Looking Back at 2010 - Part 2

Because my computer is bogged down in an online backup, it is too terribly slow to try to upload photos of the things I discuss below.  Please look for those at a future date.

Please see Part 1 where I discussed my 2010 goals.

At some point this summer I realized that once my second daughter was born, I stopped making an effort to put up recent pictures of our girls and stopped updating photo albums. Two children became more than double the work and I really let things slip. As a way to make up for that and to document our lives currently, I decided to take the plunge to begin digital scrapbooking. I had successfully completed one traditional (i.e. paper) scrapbook a few years ago which both girls love to look at. It really hit me that the album I had made was of my older daughter at about the age my younger daughter is now. I knew I needed to make something for both girls that they could view (and laugh about) for years to come.

I have successfully completed one digital album that also doubled as a gift.  Last August we took a trip to the Oregon Coast.  My in-laws and two nephews joined us.  There were lots of wonderful memories from that trip.  For my mother-in-law's Christmas gift this year, I made a 10 page album with all the pages made digitally.  The bonus is that I can make copies for us as well.  Two albums for the work on one!  I am all about saving time.

The second way I decided to document our lives was to make an album (12x12 size) that documents each year's Christmas photo and letter.  Yes, I am one of these people that write a standard letter to enclose with the Christmas cards.  Because I send out over 40 cards each year I simply do not have time to write a personalized letter.   I was able to find letters dating back to 2000 which is probably the first year I wrote such a letter.  I am making an individual scrapbook page for each year from 2000 until 2003.  Beginning in 2004, I am doing a two-page spread that has one side with the letter and the other side with the Christmas photo of our family.  It has been a lot of fun to read about the major happenings in our lives like the year we got a new puppy and two weeks later I had thyroid surgery, or the first Christmas after 9/11, or the year our oldest daughter was born followed four years later by her baby sister.  It's amazing some of the details that I have forgotten.  This album is helping us to remember.

If you are interested in documenting the stories of our lives now, especially through digital scrapbooking, I highly recommend the following:

• Ali Edwards - Beautiful photography and with a strong emphasis on the story
• Cathy Zielske - First off, she's very funny, but she makes beautiful, simple pages.  She, too, emphasizes the story.
• Renee Pearson - She has a wonderful intro to digital scrapbooking class called Just The Basics. 
• Jessica Sprague - Extensive class selection on all things digital for scrapbooking, photo editing and design.  I have taken her Family History Album class as well as Up And Running, an intro to digital scrapbooking.  I also will be completing the followup for the intermediate level.

While I am no artist, I have created some pages that my daughters can look back on fondly and remember.  That to me has become one of the most important things I did in 2010.


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