I need some album advice....badly.

[TanyaH666]

ok. I finally got all my vacation photos sorted and whatnot. I have never made or printed a album before so I really have no idea how to go about this! I am starting to feel super overwhelmed and I haven't even started yet!!

So my question is, do you make your layouts in order or do you do them out of order? I would think doing them in order would be easier, but what if a I need to use some photos for a CT LO, do the page and then it throws off my whole album?! ACK!

Someone please talk me down from the ledge....lol.

[marlathrall]

Do them in whatever order you feel inspired. Forcing yourself to do them day by day will get boring and you will be less likely to complete the album. Good luck and be sure to share when you get it finished.

[joelsgirl]

This is what I would do. Take some time to look through the photos and sort them into pages, either copy them into folders by layout or make a list of pages you'll make with the number of photos on each page (adding how many photos makes it easier to match with Cindy's templates, lol). Check them off the list or delete the folders as you scrap the pages, and that way it doesn't matter if you scrap them in order or not.

Another thing I do sometimes is to make a vacation album using Janet's templates for consistency and then scrap my favorite photos separately for our yearly album.

But seriously, taking the time to sort through them now will save you some major headaches later.

[LeeAndra]

Get the bulk of the photos printed and put in a photo album. Get one of the albums where you can jot down a line or two next to the photos and add in names, dates, place, etc.

Take a breath.

Scrap your vaca photos however you like. When you start to freak out, remind yourself that you have all the photos printed off in an album so it's okay if you don't get all the pages done by XYZ time or done in XYZ way or some of the photos don't get scrapped at all. Focus on scrapping the photos that are especially beautiful, especially hilarious, or especially moving for you.

[Freckles]

I work similar to the way Kellie describes, only I use ACDSee to assign the photos to the different pages I want to make. After I have finished a page I save it like this: for example: 2011-08-13_VisitMountains. That way I don't have to scrap them chronologically but they end up chronological in my folder and they are already in the right order to upload them to an album printer service. I don't care that they're all scrapped with different kits, if something throws off, so be it. It limits my creativity too much to scrap them all with the same kit or with similar kits.
But I also love Leeandra's idea!

[abm234]

Scrap them in the order you feel inspired. You can print them and slip them into an album instead of making an actual book.

[julifish]

I've done this two ways. If you are going for a book that has the same general look through out then I'd pick a few kits that coordinate and then layout your pics in order. When I did my cruise book I scrapped the same general layout for each day for consistancy. Left page - big sideways pic that took up the top half of the page with a strip of paper across the top and one across the bottom, then journaling. On the right page I did 6 equal sized squares and either did pictures or little element art in each.

The other way I've done it is to just pic the pictures I want to use, put them in a folder by date and then scrap as I'm inspired to tell the story. I print and put the pics into my album as complete.

In either situation I always buy myself a rather plan album that holds 4x6 prints and print all the pics I love and put them in the album in order. That way if I take awhile making my layouts I still have pictures to share with family and at work.

Good luck! Don't let it stress you out...you are supposed to enjoy the process and there is definitely no deadline to finish unless you set one for yourself.

[mrspotts]

I do things differently than everyone. So I'll give you the flip side of what others have suggested.

I too put all my photos in one folder in order by date and time taken. I like things to flow by date just like I experienced them on my trip. I then start doing them in order. For me I feel that my album flows better together if I start at the beginning. However, I'm not locked into the notion. So if a CT assignment comes up that I know would work perfectly for some pictures later on in the trip, I jump to that point and scrap it. No point in wasting good inspiring products when they are there. After the CT assignment is over I go back to scrapping in order.

One thing I might mention too. I don't make albums for my trips. They go right in with all my other layouts. My layouts are organized chronological but I don't scrap chronological. Again it is because I like to see how the trip flows into the rest of our lives. What we were doing before the trip and after the trip. KWIM?

I really like the idea of printing the pics off before hand too. I've done that with a few trips so my kids and me can see them without having to wait for the scrapbook page.

[Jengerbread88]

I first take all of the photos from specific events (visiting a museum, beach photos, going to the aquarium, etc) and lump them together in their respective category. Then, I lump anything else into it's own area.
Most of mine include the meals (we prepare meals together in our condo, and it's a really important part of our vacation, in my mind), the beach, specific events, and then just some fun photos (photos of people, the rooms, etc). Then, I scrap from there. I don't have a set order.

[TanyaH666]

wow! these are seriously awesome ideas that i totally never would have thought of on my own!! thank you soo much for all your ideas =)