Over the years, I have taken numerous photos of my children probably just like many thousands upon thousands of parents. This past week my son turned 25 years old, and I decided to make him a scrapbook of his first twenty-five years.

My first thoughts were to do a page of pictures for each year of his 25 years. Once I started going through the pictures, however, themes started to emerge.

Along with these themes, I put motivational quotes on each page. The quotes seemed to fit nicely with the pictures and also had wonderful words of wisdom for his next 25 years.

Here are a few examples of the pages:

Santa sees Curtis Grow Up

This took up two pages. I pasted pictures of Curt with Santa. Along with these pictures I put the following quotes:

If I could wish a wish for you, it would be for peace and happiness not only now, but for the whole year through!”
Catherine Pulsifer

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” -Norman Vincent Peale

“It came without ribbons,

It came without tags,

It came without packages, boxes, or bags.

Christmas can’t be bought from a store…

Maybe Christmas means a little bit more.”

Dr.Seuss

Curtis with His New Baby Sister
This filled 4 pages of the scrapbook. It showed pictures of when his sister was born and pictures of the two of them growing up. I also pasted quotes throughout these pages:

“Sisters are for sharing laughter and wiping tears.”
Author Unknown

“Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there.”
Amy Li

“A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.” -Isadora James

Special People in Curtis’ Life

These pages were filled with people in Curtis’ life over the years. It brought back wonderful memories of family and friends over the years. I used the following quotes on these pages:

“Family isn’t about whose blood you have. It’s about who you care about.”
Trey Parker & Matt Stone

“The love of a family is life’s greatest blessing.”
-Author Unknown

“And most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today.”
-Author Unknown

“My family. I realized they are the most important part of my life. Throughout the year I had many challenges, but my family were always there offering support and encouragement.”
-Catherine Pulsifer

Curtis’s Many Vehicles

These pages were filled with pictures of Curtis’ younger days….pictures of him riding different vehicles at the fairs, pictures of him standing beside his Dad’s car. The quote that I used for these pictures was:

“The important things in life are not things.”
-Author Unknown

The scrapbook was filled with many more themes some as described above. It turned out to be a wonderful present. So, if you are looking for a simple, inexpensive but meaningful gift, and you have trouble journaling in a scrapbook, take your pictures and add quotes. You will find quotes will express the thoughts you have. You will end up with a scrapbook that has both meaning and memories!

Catherine Pulsifer is one of the editors of Stress Relief by a Simple Life where you will find craft projects, info on simplicity, frugal living, inspirational quotes, and more.

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Looking to make that 1% difference that enhances your Scrapbook pages and brings them to a whole new level? Enlarge the photos!

While on a routine shopping trip to a local Costco with my CD’s full of photos, I was amazed to find that they offered 8×12 - so I figured I’d try one. Immediately upon getting the photos back from that order I put my 8×12 to work.

The advantage of using this great new size on your scrapbooks is that it fits top to bottom, or side to side on a 12×12 scrapbook layout. Generally this size photo is the one I like the best out of the set, so having it bigger shows detail and shows the subject(s) large… add a matted 4×6 photo and title to the mix and even can easily continue your layout to fill two pages. For those that haven’t experienced this new size, I’d like to invite you to get to your local Costco, or other digital media outlet which processes JPG/GIF and give your layout a face-lift.

The prices at my local Costco were 49˘ for 4×6’s, returned within one-hour and $1.99 for 8×12, returned within twenty-four hours.

TIP: Burn your photos to Compact Discs by the size you want to print them (i.e. 4×6, 5×7, 8×12, etc) - one size per disc. Your organization now saves you time at the kiosk.

When all is said and done, and you’ve tried using this idea - Step back and take a look at The Bigger Picture!

See Sample at http://www.LStarkeyDesigns.com, hosts more tips, tricks, and general Scrapbooking Ideas for many years to come.

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Scrapbooking takes time. It sometimes can last all night if you’re in the mood! But what if you don’t have all night to devote to your hobby? Here are some timesaving tips so that you can get the most out of your time:

Gather all photos for one layout. Pick out coordinating papers, embellishments, etc. Also jot down a layout idea for the page. Place all in a storage size zip lock bag. When you’re ready to scrap, just pull a bag out and you don’t have to think at all about what to do. You just cut and paste!

Another idea is to use a transparency for your journaling. This way you don’t have to print on your paper before you adhere it to your page. A transparency is just that, transparent, so it will look like it’s not even there when you place it on your page. I use Mono Adhesive for it because it is clear and hardly shows up. But you can uses brads, vellum adhesive, or other clear adhesives for it.

Do a little at a time. If you find that you have a spare ten minutes, cut the photo mats and adhere the pictures to them. Make embellishments, write the journaling, anything that will make the piecing together faster and less stressful.

Have all of your supplies in one area so you’re not running around everywhere looking for things. To make it easier too, try storing your supplies in portable drawers. That way you can move them to wherever you can work on them.

Scrapbooking takes a lot of time and devotion. But with a few imaginative steps, it can all come together in no time!

I have been scrapbooking for over 7 years now. I have made several scrapbooks for different clients. I enjoyed doing that. I am more focused on getting my work published on websites and magazines. I have been on 2 different design teams, the most recent being for ScrapbookPal.com, They carry

Tombow,
Fiskars, and
Discount Scrapbook Supplies and more.

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