Tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day! I think it’s kind of cool that one of my favorite hobbies has an actual “Day”. Long before our hectic soccer schedule, I used to go to National Scrapbook Day events at local stores. I’d get to spend the entire day indulging in my hobby. For the last several years, I’m lucky if I have time to make just one page on NSD in between games.
Now, with the pocket-style scrapbooking method, I can get several pages made in less than an hour. Although sometimes I will agonize over which pocket card to use with a picture. But for the most part, I try not to overthink it. The key is to get the photos into a book so you and your family can enjoy them.
It really doesn’t matter if your photo albums are fancy or not. And frankly, I don’t worry too much about whether or not have the perfect studio quality picture. My pictures reflect our everyday life. This picture below is a little dark but it also reflects the time of day. We were at a late afternoon soccer game, the sun was setting, and it was an overcast and chilly day. 
Don’t forget to take pictures of the everyday things that your family does. Years from now you’ll treasure those memories. One of my daughter’s wishes this year was to letter in a sport. She’s a freshman so it was going to be a long shot this year. She didn’t quite make it, but there’s always next year. While we were talking about letterman jackets, both her dad and I pulled out our letterman jackets from High School and she had fun trying them on. She even wore her dad’s to school one day to see what it was like. Of course it says Class of 86 on the sleeve, so I’m sure she got some questions from her friends. But I love that she’s interested in what our high school experience is compared to hers now.
Can we talk about penmanship? I write messy. I know that I write messy. I used to not journal in my album in my own handwriting because I couldn’t get past the messy look. But it was so much work to type my captions, format them in the correct size and shape, and then go back and add them to my album. So guess what ended up happening? No journaling.
Now, I really just don’t worry about it. I just go ahead and write in my book. Sometimes it’s messy and sometimes I really make an effort to write neat. But I feel so much better now seeing the journaling in my book! For example, the picture below of the messy floor… Anyone else looking at this album would’t have any idea of why I included a picture of the shredded dog bed. To give you some background on Frannie, she’s a mutt that we rescued from a friend. We don’t really know what breed she is. But we do know she’s part terrier. And terriers are high energy dogs. Guess what high energy dogs do when ignored? 
These two pictures of Frannie represent her personality so well. She has two speeds: 100 miles an hour or 0. The top picture is what our guests usually see. The bottom picture is what happened when I left the room for five minutes and stopped paying attention to her.
So I could have spent hours agonizing over editing some pictures and finding just the right supplies and the right paper to use. Or, I could just slip my pictures into pockets and call it good enough. Believe me, your family will never ask you why you picked one paper over another, or why you didn’t use a flower instead of a button to embellish your page. They will be thrilled to flip through the photo album and reminisce over the pictures.
I challenge you to pick up an album, a package of pocket pages, and a set of Project Life cards and get your pictures into a book. By the way, the Project Life products are on the Retirement List and they are available while supplies last. Some of them are on sale too. Even though these products are retiring, there will be something special coming in the new catalog that will keep you on your memory keeping path. I can’t share the details just yet, but I promise you won’t be sorry.
Most products on the Retirement List are available only while supplies last. There are a number of products that are discounted too. If you see something you want, do not wait to purchase it. Some of these items are already selling out. Stamp sets will continue to be produced until the third week in May. After that date, they will be while supplies last as well. If you click on the Order Online button on the upper right-hand corner, it will take you to my online store so you can place your order immediately.
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