So What's Your Plan Anyway?

Do you have a scrapbooking plan?

Or do you just scrap that photos as you take them?

For me, I mostly scrap photos as I take them, but I have quite a few that I need to go back and do (from years ago). How do you remember what happened when?

I also want to start a project for my kids, something they'll have when they're grown, our legacy. I want to write them letters - letters about life lessons...stuff.

Some days I don't know where in this plan I should start.

How 'bout you??

Plan is no plan! I scrap what moves me and so I'm all over the place! When I do finish some stuff I will put them in books for my kids for each year. TI jsut may take a while!

are we s upposed to have a plan? haha..
I'm not really a "scrapbooker" .. I just make things cause I feel like it. I don't print out my stuff.. and I randomly grab photos here and there. they could be 3 years old, or taken 5 minutes ago. I like randomness

Yup, mine is random too, and normally depends on the kit I wanna use. I've got lots and lots of photos, taken recently, a few years ago, from when I was young, and even from when my grannies were young (that takes a bit of work to convince them to let me scan it though )

The only plan a) I have is I've gotta finish all my CT commitments before I even touch the kits I buy; and b) scrap digi on weekdays, hybrid on weekends.

oh yeah...my hobby works for me not the other way around.

like on one hand...if I were to keel over tomorrow atleast there are some memories captured of their lives so far ... but on the other hand, scrapping is my hobby. Like I like to knit....but the end result isn't always a scarf. So the end result for me isn't always an album/etc with scrapping.

Right now since I'm going through my divorce most of my layouts are about me. B/c it's what is on my mind. I'm using it as an outlet and when I feel secure and happy again I'll do more layouts of the kids...I totally take this on a 'what suits me at the time' basis.

When I scrap I usually go for photos from the last 6 months or so unless I have a reason to dig for older. I'll never get them all scrapped so I'm not worrying about it

I keep a notebook where I write down the pages I want to make. I have always done yearly albums, so I have a list for each month based on the stories or photos I want to use. But I also do scrap sometimes as I am inspired.

I really like having a plan, though.

lauren grier said:

are we s upposed to have a plan? haha..
I'm not really a "scrapbooker" .. I just make things cause I feel like it. I don't print out my stuff.. and I randomly grab photos here and there. they could be 3 years old, or taken 5 minutes ago. I like randomness

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hehe this is what i do. I take photos whenever... then find kits I like, fit a photo in then create a page. I never print either. I just have fun!!

I wish I had a plan... I'm so behind on everything I start... Project 365, photos taken and in the templates, but not done... vacation photos taken, templates and kits purchase, but just sitting there. So, I scrap first for challenges then if I can get the laptop away from the hubby, I will start at the current month and try to scrap pages. I would love to have all my pages for this year done at the end of the year to print in a photobook... however at the rate I'm going... it's laughable...

I mostly scrap as I go. Each of my kids has an album from birthday to birthday. As I take photos I put a copy into a "to scrap" folder of the ones I want. Each of my kids also has a diary that I write in on a regular basis to just update what they've learned or any funny things they say.

I don't have a plan either, I just scrap whatever. And I'm not big on printing either, even though I kinda have plans to print, it just never seem to happen

I usually get a book printed every christmas with a bunch of LO's made from the previous year, i just pick the ones I like best, but I try to include the big occasions, and I give them to grandparents, great grandparents and people like that, and then I keep one for us.

I have no plan. Especially since my mojo is severely lacking this this year. I have grand plans to do all sorts of this things, but as life interfere's they fall through. And I'm ok with that. I knew this year was going to be tough with the wedding and all that.

I do't scrap chronologically, and I don't have kids. So I don't have to worry about "their" books or albums or stories just yet. Hopefully when we do have kids, I'll get a system figured out, lol.

I'm pretty much like La and Susan. I just scrap as a creative outlet (which I DESPERATELY need), it's a big bonus that it'll be something for my kids to look at as they grow older.

I just scrap whatever suits me. Sometimes Ill scrap older pictures of my kids (which are usually kinda bad), sometimes Ill scrap ones that I just took, then I scrap pictures of my pets and of nature because I love nature photography. I find scrapping anything having to do with just nature the hardest though. But basically there is no real plan just whatever happens to be on my mind and in my heart at the time

I scrap as I find photos I would like to scrap. Once a year (or when I have 101 layouts) I order a Shutterfly 12" photobook and I love to flip throught it now and then - and so do my family

KirstieGai said:

I mostly scrap as I go. Each of my kids has an album from birthday to birthday. As I take photos I put a copy into a "to scrap" folder of the ones I want. Each of my kids also has a diary that I write in on a regular basis to just update what they've learned or any funny things they say.

