A is for Albums

A couple of months ago, back in February I read this article posted by another blogger. He tells us how the generation of children coming up, in roughly 10 years will have NO pictures! WHAT?! How can that be?!

My daughter has picked up scrapbooking here and there. In about late 1999 scrapbooking became a big deal with the popularity of Creative Memories or whatever that company is called. However, I was scrapbooking long before that. My mother started creating formal picture albums with the sticky sheet albums and decorating the covers beautifully (well, for the time, it was the 80's ;))

When I was in high school I kept two scrapbooks, one was just something for me to throw ticket stubs in, pressed flowers, little memories like that. The other was a formal picture album which I used card stock and construction paper and stickers to decorate the pages. To date I have finished roughly 9 albums. I should have a lot more but I have slowly fallen behind over the years.

The article written by Mike Yost Photography has really re-inspired me to make sure I get these pictures preserved for future generations.

I wish I had all of my albums with me to take photos and show you how I have preserved our memories over the years but I sent them to my mother to store for us, but I am here to share with you two albums I have made and am working on recently.

The first is a digital scrapbook that I am creating and sending off to someone special very soon! I took off all the identifying details because the person the gift is going to will most likely read this very post and I don't want to give it away, but once it is received I will share a few more photos and who it was for. The idea behind this though was to give a keepsake gift for a milestone they will never forget.

Creating a book on Shutterfly or any similar website is very easy.

First, you just log into your account and go to the gifts section. You then choose the type of album, page numbers (don't worry, you can add pages as you go along), then start uploading photos to the album! I found the easiest way was to upload them to the photo strip and then drag and drop them where they belonged. This way I could manipulate them to a certain degree to have fewer on one page and more on another.

Front cover.

As you can see you can easily select different layouts, embellishments, and backgrounds. You can even get layout ideas, which can be a real lifesaver if you are having a creative crisis.

Once you are done you finish it up and order it. It can be printed and sent away. I found this a particularly easy gift to give still having a US bank account it was easy to pay and ship directly to her door!

I will say though that creating a scrapbook like this did not give me the same pleasure as a paper scrapbook I put together with my hands. I would do this again for a gift, but for my personal scrapbooking I prefer to make paper albums, like the one I am working on now.

I found this album at Paperchase in Amsterdam, I felt like it summed 2014 up in a nutshell: luggage! We moved and traveled a lot last year and since all of last year's photos will be going into it, I felt it the perfect story starter.

To do paper scrapbooking you can get really super fancy or keep it really simple. I have found the simpler the better. I used to have a die cutting machine, which I loved but not necessary. You can use fancy papers, but again, not necessary.

You should be mindful to use acid free paper, writing utensils, glue, and embelishments as they can wear down the photos over time (although I do have one scrapbook I made on construction paper when I was a child and it is fine, the paper is just faded.)

So..here are some sample pages...

This was my first layout for London, I used some stamps and a stencil to create little plaques for journaling.

These layouts had so much in the pictures I kept them a bit simpler so you could really focus on what was in the photos, too much embellishment would be distracting and make the page too busy.

This is the intro page to our Hawaiian vacation. I used some letter cut outs from the Flow Book For Paper Lovers and I cut out a sign of one picture to create a piece of authentic embellishment. To create a journaling plaque I just framed a piece of card stock with some washi tape.

This is my favorite layout in the whole book so far I think. I love how I framed the photos on the left with washi tape, use photo corners on the right and more washi tape and letter's from the Flow Book For Paper Lovers to tell where we were. I then used all the blank space to tell a really humorous story from my time there. I won't go into detail but it does involve me thinking a solid 50 fake spiders were real. :P

How do you preserve your family's memories? I would love to hear more in the comments!

Organization: routine

This year, one of my goals was to institute cleaning routines soothe house basically takes care of itself with very little effort on my part.

My first routine was to institute my Cleaning Power Hour, so far this has been extremely effective and it only takes about 45 minutes to get through the whole routine, so not even a full hour! That routine hits all the high points people notice when visiting your house and the things that bother me the most when they don't get cleaned regularly enough!

Today I am introducing to you my morning and evening routines. 

Let's talk about the mornings first. I love mornings but wouldn't say I am a morning person. My brain is super foggy when I'm trying to wake up so having a routine is sort of like my caffeine. It gently gets my brain functioning and I get to start the day off checking stuff off a list and we all know how satisfying that can be! 

I have all my tasks listed in the order in which I will do them. 

The first seems silly: brush my teeth and get dressed. But, when instituting the routine I really wanted it to be authentic and give me a full guideline to follow. I have on here specifically to get dressed in workout clothes so that way once everyone is gone for the day I can immediately start my workout-No Excuses!

Unload dishwasher-start the day with an empty dishwasher, this way as you cook during the day you can throw everything in there and the sink stays empty!

Start coffee-I do this after unloading the dishwasher so it finishes percolating just as I am ready to sit down to breakfast.

Get lunches in lunch bags-when I cook dinner I prep/pre-pack lunches for my husband & daughter. I just take these & either toss them in the lunch bag or warm it up, put it in a thermos & then it goes in the lunch bag.

Make breakfast-it is the most important meal of the day, don't skip it! It's also a great way to spend some much needed time with the kiddos before the school day starts. This can be an essential time for communication and teaching them about proper nutrition.

Clean up breakfast-if you do it as soon as the dishes are empty of food it's easy and your kitchen is ready for the next meal! It keeps the counters & sink clear, plus it takes just a minute or two. Plus, if you have kids and work it right you can train them to take their dishes straight to the sink to rinse & GPS traight in the dishwasher! 

(Now, you may be wondering my it says my routine is 3pm. I am writing this while in the UK and I am 8 hours ahead of my normal time zone, so normally my reminder goes off at 7am. This whole routine only takes about 15-20 min to complete in total.)

This is my evening routine. It's short and sweet, but gets the whole house ready for the next day!

Load and start dishwasher-I clean as I cook, but there are always those few dishes at the end that still have to go in, I do this and immediately start the washer. 

Wipe down counters & table-I use my cleaning wipe & give all my granite a good wipe down & get the table ready for breakfast.

Sweep kitchen floor-just for maintenance. This take about 40 seconds to do and keeps the kitchen looking in tip top shape.

Make coffee-this is when I grind my beans & get the whole thing fixed up and ready to press start in the morning during your routine. 

Basic pick up around the house-walk from room to room putting away anything out of place & clearing off cluttered surfaces. Good time for the kiddos to pick up their rooms & bathrooms. 

This evening routine at first took 40 min because there was always so much out of place, but now it takes approximately 15-20 min. Fast and it helps make me happy when I wake up!

I love using my reminders app for this because I have a ringing renminder to do these chores. It's hard to ignore and these few steps help make my days so much easier! Plus, they help to give me a home I'm proud of and am not worried if someone drops by without calling first.

Do you have routines like this? If so, what is on your routine list? 

If you don't have routines are you going to implement some now? What will be on your lists?