Scrapbooking - Hubbard,TX

as a mother I know that both of my children liked the ones that were their own. however also make one that has both in it for later years so they can look through it. These end up sometime to be very important to them.

You should make 2, even if they are identical books! When they are grown, they will want to have their own to take with them when they leave.

This is what I am doing, don't know if this helps...
I'm making a memory book for each kid, one page a year. So that probably when they graduate I will give it to them.
Plus I have photo albums of the kids for me to keep, nothing fancy cus I dont have the time.

Hi H.,
I think you should make separate books for each of them, if you plan on them having them at their own places when they're grown up. If you are only keeping these scrapbooks for your own memories, then one scrapbook is fine (and maybe you could make copies later?). Of course, I'm doing digital scrapbooking, but if you scanned the images, they'd both have thier own scrapbooks. Another idea is to scan them and put then in a PowerPoint presentation, so that they can have their own copies this way. They can print them out if they want something they can hold and feel, but they'd still have copies when they older (as long as we still have Power Point). This is how I do my children's scrapbooks, and I can show you how to use Power Point for scrapbooking, if you have any questions. You can email me at ____@____.com. I am thinking of turning the PowerPoint scrapbooking idea into a business!

Hi, H.! It's so great that you want to scrapbook your children! I've been scrapping for about ten years now (not very quickly, but, hey ...) and I have a suggestion for you: Rather than scrapping chronologically or by child, scrap by category! Go ahead and make a "Baby's 1st Year" album for each girl, but after that, think in terms of categories, and you won't have to worry about how to do those both-girls-in-a-photo pics.

What I mean is this (I learned it from S. Julian of Simple Scrapbooks): Think in terms of four main, overall categories -- All About Us; Things We Do/Love; People We Love; Places We Go (those are S.'s categories). You can also do separate albums for Events, School, whatever else may not fit into the other categories.

File your photos in photo boxes (or digital categories) according to each category. THEN go through each box/category of photos and categorize further. For example, if you had a lot of photos of the girls having tea parties, then have a sub-category for Tea Parties. Do you have a lot of pictures of them playing games? Then have a sub-category for Games We Play. Those would both be under "Things We Do/Love." You could also have a sub-cat for Favorite Toys or Dolls, Playing Dress-up, etc. Whatever you seem to have several photos of. The All About Us album is about your family. There is where you separate into sub-categories of Mom, Dad, [your 3-yr old], [your 17 mo old], then sub-cats of Mom & Dad together, the girls together, even sub-cats for Mom & [3 yr old], Dad and [3 yr old], etc. From there I think you can figure out what to do with People We Love (extended family and friends), and Places We Go. Holidays generally go under Things We Do.

Events could be things like Kinder graduation (when you get there), if your daughters are in someone's wedding, etc. And obviously School of Life is about their school years, when they get there. S. Julian advocates one layout per school year, but there's no way I could ever get all about my son's school years on one layout!! lol

The sorting photos is really the "hard" work. Once you get that done, though, it makes scrapping so much easier! Then whenever you feel the urge to scrap, you can go look through the boxes/categories, pick out what looks like fun to scrap that day and go for it!

I don't know if you're planning on doing Big-Time scrapping (anything and everything), and that's kinda what the class I took from S. Julian was about. But this would work if you're only scrapping your daughters, too.

At first it sounds like a lot of work, but it actually frees you from the tyranny of doing chronological scrapping. No more "I'm so behind!" guilt!

I hope you'll give this a try. In my opinion, it's so much more rewarding than being locked into the chronological thing. I have precious pages about my family being huggers (we had a ton of photos of us hugging each other!), one about Reading (since we had a ton of photos showing us reading), a whole six- or seven- LO section about seeing our favorite Christian band, the Newsboys, in concert, etc. Once you get going on this it's addictive!

Hope that gives you a good springboard from which to start!

BTW -- if you're concerned about "who gets what book" later in life, you could always make digital copies of the books and alternate who gets the original and who gets the copy. I.e., one gets the All About Us original, the other gets a copy. Then the second one gets the People We Love original and the first one gets a copy. Places like Office Max can make 12x12 copies, and they're excellent quality. (I have only one son, so it's not a concern for me, and since I digital scrap now, it wouldn't be anyway -- I could always have two copies of each page made. But if you do paper, the Office Max/whoever copies might be a good way to go for copies)

HELLO H.,

I am a Creative Memories Consultant and come into contact with many people considering this very dilemma.

Since your children are still very young I would personally recommend you make them separate scrapbooks. If they were in high school I would say it would be to much to try to organize. There are many school events and school souvenirs you will want to save for them in the future anyway, there will be individual sporting events and competitions ans awards and just think of the beautiful gifts of scrapbooks you will be able to give to them when they grow up and move out or get married etc...

I would also keep a personal album of family events for yourself. I even have friends who do theme books for themselves versus annual books. Like a birthday album, a Christmas album and a camping album, because those are the big events she takes pictures of. The Birthday one is especially cute to flip through and see the changes all in one book.

