories. Choosing Joy.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Completed Christmas Pages!!

Today I'm sharing what I've starting doing for my Christmas album. In November I finally accepted the fact that I had done nothing in preserving Christmas memories for NINE years. And so I started the prep work for a long weekend I had coming up. I sent NINE years of Christmas memories to be printed. I didn't do a lot of editing on them. If they were noticably bad, I would edit them quickly, but for the most part I just sent as is. And while there are a few that I needed to redo, I'm happy that I got them done!

I pulled all of the Christmas supplies I had been collecting over the years (what? I always had plans to document Christmas!), purchased my Becky Higgin's Photo Pocket Pages and dividers, the album, and got to work. And while I didn't get nearly as much done that weekend as I'd hoped, I am three years closer to my goal of being caught up!

Enter Christmas 2002

I stamped with red ink the year on the page divider (currently out of stock). I also enlarged my favorite photo from the year, used a circle template to cut, and then stitched the page protector to fit.

On the back I used Christmas paper (sorry...it's old...I'll have to try to look up what company it is) and our Christmas card.

During my prep work I also printed on the blank journaling cards (currently out of stock) all kinds of word art, mostly from Ali Edwards. I love the look this added to the album.

I used this page protector (Design B), and just cut off the part I didn't need.

I also used a lot of Christmas paper inside the Photo Pocket Pages.

Here is another page protector I cut and just used what I needed. I believe this may have been one of the original Project Life protectors...yep, using up supplies from projects that were never completed!

And the other side:

The next page is another Page Protector cut in half. In case you couldn't tell, I really like the different layers of Page Protectors ;o)

Here's a 5x7 insert:

And the other side:

And the last page:

I believe one of the reasons I love using these Page Protectors so much is because, as Leah commented in this post, staring at 12x12 empty white pages just got to be too overwhelming for me. I felt like each page had to be unique, its own work of art. Now I'm happy that my PHOTOS are my work of art on each page ;o)

That was the first year I did using the protectors like this. I will assure you that I am almost done with 2011 and I may not have any inserts at all...but I will have at least 6 pages of photos with journaling that was completed while I still remembered what I wanted to!

 

If you missed my solution to my boys School of Life Albums, you can find it here!

Project Life + School Kit = Solution! (Updated at the bottom)

Becky Higgins' blog post today really hit home with me and gave me the incentive I needed to finally get this post written. I'm excited about it because I finally found something that worked for ME and I hope it gives someone else out there the inspiration they are looking for!

Confession: I haven't done much scrapbooking or preserving family memories in recent years...I just couldn't decide on a "system" that I wanted to use and so I did nothing, or very little. UNTIL Project Life entered my world last year. What started out as a "I like the idea of this, lets see if I will actually complete it" (yes, I did!) began all kinds of ideas on how I could use these products in other ways. Namely, how could I incorporate this into albums for my boys?

Years ago I purchased Becky's School Kits and Add-Ons (yea me!) but never did more than get their school photo on the page (boo me!). I could never decide exactly how I wanted the albums set up. I knew I liked Stacy Julian's "School of Life" idea. I liked Cathy Zielske's school templates (but then my school kits would go to waste). My mind kept churning.

Enter Project Life + School Kits + School of Life idea = My solution.

The beginning of the school year starts with the awesome page divider (cannot wait until these are back in stock!) and school photo (paper from Becky's original school kit, no longer available).

The next page I save until the end of the school year and put my favorite school paper in from the year. This particular one just slides in/out so the whole story can be read:

(Private information has been blurred out). I added his name tag because after his name, he wrote "rocks!" I loved having this!

Next is a 6x12 of the first day of school:

And the last day of school on the other side:

His class picture comes next:

And on the other side another favorite school paper:

From here I started adding in photos from the particular school year where they fit best - in no particular order (although anyone that knows me, knows that I had to try to put them somewhat in order of date!). This first page, top left always contains the school year information (elements are again from the school kit). And I also kept this the same throughout the album...I decided I didn't need to come up with something new for each year and I like the uniformity it creates:

I like this format because it allows me to use photos I wouldn't have necessarily made a scrapbook layout aboout; friends, school trips, school projects, important things from his year, etc. 

