Scrapbook Your Year, pages for January 2019

And so the cycle of my year-long scrapbook project is underway! Scrapbook Your Year is the approach I’ve taken to documenting my family’s life for the past four years. It’s simple, streamlined and stress-free. I know many of you know about my approach if you’ve visited my blog, but I wanted to share this video again for anyone who might be new here and looking for a simplified approach to scrapbooking a year-long project! The clip below shows exactly what this project is all about!

You do not have to be digital to do this! I do not really consider myself a digital scrapbooker, aside from this project. But it’s a very simple digital process with the end goal of creating a book of memories that takes up a bit less space than a 12 x 12 album. Space is at a premium at my house until my husband agrees that I really should have a big old cabinet in our living room just for my scrapbooks. #whenpigsfly

Let’s take a look at my January pages. It’s a whole new life for us now, with one of our adult children in law school and our other adult child is a freshman in college. The empty nest isn’t quite yet completely empty, but we are moving in that direction.

PHOTOS TAKEN IN JANUARY: 142 (after culling my shots)

PHOTOS USED: 23

In last year’s album, I opted to skip an official title page, something I’ve done in the past, and instead just jump straight into the year. It’s really a personal choice, but I liked it so much I decided to do the same thing for 2019. As I am wont to do, I like to try and include one photo of each family member on this page. And hey, bonus to get a selfie with my son!

Next up, a smattering of images. That picture of me and the hubby doing our thing on a random weeknight? I set my iPhone up on the fireplace mantle and used the Camera App on my Apple Watch to trigger the shot. Dan reading. Me catching up on Facebook class stuff. Typical night in the empty nest. Also, screen shots are a favorite of mine. If my son tells me he loves me, I tend to save that stuff. Oh, and the Polar Vortex. Even being a hardy Minnesota transplant, it is still shocking to this Seattle-born-and-raised girl how cold it gets here.

I really didn’t have a ton of photos for the month, so I combined two of the photo layer masks to include that larger shot of Aidan in her swanky new suit. The thing I find about this project is that if I just go with the flow and use the shots I have to the best of my ability, it really does come together to create a snapshot of life that is real and honest. Some photos are great. Some are okay. Many are in-between. But the results feel so cohesive at the end of any given year and I love that.

My end page is always a recap of the month, recalled in whatever way I deem acceptable. It doesn’t have to cover every detail… just the main points are good enough for me.

The entire process of sitting down, choosing photos and completing my four pages took me about an hour. I’m getting really good at picking shots, making the pages and knowing this is a record I’m so happy to be creating.

WANT TO LEARN MY METHOD? Click on the image below to read the full course description.