I keep a yearly album for all family events and I run them chronologically. Then I keep school albums for my 2 daughters (which I am years behind on) I have a January scrapbook retreat coming up and my goal is to put all their things in albums that weekend and get caught up on their school albums. In their albums I also try to put things that are personal to them, their birthday, a page for big holidays, their sporting events and competitions, their friends. I let them label stuff draw on the pages and have actually had them do homework assignments on scrapbook pages so I could just put it right in the book, I love looking at the pictures and how their handwriting and spelling changes over the years.

My suggestion, from experience is...if you are going to start scrapbooking NOW. IS start with the now stuff. My kids were 6 and 4 when I started and it was hard trying to go back and get everything started from the beginning, I did the first 6 months for both my children and I was overwhelmed. I felt frustrated and overwhelmed with the magnitude of 6 years of stuff. Someone told me start and album from this month then work backwards and forward at the same time.

That was so much easier. That was March of 2003. So I started with Valentines day pics and her March birthday and then worked my way back. It is quick and easy to scrapbook and journal about today's events, then when I am caught up on current pictures and events I go back and do things from the past. Last year I did 2 albums from when my husband was in the NAVY 1992 - 1996. The year before that I did a wedding album from 1992 for myself from all the snapshots I could find. I did birth albums but have not actually finished my kids 1st year albums. So I really do need to do those too, My kids are 11 and 13 now. I Work full time so I don't get to scrapbook as much as I would like to.

Good Luck... Let me know if you need help..... or you are welcome to join my group on our scrapbook retreats. We get together about once every 3 months

Hi H. -
I am a scrapbooker as well! I absolutely LOVE it. I have 3 children. They are 7, 11 and 14. I do it both ways. I have them all in 1 scrapbook for just everyday and family time pictures, but in that one, some of the pages I have dedicated to just one child and some pages dedicated to pictures of all 3 of them. But, I am also working on separate ones for them for each of the activities they are involved in. The 7-year-old does soccer so I have a scrapbook of her games, the 11-year-old does band so I have one for her performances, and the 14-year-old did volleyball for a while and now does cheerleading. So I am working on books for each one of them with pictures of their activities. Yours may be a little young to be involved in activities, but maybe some advice for the future. =) Good luck!!!!

I have a 22 month girl and a 4 month boy. I am doing separate books. Yet, I will put pictures of them together in some pages.

Good luck!!!

I would do the special scrapbooks separate (like birthdays and such) but do family things together (like Christmas and vacations). I only have one child right now but even I have too many pictures to make that many scrapbooks so I bought a couple of nice photo albums and put the remainder of my pictures in them.

Hi H.~

I am a scrapbooking consultant. I teach classes on how to scrapbook. My advice to everyone is to make each child their own separate scrapbook. In each scrapbook you need a mixture of pictures of each child. When your children grow up and move out, they are going to want their own scrapbooks.

We have a new digital scrapbooking program coming out early next year. It is called Studio J. Check out the website at www.studioj.com. It will be so easy to post your pictures and make duplicate pages for each of your kids.

I have a website if you ever need any help. It is www.cherishedmoments.myctmh.com. Close To My Heart has idea books that come out quarterly. Inside the idea books there are not only many beautiful pictures to give you ideas on pages and cards but also lots of tips and techniques.

Good Luck!!
T.

Hiya H.! I'd say do 3 books! One for each of them as they grow up and one with pictures of them together. I LOVE to scrapbook, but only have one kiddo. Since Christmas 2008 I've completed 8 books already!! lol

I would have liked that my mom had done separate "memories/photo books".
My sister has most if not all of "our" childhood pictures. She always claimed that the book were "hers"
I would LOVE to have some just for me.

H., I would do as many separate as possible. Someday it will be very difficult to split them up. My in-laws gave a photo album to each of their 3 kids but they all have many pictures of the siblings in it too. Put the better pictures of one in their scrapbook and vice versa. I'm a scrapbooker myself so I know how time consuming these things are. I would make them simple and put as many pictures as you can in them.

i know when i got married i was greatful for all the pictures i could put up at the wedding. i say two. or one special one for you then let the girls have photos when they move out. just know when you have passed away there is only one scrap book and the question is who gets it????

My personal preference is to have one for each but to not go crazy with jillions of pictures either! I make a point of including a picture, or a few, for 1) birthday, 2) Easter, 3) Halloween, and 4) Christmas. I usually add a summer vacation or summer family reunion picture. And make a point of including a picture of special achievements whether in school or gymnastics, etc.

My mom started a scrapbook of Christmases over the years! It's really cool because that is the time of year almost all of us are together or see each other over a span of a couple of days.

This is totally your choice. My advice is two because later in life your two girls will have a scrapbook that is MINE (LOL). You will probably be able to find pictures from, say Christmas, which include both girls but one has the picture perfect pose in one photo and another photo will highlight the other girl. There might be a few times you will reprint a photo so each scrapbook has it.

