If you lose your mind when the kinds are out of school, you are not alone! With the temperatures soaring and household action running on high, it can become next to impossible to carve out time for scrapbooking. This is the time of year to pull out the big guns of simplicity and find easy solutions that make memory keeping doable!
1. Be a collector. Summer is the perfect time to experiment with collecting ephemera of life. Store little bits of paper and other oddball items in baseball card pages or even a shadowbox. Think outside the box.
2. Think small. Yes you have a small amount of time, but you also might have some small memory keepers sitting nearby. Consider ways you can bring your family into the process of documenting your story. Hand over the camera and let your kids do a few pages.
3. Re-schedule your photo dumps. In an ideal world we’re all emptying our camera’s memory cards every week. During the summer this is sorta out the window. Instead, try offloading once a month and after vacation.
4. Skip editing. Most photos taken in good light outside don’t really need that much touch up. Just leave them be and move on. If you insist on something, use a Photoshop Action or Lightroom Preset to give them all a final touch.
5. Plan ahead. Just like you stockpile the fridge with kid-friendly snacks and lunches, stockpile mom’s memory tote with extra camera batteries, memory cards and the all-important lens cleaner. While you may have to run back for the little one’s stuffy, you won’t need to snag your camera essentials.
6. Use shortcuts. Plan to compile your summer memories into a fuss-free photobook or a ready-to-go digital quick album. Commit to scrapping the highlights so you feel on top of the season, but save a few favorites for printing and special projects!
7. Scrap for fun. OMG, is that possible? Let go of all the guilt and ideas about being caught up. Grab your favorite supplies and a wonderful set of photos. Sit down and scrap, without worry about what order or where you are. You are here and having a great time!
Take these seven tips and carve out your seasonable balance of responsibilities as a memory keeper. Get creative to stretch your time and your resources while preserving your legacy for the next generation.
[Photo:phaewilk]
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When my kids were younger in the summer I’d give them each about 20 scrapbook pages tied together with yarn for their very own scrapbooks. I’d collect cheap cute stickers, dollar store scrapbook items, crayons and construction paper for their “supplies.” They would decorate the front page for a cover, and to start their book I’d make up little “about me” question sheets for them to fill out along with some first day of summer photos. Buying postcards, menus, etc. from everywhere we went became a must for their books (and made super cheap souvenirs too!). I also encouraged journaling to go with their photos. I would just use the best of the best photos in mine and let the kids all split up the rest and decorate to their liking. We had a great time working together, and those scrapbooks of theirs are one of the most priceless momentos I have from their childhoods! :-)
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