Does anyone else feel intimidated at the thought of tackling a whole big scrapbook? I'm finding it a lot more doable to do smaller scrapbook, remembrance projects and scrapbooking/honoring in other ways like art quilting to incorporate photos and memorabilia and such. One project I also hope to start soon is to alter a checkerboard and create one mini piece of art per square a day with the focus of family history.

 Oh, I LOVE the idea of the checkerboard, Tammy!  That's fantastic!!!  Ready-to-hang and everything!

You mentioned art quilting projects with a heritage slant - have you done something like that before? Anything you can post to show?

Tammy, a family checkerboard is a GREAT idea. Your idea of art quilting of photos and memorabilia is inspiring too. I hope you'll let us see the progress you're making when you start!!

Heather

 I have been waiting to start a scrapbook for years but the 12 x 12 page scares me! The closest I can get to a scrapbook are children's board books covered with cardstock, etc and then adding pictures... I use one boardbook for one event, vacation, etc.

Of course, I have three started and not one completely finished but that's ok, right???? 

 I'm working on a couple mini scrapbooks right now. The one for my hubby is only 6X6 and I'm altering a children's board book for my Dad.  I don't have too many photos for the one with my dad so I'm doing loads of journalling and collaging.  I was a member of a yahoo group that does scrapbooking without pictures.  Neat idea.

 LOVE the checkerboard idea! I do big & small scrapbooks. In the middle of a my collge years big book. Other than that I try to go back & forth between bug & little projects. Swaps help a lot! I do sometimes get frustrated & a little bored with big projects in  the middle but always enjoy the finished project. Soon as I am finished with this I am doing an ATC album so my ATCs aren't hidden away then a small road trip album for my upcoming end of summer trip with the kids! The good thing is if your tired of a project, you can always put it away & come back to it fresh at another time after doing something else! Darshell

 Hello!!  I love scrapbooking, too -- have let it fall aside long enough that now IT intimidates me, too!

But -- I'm excited by everything you folks have posted here!  I probably have 100 pages of finished 12 x 12s, not in their albums because I started a page based on the bunch of photos I found ("Oh! The Catalina trip after the kids all married...! Oh! When Philip got his first tooth...!") -- you know.  I have only about a gazillion more photos to find and mount and decorate, and then, BOY, I'm ON it.

Creative Memories has these little albums -- or at least they did ten years ago (sigh), when I made one for our grand-daughter.  I think it's about 5 x 7 -- anyway, perfect for a theme (the cover of this one is baby-pink).

I also did a wonderful project for our daughter: For a (second) wedding shower... Both she and the fellow had been married before, and each had a full house of Stuff.  I re-created a Baby Album Of her, For her.  I found some un-used real photos, used the copy machine to reproduce (a) real pictures, (b) a few favorite "welcome baby" cards we received (the pictures on the front and text inside from relatives beloved and now gone, and anyone who wrote something particularly meaningful); (c) I copied the "biggies" from her "real" baby-book, like the developmental chart and landmark dates (first smile, rolled over, first tooth, etc.).  I journaled (actually, I was having trouble holding a pen, so I typed them and printed them up) funny little things we remembered, and things folks said -- a couple funny stories about choosing her name, for instance... I still have the dress she was dedicated in, and laundered it and captured a picture to put in.  I was heavy-on-the-decorations and generous-on-the-blank-space (a few pages were simply titles and doodles) -- The completed book was beautiful, and fascinating!  She was really excited to read it, the folks at the shower were enchanted, and she was able to share it with this man who only knew her as an adult.

cb 

Hi Constance and everyone!

Wow!  This is the third post I've read on scrapbooking today so I'm thinking we have enough interest here to call ourselves the "Scrapellas" or something like that!  What do you think? 

Constance, it sounds like you have the makings of a few albums with "100 pages of finished 12 x 12's".  They must be a delight to look at and reminisce of times past.  That's what scrapbooking is all about --- savoring and saving those precious moments so that others can enjoy it years from now.  Your story of creating a baby album of your daughter to share with her new husband must have been one of the highlights of her wedding, I'm sure.  This will be a treasure that she can keep close to her heart for years to come.  How very thoughtful of you.

It also brings to mind the mini recipe scrapbook I made for my daughter-in-law for her wedding shower.  Some time before the date of the wedding shower I was hosting for her, I asked her family and friends to submit recipes and a pic of themselves. The best part was baby pics of her and my son with a cute marriage saying.  They proudly display this book in their kitchen on a 'plate' stand and my son mentioned just the other day that they use the pancake recipe that I submitted. 

My daughter-in-law actually hosted a Creative Memories party about a month ago and even though I needed not a single thing and kind of promised myself I wouldn't purchase anything, I still came home with circle templates and cutters!  By the way, they do sell those little albums ---- I just had to purchase one.  I think the circle templates will come in mighty handy as I've attempted to cut a circle and it invariably doesn't come out 100% circular. 

~ chameleon