Good luck to you!

I have a baby book for each of mine and then the rest are just labeled "Sisters" Its all I can manage to get the one worked on, let alone two.

It is great that you are thinking about this, and as one of two siblings, I have a strong preference -- make two, so that each grows up knowing that she can have her own pictures. I know most families aren't as contentious as mine, but the only picture I have of me and my mother was one I snuck into the basement and took out of a photo album while I was giving my very ill mother care so that my brother could have some respite from caring for her. Occasional emergency visits to provide these respites were the only times I was welcome in the house in her last two years, as my mentally ill brother became more and more hostile toward me as Mom became sicker, and she couldn't tolerate his erratic behavior when I was around. I asked Mom, full of fear, if I could take the picture and make a copy of it and then put it back, and she said yes. That picture means so much to me. I think all the other pictures she had are just still stacked in her basement in a closed up house -- my brother has moved to another state and will doubtless sell the house at some point -- I feel sure he would let all the keepsakes in it be tossed in a dumpster before he checked to see if I would like to have anything. Make two scrapbooks.

I have two girls ages 13 and 4 and one on the way. They each have their own scrapbooks and my oldest also has a scrapbook for just her dance stuff. My little one is not yet involved in sports/dance etc. but when she is I will make a scrapbook for just that as well. When the girls are grown I will give them their books.

Lisa

I think you should do separate scrapbooks for 2 reasons. 1. Even though they are very close, they are two different people and need their own identity. 2. When they get older, you may want to make a copy for each of them to give as a graduation or wedding gift. My mother-in-law at my bridal shower gave me a copy of a scrapbook she made for my husband from when he was little. I don't think it would have had the same impact if it was combined with his brother's stuff. Definitely include pictures of both daughters in each book, but make each book tailored to the individuality of each child.

Good idea on the scrapbooks. It's probably better to start now too while they are young. You won't have to scrape around looking for everything later.

Welcome to scrapbooking! You might consider getting the three ring scrapbooks as you can easily add or remove pages. That way you can do pages of them together and pages dedicated only to that one child and then if you get enough pages to start a scrapbook for that one child, you can take those pages out and put them in a dedicated book. Besides, I found that expanding the regular post bound books doesn't work well.

My girls are 2,4,5,6 and I don't have dedicated books right now other then for their first year.

also, when I print pictured I try to put them in a scrapbook that day. I pick out paper and embellishments and put them in the sleeves right away. That way I can just do one page here and there as I get the time instead of having a huge box of pictures that never get scrapbooked.

I've gone ahead and just done one family album by year, but a friend does these wonderful brag book type albums for her two boys. She basically sets up the small album with papers that coordinate for the whole book and then slides pictures of the child (and what they are busy with)into each album as the year goes on. Quick and easy (and finished :) My girls have started doing their own
individual scrapbooks and they are really fun to look at, I don't worry about doing seperate ones for them anymore.

I'm just doing family scrapbooks, and they aren't even in order yet lol I've been just doing certain events or special pics as I have them printed or find ones I have saved over the years. I will probably just help my girls do their own when they are older.

In the very far future when they are grown they may want their own albums so they do not have to worry about who gets what, if I were you I might would just make double prints of the ones with both of them in it. That way they both get a copy!
Good luck sorting all those photos!

scrap small books on different events - if the event involved both girls then then it will have both of them in it. If it only involved one girl then do a book just for that.

As an avid scrapbooker, here is what I do with my 3 boys.
I have 1 family album, 1 Christmas album, they each have their own baby (or first few years) book and each have their own birthday albums. I also have school albums for all of them. Hey, I said I was an avid scrapbooker :)

I have two kids and they are getting their own first year scrapbooks. After the first year we make annual family albums (online digital versions) that have photos of them together, alone and with others. We will give them a page or two through the year to highlight special events (birthdays, school performance, etc...) but it is more of a family album than anything else. If one day they decide they each want to have a copy, no problem because the entire album is saved on Shutterfly, we can easily order another one of any year we want. It gets to be too much trying to do individual albums in addition to family albums each year.

Glad you are thinking about this now. I wish someone would have advised me!!
I am currently working on my 17 DD & 13 DD's photos!!! Procastination Queen!
To save a few bucks, I had the photos taken together before school and at Christmas. Now how do I separate those and send one with my older daughter and still have a copy for the younger one?? UGH So please take some separately and order at least one even if it costs a little extra right now. Since most were at studios, I can't make copies at any public places due to copyright and the photograhy studios have moved/closed/etc.
Also, try to take some of the snapshots at home with only one in the photo for the same reason!! You can alter nap times one day a month if need be!!
And remember the purpose for these albums is so when your kids grow up, they can take them with them so yes, try to make one for each child.
And again, congrats on working on this now and not waiting until they are moving away from your house!!!!!!!
Just my two cents.