I’m all for scrapbooking however and whatever makes you happy.
That includes how we organize our scrapbook pages into albums. So I understand this comment on a recent Paperclipping blog post:
At one point I tried to put my layouts into albums chronologically. Now it’s a free for all. When I fill up one album, I just buy another and put the layouts in. I just don’t want to spend the time putting things in categories. I’m just not sure anyone is really going to care in the long run.
Whatever keeps you scrapbooking is priority number one for me, so if all you’re interested in doing is slipping the next page you made into the next empty page protector, I say go for it.
But before you say, “No one is going to care” or “It doesn’t make a difference,” just ask yourself whether that’s really true.
What if you could tell a larger story by the way you organize your pages into albums?
Scrapbook Albums: How You Can Tell Bigger Story
My albums have topics, which make them like memoirs!
There’s a topic connection between all of the layouts so that when an album is full there is a complete story. You see how the home has changed over time, and how it fits the personality of the family in an album about home. You see how a child’s personality develops over time — how parts of it seem to change in some ways while other parts remain unchanged and immovable — in an album about that child’s personality.
A mix of topics such as vacation, sports, personalities, weekend activities, everyday moments, and holidays crowd out the bigger story that is hiding for each of those topics.
In an album about things we love to do as a family you see over a number of years how our activities have changed with our maturing ages. Or I might be reminded of something we once loved but have forgotten.
You don’t get these broader revealing stories when you put all the pages into strict chronological albums that mix topics. And not when you place layouts in the order of your scrapbooking either.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that! ;)
There is just more story you can be telling! And discovering!
Turning Your Scrapbook Albums Into Visual Memoirs
As an album gets close to its full point, I spend some time with it to flesh it out and turn it into a viewable finished story. In the process I deal with all the tricky pages — the backs of the odd-shaped pages, for example.
In this week’s episode of Paperclipping we go inside one of my albums to see…
- the story that has developed naturally by having a purpose (such as the personality of the album).
- what’s missing from my story
- the problems in the album, like die cut shaped and transparent pages
I then share some solutions for dealing with those tricky pages where we don’t want the stuff to show through.
If you’re a member, you’ll find this video in the Member’s Area.
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Tags: scrapbook albums, scrapbooks