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My "plan" is a lot like this. I do 1 album per age for each kid. Scrap-worthy photos go into a To Be Scrapped folder soon after I put them on the computer. I also do the journaling, or at least some notes, when I move the photos to that folder. That way I can remember the stories whether I scrap them the next day or the next year. I also keep a running list of cute things each kid says organized by month. That way if I have a photo with no specific story I can pair it with a cute quote from the same time. Within the photos waiting to be scrapped, I scrap whatever I feel like or whatever goes with a kit I want to use. Periodically I clean out that folder, since I'll never get everything scrapped. If photos are older than a year, I know I need to scrap them ASAP or delete them from the folder.

My plan is to scrap whatever will keep myself sane enough to make it through each day without devouring one of my young!!!

Actually when I sit down to scrap I go to my "Needs Scrapped" folder and when I find a kit that calls to me then I go into my photo tags and search for a picture that I think will go with that kit. It might be one I took yesterday or one from 7 years ago!!!

I scrap in order for the most part. I tag the pictures from each month that I want to scrap. I don't print until I have like 3 months done.

I like to be caught up. I'm printed through March, and I'm done through June, I just need to print them.

nesser1981 said:

I scrap in order for the most part. I tag the pictures from each month that I want to scrap. I don't print until I have like 3 months done.

I like to be caught up. I'm printed through March, and I'm done through June, I just need to print them.

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I would SO love to be this organized about things. Problem is..for me...when I started, I already had a 5 year old...many of them are bad photos, so I couldn't be this neat about things. I had to do what I could and it's been a struggle. Also I have needed breaks here and there, usually 2-3 wks at a time, 2-3x a year, that would really trip me up if I were trying to meet a goal like this.

Your system is so ideal though, I envy your ability to do it this way!

My plan is to get caught up. I know I know it will never happen, but still darn it...some day! So I scrap usually for CTs and for challenges and try to fit older pictures into them. But sometimes the newer photos call to me and I just have to play with them and/or new kits. You don't want to know how many "not used yet" kits I have, I don't think I'll ever get caught up there either!

I am 'really trying' to get a plan for myself and finish (and print) on scrapbook a year. I have almost 6 years of photos and have been jumping around here and there with my pages. All I know is I WILL have a book to print at the end of the year (I hope).

DS1 was born in 2002. I started scrapping in 2005. My plan is too keep up with the now while filling in the past. If I don't have a specific photo in mind for a layout I first go through the past couple of months. If I don't find anything I like there I go back to 2002 and work forward from unscrapped photos.

Printing is very haphazard. My dad's 70th birthday coincided with a great deal from inkubook so I organized 120 layouts by date and had a book printed for him and a copy for me. I'll randomly print a dozen or so pages as funds allow but most of my layouts are just screensavers these days

I wait for a good sale and print my pages every few months, that's about all the planning I do. I go with the flow...follow my moods and the mojo.

If I feel like I'm supposed to do things in a certain way it takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. I scrap with multiple purposes in mind, some are for my kids, some are just for fun, some are cathartic etc...Whatever (and I'm finally where I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. )

Keira was 18 months when I started and I just went from birth-18 months, I didn't scrap anything else until I was finished. It took me about 6 months to do it.

It took me a couple years to do my wedding pictures, which I had to scan, so I feel your pain, sorta. LOL! Its not 5 years of pictures.

LenaBrandenburg said:

I would SO love to be this organized about things. Problem is..for me...when I started, I already had a 5 year old...many of them are bad photos, so I couldn't be this neat about things. I had to do what I could and it's been a struggle. Also I have needed breaks here and there, usually 2-3 wks at a time, 2-3x a year, that would really trip me up if I were trying to meet a goal like this.

Your system is so ideal though, I envy your ability to do it this way!

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My only plan is to tell my family's story, so I'm fine with however that happens. I keep a word file on my desktop and add stories and funny things my kids say, and when the mood strikes, I'll scrap from that file. I don't do things in order and my albums are categorical, not chronological. There's no pressure to be caught up this way. It works for me.

