The Scrapbook Dilemna

To scrapbook or not to scrapbook?  That's the big question.  I have seen a lot of ornate, detailed scrapbooks. The aisles at Hobby Lobby taunt me with their stickers and colorful papers and fancy albums.  As a mom I want to preserve all the details of my babies' lives but the prospect is daunting.  So I have come up with a few "non-stressful" ways to keep up that work for me.

Photo books.  I love photo books and there are always great deals on them. . . sometimes free!  I use them to preserve my sweet brilliant babies' craft projects.  About once a month I round up the pile of paintings, drawings, doodles, etc. and scan them.  Then I sort the images into the appropriate file folder on my computer. We have a file for each child and then sub-folders for the year.  And since I love organization, under the year we have sub-folders for home, church and school.  This makes life pretty easy when I make the photo books later.

What I put in the Photo Books?
Paintings
Drawings
Pictures of my child wearing his Dr. Suess Hat, crown, etc.

Here are a couple finished products:

Scrapbooks.  There are just somethings that can't be put in a photo book.  So I scrapbook.  My scrapbooks aren't fancy.  There are no fancy papers or stickers.  (Well, there used to be.  But, overwhelming!!)  They preserve the most important things.  Things that you just can't appreciate properly in a photo book.

What do I put in Scrap Books?
Birthday Cards
Valentine's Day Cards
Tickets to first football games and first movies
School Crafts that include my babies' hand prints or that are just extra special

Here are a few pages for example:

I'm working from my theory that, in the future, my children won't care how perfectly or ornately their memories are displayed.  They will just enjoy the memories.  I know I enjoy looking through mine.