digital scrapbooking

So I have been a scrapper as my husband calls it all my life. I have kept scrapbooks and keepsakes as long as I can remember. It must be something my mother taught me early on as I have one of her scrapbooks that she put together as she grew up. It is a window into the past and helps us prepare for the future.

I am actually pretty bad about pulling everything together and making the page. I am great at keeping everything so that someday I can do it, those some days are difficult to come by if you do not stay on top of it. I made myself get everything in order by year and event and into a photo album at least prior to moving to Panama. J and I have have many years together so this was not an easy feat. All of these albums are sitting in an air conditioned storage unit I have in Houston. This is an expensive way to keep these things, but they mean so much to me.

I began working on an album for T, but I didn't get very far since I was required to finish the first project prior to working on his. So I left all of the materials behind keeping only the electronic version of all of the photos I had of T. The first year we were in Panama I didn't do much for Christmas. I did however make a book on Shutterfly of some of my favorite photos of T in his first year. I gave it to his grandparents for Christmas and I kept a copy for us. The second year we were in Panama I did a bit more but after everyone loved the first book so much I decided to do a second one. This time I used Apple's software. It was a great book but the cover didn't hold up as well as the one from Shutterfly.

Fast forward to Summer 2006 where T and I were hanging out in Panama City waiting on B to arrive. I was in the Panamanian equivalent to Target when I happened upon a scrapbooking magazine. I read it cover to cover over and over. I found a reference in it to digital scrapbooking. Well, here I was with some time on my hands so I looked into it. I was able to download the software to my computer and get some basic tools to get started the same night I decided to do it.

So for Christmas last year we gave out a book again - this time I designed all of the pages. It was a lot of fun. I have since used my skills and all of the tools I have purchased for so many different projects. The kids love the books that I make. T picks them as his books to read before bed at least one night a week.

My current project is a book for a couple who are getting married here next week. I am sure it is going to mean a lot to them.