How many of you remember my kids' school albums? A show of hands? Anyone?
The albums were outlined in Clean&Simple: Part Deux, and looked like this:
Last weekend, I decided to pull out Aidan's album and put the finishing touches on it. Afterall, she's halfway through 8th grade. No time better than the present!
The process was like buttah. I simply pulled out my materials file that held the papers and embellishments I've been using over the years, and printed out my page titles (saved on my computer in a digital document), and got to work.
The best part was updating the title page.
How fun to see at a glance the progression of Pre-K through 6th Grade, all in one spot. (Or heartbreaking. My baby will be off to college soon. HELP MEEEEE!)
Both Cole and Aidan's albums are hybrid in nature; they use bits of computer help to complete the process. I've had numerous requests since I started designing digital templates to create a digital set based on this album design, and that's exactly what I've done.
For 8.5 x 11 scrapbookers:
And for 12 x 12 scrapbookers:
And now I've got a dilemma. While Aidan's album is essentially done, Cole's album has only been worked on through the 1st grade. The thought of going back, and digging out photos to fill in the photo pages, when I have these brand spankin' new templates right in front of me…well, you see where this is going.
Long story short: I'm switching Cole's over to digital as of Second Grade. Here's what I've got so far:
Ahhhh. So simple. So clean. So dang adorable. I picked out a handful of papers to work with, and set out to quickly capture the year.
Because I organize my photos in month and date categories using iPhoto, finding shots to use on the photos pages was a snap.
The idea behind this whole concept is that you only need 4 pages to document a year but you can add more if you need to. This album idea came from Simple Scrapbooks, the book, and the School of Life concept from Stacy Julian. Those of you who follow Stacy know she's a genius when it comes to a process that is both simple and do-able. Here's the way it lays out in the album:
There is a main title page:
And then the grades follow in spreads:
That's the general idea, but you may be thinking: "Cathy, a pocket page shouldn't be digital, should it be?" And my reply is, "Mine is SORT of digital." Let me show you.
In the digital package, you get a pocket page that looks just like that last image above. You simply print it out onto photo paper, and then build a pocket. Because I am using a digital kraft background, I simply used a real sheet of kraft paper upon which to build the pocket.
The orange looks off in my photos, but rest assured, it really is orange and not rust!
By adding a few brads and putting a line of adhesive on the bottom of the page, I created a pocket page to store just a few things such as report cards, and drawings from the year.
You could also print out your digital background paper separately onto a sheet of photo paper and use it as the base for building your pocket page for a perfect match.
I'm really looking forward to working on Cole's earlier years in this new format. I don't normally go back and re-do my scrapbook pages, but hey, if a scrapbooker can't change her mind once in a while, tell me, then where has the fun gone? Onward!
If you have any questions about this project, please post in the comments and I'll do my best to answer!
SUPPLIES: School Album Set (Cathy Zielske) • Just Linens No. 4 (Michelle Martin) • Krafty No. 7 Paper Pack, Notebook Paper Pack (Katie Pertiet) • Avenir font • brads (American Crafts)
EDITED TO ADD: I will be creating a Word Art/PNG Pack featuring both higher grade levels to add to the template set, including those of you overseas who go by "Year 1, Year 2" etc. Look for that set this weekend at Designer Digitals.