I love your idea about writing letters to the kids.

Here is my No Plan, Plan:

The book Big Picture Scrapbooking by Stacy Julian helped me change the way I do things. Sometimes I will choose pictures just because I'm working on a challenge here or I just want to scrap them. My emphasis has also changed over the years. I want to get down the stories.

Just recently I decided that I want to work on a book about my memories from my childhood (mainly the positive ones). So right now that is my Plan -- to do that book. But then I'm trying to do challenges to earn some Sweet Reward points so I do those too. And then if I come across some photos that I just want to scrap I'll do those. Or the the designers will come out with a kit that kicks off an idea so I'll work on that page.

I find the not so chronological plan much more freeing for me. I think it has also helped me make more interesting pages for my family because when I focus on the story and what I want to tell them or entertain them with, I write something much more interesting than Camping June 2003 (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Plus, up until more recent years I don't have photos or very few photos to work with. This new way of thinking has helped me to really develop journaling without the photos (and the designers here are so talented that frequently I can find a kit that has embellishments/papers that can fill the void of my lack of photos).

Plus, when I think about looking through my grandmother's old scrapbooks with her, she would have the photos in the photo holders and maybe have written who was in the photo, where it was and the date. But then the GOOD stuff came out as she was showing it to you. The man she didn't marry because she married grandpa, why this girl was really her friend, the type of car they rode in to get to that park, etc. She would tell you all of these stories that were so good but were not written down anywhere.

So, that is the long explanation of my no plan, plan.

When I started scrapbooking, I had a five year old son and million pictures of myself and my parents and my husband and his childhood pictures I wanted to scrap. And I really wanted to get all caught up

Reading Stacy's books called Big Picture Scrapbooking and Photo Freedom really allowed me to just scrap what I want documented - I'm still waaaay behind, since I have creative blocks and creative spurts so scrapping comes and goes for me at times. However, I always write things down, with the hopes of scrapping them in the future. If not, my diaries are still a way to document things down.

Re: albums, I just started doing a yearly tradition of doing our Christmas Album. Everything else just gets thrown in our albums.

So we have some fans of this Stacy's book? Can anyone link us up??

I need a plan. I'm so random... it's whatever the kit matches... =/

And then there will be some sale on photobooks and I'm scrambling to decide an order.
I suck at this game.

I am random too. I scrap by kit usually and mostly go in order with photos..but not all the time. I just find a pic to match the kit and I try to use one that I haven't before...but I will rescrap if it's a photo I love.

I do'nt have tons of old photos and baby pics from the boys because we did not always have a camera or anything..

Here's a link to Big Picture Scrapbooking:

Personally, I found that book more helpful to me in changing my way of thinking and "freeing" me up to enjoy scrapbooking.

I also have Photo Freedom that Aggie mentioned. It is a good book but I thought it was more about how to organize.

IMO the Photo Freedom book won't be as helpful if you don't first accept the Big Picture Scrapbooking concept because that influences how Photo Freedom teaches you to organize (by people, places, etc.)

It's been awhile since I've read both books but they're on my scrapbooking bookshelf so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

I scrap completely at random. I haven't printed a page, but I probably will at some point.

My son was born in 2000, I didn't start scrapping until 2007, so I was already that far behind. I just do whatever, whenever, and hopefully eventually, I'll manage to get it all done somehow.

Well my goal is 500 layouts a year and generally I make it. So my plan is to scrap a lot...having a laptop helps tremendously.

My plan is to take pictures of robotics once it starts up next month and stay current on those so we have a scrapbook to display at competition. My other one is to finish up bowling layouts...and when the Fall season starts up in 3 weeks to try my BEST to scrap 2 layouts (1 for each book) every single week and stay current (I put their scores in it that way we can toss all those papers around the house...and they can see how much they have improved).

I am trying to scrap a "cd case" calendar for dh for next year for his Christmas present...so far I have 2 months done (just decided to do it this summer)...so going to try to do the last several months and get them printed and stashed and ready to go. I am also going to scrap a wall calendar for 2010 of our Disney pictures...so I guess I better get busy!

Right now...it is to try to make as many of the SSD challenges fit a Disney theme so I can get my pictures scrapped from vacation and get those printed and in all 3 scrapbooks!

500 layouts a year. That's amazing. My jaw is on my desk right now.