December's Challenge

I didn't do very well in November's challenge, so am keeping Decembers quite simple. I want to take a photo every day in December. That's it.

I have an idea for a 'Countdown to Christmas' page in Evie's Scrapbook, using the cover of her advent calendar and filling each window with a photo showing the run up to Christmas.

To get started, here is the photo for day number 1 (using the Instagram app).

All wrapped up & ready for Winter.

November's Challenge(s)

As the last 2 challenges have been knitting related, and I have failed to complete either of them, I'm going to try something new. Here are some things I want to do in November.

ONE

Complete my pregnancy section of Evie's Scrapbook.

TWO

Post a FO Friday post every Friday in November.

THREE

Try embroidery.

Starting my adventure in scrapbooking

I finally got some time today to start my scrapbook for Evie. I'll try to blog my progress - partly as a record for myself, partly for anyone else interested in scrapbooking - a bit of a getting started guide I suppose. I'll share links and resources, my mistakes and triumphs as I create my photo album.

As much as I am keen to get started, I am a bit of a perfectionist and it will get on my nerves if it's not done properly. As I have a few weeks to catch up on I am taking the time to plan my pages.

My first job was to paint the wooden letters I want to put on the cover of my book.

Painted letters

I want this to be more than just a photo album. Including notes, artefacts (for want of a better word) and any other little mementos such as, song lyrics, swatches from clothes, labels, cards, even tweets & facebook comments.

My second job was to decide on mini stories or pages to start my book. The first page will be mainly text with Evie's name, date and time of birth and weight, though I haven't decided how I want to lay this out yet. Then I want a mini family tree showing Evie's grandparents and immediate family. Then I'll do a timeline of my pregnancy, showing my bump growing and including scan photos, over maybe 4 or 6 pages.

I've then stuck in photos using blu tak so I can see roughly how much space I'll need. One thing this has shown me is that I do need to have everything that I want to inlude in one section or page ready to hand. So for the pregnancy section, for example, I need to have the photos, scans, comments, ready to stick in. I know this probably seems obvious, but I was hoping I could stick a few bits down and work the rest around it.

I haven't really chosen an overall colour scheme or theme for this book because it will be spanning quite a long time and I don't want to feel restricted. I'm assuming my own 'style' will shine through, but I am also looking forward to seeing how my skills develop as the book grows too.

I'll try to post un update every Sunday to show you how I am getting on. 

Scrapbook for Evie

I love photos. I would happily look through anyones photos, whether I know the people in them or not but it really isn't the same looking at pictures on the computer. You really can't beat opening a photo album or leafing through a pile of photos, and as technology advances so quickly I wonder what Evie will think of my photographs. How will she capture her memories in 15 years time? Will she look back at our digital photos and think 'ah, how did they manage?' in the same way as I look back and wonder how we coped with having 35 shots on a film and not being able to see the photo until it was developed.

In the 'old days' when we did still print photos I would put them into albums with notes and any little trinkets that added something. The date from a calendar, a ticket stub, whatever. And I still enjoy looking through them now. My early dabbling in scrapbooking, I guess.

For some reason this stopped around the time me and my husband got together nearly 8 years ago. Now all my photos are saved in folders on my computer and a few years back I started printing them out and putting them in albums, but didn't really get very far.

I used to love photography and would always have my camera with me, and this is another thing that has changed. With mobile phones able to take pretty good quality photos we tend to settle for those rather than making the effort to get the camera out. When I found out I was pregnant we bought a digital SLR camera and I want to start taking more, good quality, photos of Evie. I also want to print them out and preserve them for her.

So I am going to start a scrapbook for her. I have bought an A3 book from Paperchase, got some photos printed, bought a few scrapbooking supplies, and scoured the house for potential scrapbooking tools.

Scrapbooking Supplies

I can't wait to get started - I have 8 weeks to catch up on!