I’ve been an avid scrapbooker for at least the last 19 years. Scrapbooking for me is about documenting my life, historical events and the lives of those I care about. I started scrapbooking my pregnancy with Amelia immediately after I found out I was expecting.

I recently ordered a Project Life kit. Project Life is “…a solution-based system for bringing photos and stories together.” I ordered the Baby Girl Edition Core Kit. What I love most about Project Life are the journaling cards which serve as prompts to help capture the important details. You can see the first page of my Project Life Album for Amelia here:

When scrapbooking, it is important to determine the audience for the scrapbook, which will determine the point of view you write in. I usually write in first person (using “I” statements) and second person (using “you” statements), because these albums will eventually belong to my daughter. My mom maintained photo albums and over the last couple of years has been giving me photos which are so priceless! I’ve had the opportunity to speak to my mom about the context of many of the photos she’s given me which I then convert into scrapbook layouts (pages).

I also scrapbook because frankly, I don’t believe our memories are reliable. The further away we get from a moment, the more likely we are to romanticize things and forget details. Scrapbooking allows me to “capture” memories and moments before they slip away. One of the things that parents share with me, is how quickly the time goes. Scrapbooking allows me to freeze time a bit. As of today my daughter is only 6 weeks old and I can already look back at pictures and notice her physically changing.

Lastly, we never quite know where life may take us. I hope and pray that I live a good long life, but in the event that is not in the cards for me, Amelia will be able to “hear” directly from me and her dad. Below is a layout capturing the moment my daughter met my mother for the first time:

The other layout that I completed tonight included two of my favorite photos I captured of Amelia (who I call Millie). For journaling I added the lines from one of my favorite Langston Hughes poems. Poetry and song lyrics are great things to add as journaling to a scrapbook layout, in lieu of writing original words or captions, especially when that poetry or those lyrics capture your sentiment.

I intent to continue sharing some of my scrapbook layouts here as well as tips and recommendations. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to write them in the comments section below.