I also keep their grade cards in this section and add in either more favorite papers or photos from school. Page protector is We R Memory Keepers.

(His Presidential report was on Grover Cleveland...so happy I had taken a picture of him with his artwork!)

Another insert (this year seems to have quite a bit of inserts...there are some years that don't have quite so many):

A 12x12 page protector, cut and stitched to size:

After the school-themed photos and papers, I add in their sports photos from the school year. Right now I am making photo books for their sports which contains many more photos. This is just team photos/professional photos and an enlarged favorite photo from the season.

A favorite "itinerary" that was written from a day-trip:

I don't normally include sports schedules, but I liked how he kept track of the scores and the game where he had a "game winning hit!"

I also wouldn't normally put in a coloring page, but it shows how he and his brother loved to watch the Dukes of Hazzard. (Geez...maybe I did go overboard on inserts for this year!)

Next is where I've incorporated Stacy Julian's "School of Life" concept. I've taken a favorite photo from the month (those are Ali Edward's overlays which can be purchased here) and then journaled about the picture.

I love adding these pages because 1) It is so easy to stay current. Before I felt the need to wait until the entire school year was over to see what all I wanted to use (which is why it never got done) and 2) With the favorite photo each month + journaling I feel that if nothing more gets documented, they have a terrific overview of their lives. And also, I've finally accepted the fact that they are boys and more than likely won't ever care about embellishments and fancy pages! ;o)

Our grades are broken down by K-4 Elementary, 5-8 Middle School, and 9-12 High School. I have a 6th grader and 4th grader and so far I think the albums will be broken out by Elementary, Middle School and High School. I also keep other papers that I just couldn't toss in the envelopes that came with the kit. For the time being, those are stored in separate albums because of the bulk. I am using the We R Memory Keepers albums.

Whew! That was long! Let me know if you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them!

Oh...and I'm also using Project Life protectors to get caught up on nine years of Christmas pictures that I was too overwhelmed to do anything with!

 

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P.S. Think you are too far behind? It goes quick! I put these albums together (for both of my boys!) in the fall.

P.P.S. I'm really hoping that the new school products Becky will be releasing aren't so cool that I'll want to re-do anything! ;o)

Edited for comments/questions I've received on Facebook. Also, I think I've replied to everyone who left comments on the blog. Please let me know if you have further questions!

• I love all of the Mom's that gave me "boy love!" Many of you understood me when I said that I've finally accepted the fact that they likely won't be interested in a page full of embellishments. Glad to know I'm not alone!
• I am so happy that I've been able to inspire so many people. I had no idea that so many would love this system. If you do something similar, I'd love to see it!
• If you are trying to decide if this is for you, let me gently nudge you to "go for it!" Once you start working on it, you will find a flow that works for you. Tweak it to meet YOUR needs!
• All of the journaling cards that I used for the monthly photos were from the original Project Life kit when it came out the first time. Confession: That was an epic fail for me, not even completing two months. But look...I'm using the product NOW and that's all that matters! I thought you could still get them but I don't see them listed on Amazon. I also stocked up on the blank journaling cards and have used them some...but I always feel the need to add some kind of color to them when I do...either a school embellishment from the kit or some patterned paper. Honestly, I haven't even made a dent in the school kit supplies...I ordered two add-on kits! I'm using the Cobalt Kit for 2012 and I think they would look terrific with the School Kit. In fact, I may have to order another kit just for those cards...I have quite a few years left to fill someday! For those of you with the school kit, quite a bit of my journaling cards during the school section was actually patterned paper (or the notebook paper) cut to fit from the school kit.
• I failed to mention in my original post how much my boys LOVE these books. They look at them so much more than the other albums I've created.

I will work on a post for next week with another year highlighted, as well as some tips to make it easier for you.