All About MY Scrapbooking #2

I started this new series last month based on some questions I've gotten through the years about my scrapbooking.. I have no idea how long I'll keep it going but feel free to ask away if you have any questions you want answered! 

How I organize our albums-- By child/ event-- in chronological order. 

It started rather accidently that each of the boys ended up with their own scrapbooks.  Ian's books have always been navy blue and since I had nearly 2 full books when Alec was born it seemed weird to add his pages into "Ian's" album.  I started Alec with maroon/red albums. Then when Evan came along I used brown for his (which eventually became black as I could no longer find brown)... I have created a few vacation albums along the way too that are more "family" memories which means that sometimes after our trips I'm creating 4 pages using similar or even the same photos. 

Each child ended up with his or her own shelf on our bookshelf too!

Which Albums do I use-- When I first started out the only option was to use post or D-ring albums but I am very particular about my albums now and the strap hinge albums are all I will use.  They can be so hard to find and I've been known to buy 5 at a time when I do find them... and their refill pages and page protectors too. 

The D ring albums always looked like 2 ring binders to me and pages had a tendency to break or tear

Post hinge albums often bowed because the spine was so tight the pages were much thicker when filled.

I love that I can really fill strap hinge albums and they sill lay flat and look nice and professional

How I pick my colors/ patterns-- The page colors are often inspired by the colors in the photos. I also use what's going on in the photo to help plan my page embellishments.  

Here you can really see all the green and orange of the Nickelodeon resort that inspired the page colors

Favorite embellishments and materials to use- These have changed greatly through the years too: I mostly used to Jolee's 3-D embellishments, raffia, buttons, etc. and now that I have a Cricut I tend to use a lot of paper pieced items. 

I loved all the detail Jolee's stickers had and they were so easy to just stick!

Raffia, twine, and ribbon were such an easy way to add interest

Then the Cricut details really started taking over and now that's pretty much the main tool/embellishment I use. 

Where I get layout ideas-- From all over.  I used to have Stampin' Up! catalog/idea books that had scrapbook layout throughout.  I had subscribed to scrapbooking magazines and used layouts/ ideas I found in there.  I've checked out idea books from the library.  Mostly now I use Pinterest or pages I've made myself since I have so many completed books it's fun to look through and take an old idea/layout and recreate it with different colors, or rotate it sideways and change things just slightly to give a new look to a fun old  layout. 

Some of my all time favorite layouts:

I love the 3 photos in a row (or slightly overlapping) -- like in the Sunflower farm layout above.  I tend to use that A LOT. 

I also tend to like to cluster my photos together on one color/ pattern of paper and then lay them as a unit on another contrasting paper.

This map storage idea for Disney; I tried to collect maps each trip so now we have years worth of maps and we can see how the parks have changed over time.

Since this post is running pretty long with a lot of photos I'll tackle a few more of my favorite layouts next time and also some of my favorite "must have" tools and supplies. 

Some more of my favorite pages:

My hidden Mickey Indiana Jones was fun to make!

I love pages that sparkle! 

Both one of my favorite photos and I LOVED how the Little Mermaid paper pieced project turned out; especially after I glittered the heck out of Ariel's tail.  

I love a quick, easy, and striking layout!

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