Scrapbook Planning

Christy Ink & Paper 11 Comments

My sister and I went to Ireland together back in–actually, I’m not going to tell you when we went. Suffice it to say it was long ago. I finally got my butt in gear and decided to start the scrapbook. I’ve been thinking about this scrapbook for…as long as I’ve been back from Ireland (you thought you had me there, didn’t you?).

With my bag of scraps and travel journal.

My first step is culling pictures. We came home from this trip with over 1000 pics between us (digital cameras are a blessing and a curse). From there I narrowed it down to about 150 that I printed. It always helps to to have physical prints of the pictures in hand before I start a layout. I’ll probably cut this list by half by the time I’m finished, but it’s worth the few extra bucks to me to do it this way. I’ll also end up printing at least a few more pictures as I realize I have “holes” in the scrapbook.

I split my pictures into piles based on events/locations/days/whatever goes with the particular scrapbook I’m designing. For this I split the pictures into places we visited. The big stack is from Blarney Castle. That could probably be its own book.

This exercise is best done when the puppy isn’t home.

After I organize my pictures, I start to organize my scraps – you know, tickets, pamphlets, post cards–all the stuff you acquire over the course of a vacation/school year/whathaveyou.

Once done I combine all the scraps and photos in file folders. This way I know I can work on one folder at a time and not forget anything. File folders are great for this because they can be tucked in a desk drawer until I’m ready for them…which could be years.

This trip was long ago enough that I’ve since developed a new way of keeping track of my scraps. Now whenever I go somewhere I bring with me an accordion file jacket that zips shut. I use each section for a different day/location/event. Then I don’t have to spread my scraps all over the floor, I can just transfer them to file folders or keep them in the jacket. Currently, my file jacket is filled with scraps from my honeymoon…which I was on exactly a year ago. So that will give you some idea of how behind I am.

And that’s it. What? You didn’t think after all that I was actually going to get to a layout today, did you?