Tricia's Book of Scraps

Scrapbooking. When my son was in junior high he had to do a scrapbook project about his life and he titled it "Brandon's Book of Scraps". I love that title. :)

When I was a kid I used to make scrapbooks. Not the kind that most people make now, but the kind where I'd take an album and just glue stuff in. Ticket stubs, photos, notes, funny drawings, and pressed flowers from cute boys.

Then scrapbooking became a phenomenon. There are whole stores just for scrapbooking. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming to me so I never really joined in.

Lately I have been wanting to scrapbook. I have TONS of photos from my whole life that I want to organize. I also have containers for each of my kids with old school work, awards, cards, and other memorabilia. My kids are 25 and almost 17, mind you, so I have A LOT. I really want to make scrapbooks for each of them but man, that can be a big job.

I had talked to my friend Kirsten about scrapbooking and she told me about the method she uses. I like that it seemed focused on the photos and not so much on the bling. Then I heard about Project Life and I was hooked. (it's a lot like the method Kirsten told me about) I ordered the Project Life kit and two of the We R Memory Keepers albums and it's been SO much fun to make my scrapbooks.

I layed out a scrapbook for my son, the 16 year old. I got this much done in just 2 evenings while watching TV. I'm so proud of myself! I have all the pages layed out for each of his 16 years, some are completely done and on some all I have to do is go back and add some photos and write in some memories. I kept several pieces of art or school work from each year.

I also started my 2012 Project Life scrapbook. Here are a couple of pages I'm working on.

I'm really enjoying these projects. Also, I got an app for my iPhone called Project365. You take a photo each day and place the photo on a calendar in the app. You can also write in captions for the photos. I usually makes little notes of what I did that day. It has really helped me with the scrapbook project because I don't feel so pressured to work on the scrapbook every day if I don't have time. If I miss a few days I can go back to the Project365 app and look to see what happened each day. Plus I can print out any photos I have taken on my iPhone! Love it!

I have trouble with not finishing projects that I start and both of these things, Project Life and Project365 have helped me. So far I am sticking with both AND enjoying them. That's the important part, right? Enjoying it and not feeling like it's a chore.

So, tell me, do you scrapbook? Do you have any favorite tricks or ideas you'd like to share? I'd love to hear them!
♥