I have a friend who is really on top of picture taking and scrapbooking. Every year she takes pictures of family parties, events and general everyday living then she puts it all together in a book at the end of the year. Okay, so this just sounds like the scrapbooking we all do right? Well, she takes it a step further and makes it more like family history keeping! She creates a spiral bound, 8.5 x 11 book for every member of her family. In this book there are several pages for each family member and their pursuits throughout the year. She also includes family vacations, get togethers and just fun stuff. I have to tell you that this friend is the party queen and she hosts fabulous event parties for Easter, Mother’s Day, etc. She includes the invitations and pictures of these events. Is there any better way to remember the year and create a wonderful history for posterity at the same time?

Here are some tips to create your own yearbook. First of all – take lots of pictures! You can’t have a quality yearbook unless you have great photos to put in it. Don’t just take pictures of the stuff you think is important. Take pictures of everyday events – Mom cooking dinner, Dad mowing the lawn, the family playing the Wii. It is the everyday events that make memories and these things will endear you to your future posterity. Think about it, isn’t it the stories of everyday life that you enjoy most about your ancestors? Make sure you take notes and record the who, what, why, where, etc. No one likes to look though a scrapbook and play guess who!

Next, to avoid an overwhelming task at the end of the year scrap the pages throughout the year. If you stay on top of it, you will remember the details of the events and you will have less stress at the end of the year. You will just need to print, bind and wrap! A ready made gift that you have created with love all year long.

When printing your book you can rely on professional printers to create a beautifully bound book. Or you can print it yourself using a high quality printer (I like HP Photosmart printers, but everyone has their favorites!). Make sure you use good quality paper like the Epson Double Sided Photo Paper. This paper is high quality, shows the colors brilliantly, and since it is matte you won’t have a glare.

NOTE – Anything you print with an inkjet printer is not waterproof so if it gets wet you will get smears. To prevent this, put your pages in sheet protectors or treat it with Preserve-It Digital Photo & Paper Protectant. This is a spray that will create a water and fade proof barrier on your inkjet printed photos. Just to test, I printed scrapbook page on the Epson paper and then sprayed them with Preserve-It. I then ran the page under a faucet and it didn’t run or smear. Of course you would never put a photo under running water, but I was a skeptic so I had to test it!

Start now to create a wonderful keepsake for your family and friends. Not only will you be giving them a wonderful gift of memories, you will be creating an invaluable history of your family.

Here it is, a brand new year. Have you made your resolutions yet? It seems we like to start the year resolving to eat better, exercise more, and be budget wise. But what are your scrapbook goals? Now, don’t laugh – I am serious! Do you have any scrapbook goals for 2010?

If you haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions that have the word ‘scrapbook’ in them, let me help you. The number one thing you should resolve to do this year is take more pictures!. Keep a small camera with you all the time, because you never know when the perfect shot will happen. There are wonderful compact cameras on the market that take excellent photos. So even though you might prefer to take pictures with your ‘nice’ camera, you will find that having a purse camera is very handy!

Next, get the pictures off the camera! So now that you have taken all these great photos, where are they? If you are like a lot of people they are still sitting on your memory card – in the camera. Upload the photos to your computer and then back them up. It is a good idea to have at least to back up copies of your photos and scrapbook pages. You never know when you might have hard drive failure.

Make a scrapbook plan. Set a goal for scrapbooking so many times per month, or finishing so many pages. Make it a realistic goal that you will be able to attain – we want success, not failure! One idea for the new year is to create a ‘year in review’ book. Start now and take photos and create a layout each month. At the end of the year you have a fun book that has all the highlights of the previous month. This type of book makes a great gift for grandparents too!

Make a photo book. Another fun gift for almost anyone is a professionally bound photo book. These books become treasured keepsakes and look wonderful – just like something you would pick up at a bookstore, but it is all about your family!  Learn how to make a photo book today!

Print your pages. As you finish your layouts – print them! Everyone loves to flip through a scrapbook and relive memories. Sure, you can look at the layouts on your computers, but having them in a book you can hold is wonderful. Polka Dot Potato does wonderful scrapbook printing, any size including 12×12. Their prices are great and the quality is fabulous!

Sit down and write your scrapbook goals for the coming year. When you get to next December you will be glad you did!

It is that time of year again, the sights, the smells, and the shopping! It is so exciting when you find the perfect gift for someone – you know when you have it. You can’t wait until they open it because you just know they are going to love it! But what do you get that person who has everything?  How about a digital photo book? These are great to give grandparents because they LOVE to show off their grandkids!

Here are some ideas to create the best photo book gift.  If you want to drop photos into a pre-made template and have it bound into a book, you can visit one of the many different online printing services like Tiny Prints. If you order a book through them by December 10 you get free shipping. Online photo printing services offer lots of options for your book – different sizes, page styles, etc. You can create a personal photo book very easily. Many online sites also allow you to upload scrapbook pages you have created and print them into a book.

Another idea is to create a fun book of the years events by using quick pages. Quick pages allow you to put your photos into pre-made scrapbook pages. These pages are darling and so easy to use. This is one of my favorites:
This quick page is created using the Adorable Leonardo – Quick Pages by Nandinha Menezes. This quick page set includes 10 8×8 quick pages and is available at Polka Dot Potato.

You can also use scrapbook pages you have created throughout the year and print them as 8×8 pages instead of 12×12. You can print your own with great results! I print my 8×8 pages on my HP Photosmart Printer with fabulous results! you will want to print on a good quality matte paper. I use Epson Matte Photo Paper (I buy it in bulk!). You will get a velvety smooth print with vibrant color. I like using matte paper when I am putting the pages in sheet protectors, I guess I don’t want a double does of gloss! Plus, I really like the way photos look after being printed on the Epson Matte paper – gorgeous!

If you want to make sure the ink doesn’t run, spray your print with Krylon Preserve-It Digital Photo & Paper Protectant when the print is dry. I gave this spray the test – after spraying a page and letting the spray dry, I ran it under water just to see if the ink would run. It passed! The page stayed perfectly printed – of course I wouldn’t recommend running your scrapbook pages under a faucet, but at least you know your prints will be safe from water drops! The Krylon Preserve-It spray comes in a matte finish or a gloss finish. This spray is good for protecting all your inkjet printed photos!

There are many different options for creating digital photo books for gifts. What is most important is you are giving a gift you created yourself – that is far better than anything you can buy at the store!