“Are you working on my Yuyu book, Mama?,” my three-year-old daughter Lulu (“Yuyu) excitedly asked this every time I pulled out my
Hello Baby Girl collection to work on her baby book. I love seeing her light up as she flips through the finished pages.
That’s what it’s about, right? Why we ultimately document memories? Sure, scrapbooking is super fun, but the bigger reason is the gift of stories it gives our children. I know, I know. It sounds cliche. But it’s also true. And that truth is what helped me finish the big tasks of a year’s worth of memories (some four years after the fact). The other help—an adorable bundle of baby products. (Thanks, Echo Park!)
I used the new
Hello Baby Girl collection by Echo Park to complete my book. The darling ensemble made taking this long overdue trip down memory lane extra fun. Of course, documenting nearly two years of time (when you count the pregnancy portion) is a rather lengthy trip. Don’t worry, I have a few tips to keep you organized and make this project approachable.
TIP #1: Select, Sort, & Edit Pics
Select photos and group them into categories that work for your story telling. Possible categories include: pregnancy, prepping for baby, birth, hospital time, coming home, months 1-12, and any extra stories you want to include. You’ll likely have MANY photos to choose from, which brings us to the hardest part of this entire project—the editing! You’ll have to self edit until you have a manageable amount of images to work with. A tough task, I know. (Trust me, I know!) But you can do it! If you simply can’t decide, include divided page protectors in your album to hold extra pics.
TIP #2: Select, Sort, & Edit Ephemera
Knowing what stories you want to focus on, go through your packs of ephemera and select the pieces that complement your moments. Set them aside and put the rest of the pack away. This will save you from sorting through ephemera over and over with each page you make. (You get a lot of ephemera in a single EP pack! [Not the worst prob to have. lol])
With my products and pictures sorted, I set to work telling my story. First, I created a title section to introduce the book.
I added Lulu’s name to tracing paper and placed it over a photo for a neat layered look.
TIP: Give yourself more real estate with lift-up elements. By attaching the ultrasound on just the right side, I had room to add some written detail beneath the image. Mini albums are awesome for this reason, as they’re often free from page protector constraints.
So much goes into getting ready for your bundle. The process makes for good baby book material. Getting our girl’s nursery ready was no small undertaking. We overhauled my craft room (RIP, sweet craft room) and created a special space for our babe. I definitely wanted to include those details.
It seems so silly now, but I remember agonizing over the nursery colors. While you see them everywhere today, four years ago the pink/peach/black/cream/gray/timber combo was nearly impossible to find. This kind of detail can make a fun story to tell. Wannting to include a color swatch of some sort, I turned to the
Sweet Dreams Die Set, cutting clouds from cardstock and felt.
Inspired by the imagery in Hello Baby, I then created a mobile-type accent using the clouds and stamps.
There is so much about this that makes for good baby book content. How did you go into labor? Were you on time? Early? LATE?! Who came to meet your baby in the hospital? The first bath. The first feeding. The medical team. So many wonderful firsts and moments to remember. Because this is a photo-heavy section, I used small single-photo sleeves between the pages.
I turned one of the 4x6 journaling cards on the NAME paper into a pocket for the hospital bracelet. I stitched a scrap of paper to the front for the pocket, but you could also staple paper or glue just three sides to create the same result. I opt for machine stitching often in mini albums, because I know it won’t come undone.
There is no way I can include every photo and moment of this big year of life. But, you know what?! I don’t have to. Don’t let such a daunting task bog you down and keep you from putting something together. Instead, think of a few key highlights that happened within each month (first holidays, first teeth, first words, etc.) and make those the focus.
To make the most of my album’s space and group my months together, I created these tri-fold inserts. To do this, I cut the NAME cardstock down to 4x12 strips. I then scored them into three 4x4 sections and added details to each section.
These accordion strips are double-sided, which means one month is on one side and one is on the back, but you could also do a strip per month if you wanted more space.
MORE ON MY SITE
If you want to see the rest of my book and a video flip-through, I invite you to visit me on my
website. I’m sharing some video techniques, a planning guide that really breaks down the album preparation, and a finished flip-through flick of the end result.
REMEMBER THIS
Anything you do is special. Your book doesn’t have to have bells and whistles. Even a few photos in an album is something to celebrate. Add a sticker or two if you want. They certainly give some fun personality. Just don’t feel like you have to do something grandiose or nothing at all. Compared to my first daughter’s album, this one is a little scaled back, and that’s okay. I still love it. More importantly, I know my daughter loves it, and that’s what it’s really all about. Ha! Take that, hokey pokey. ;)
ECHO PARK PAPER CO. SUPPLIES USED
OTHER SUPPLIES USED
album
alphabet stickers
crepe paper
doily
felt
grey cardstock
hole punch
hole reinforcement stickers
ink
page protectors/photo sleeves
paper clips
shipping tag
tab punch
tracing paper
transparency
yarn
