A Peek Between the Pages

I love love LOVE to get happy mail in the orange box (from Shutterfly...if you've never gotten happy orange box Shutterfly mail, you SHOULD...it's good for the soul). Just like every other year, I'm NOT caught up on my albums for the year. I'm totally okay with that. I live a real life. I don't have tons of free time. And when I do, I don't always feel creative (go figure).

I find it better to celebrate the accomplishments rather than focus on what's not done yet. So here's a little celebration of my most recent happy mail. I got my 1st quarter 2015 album in the mail! Wanna see?  Here' a peek at a few pages...



A few albums ago, I discovered the concept of including 1/2 pages in my bound albums. Yes, at first, I did have to overcome the fear of CUTTING the bound pages... but it turns out, it's not all that scary once you just do it. I love the end result - these little 1/2 pages are some of my favorites. I love that they add texture & interest, and give a little extra space for the overflow of photos and stories to tell.




Here's a peek at a plain ol' pocket-style spread. The colors on this make me happy, even though this was a scary week for us. We almost lost Dublin this week. :(  The ding dong ate a knee-high soccer sock, and got it stuck. He was in ROUGH shape. So glad he came out on the other side ok.


Inspired by a focus on the photo, I included a few 2-page spreads of one giant picture. Here's an example.




I also feel free to include a "regular" layout -  a more traditional approach to scrapbooking, I guess you could say. I figure there are no rules to how the album needs to be put together. If I feel like doing a layout every now and then, into the album it goes. :)


This half page tells a specific story. Everything related to this one memory is included on this 6x12 insert. Meagan dreamed up the idea to make a peach tart (???). This was the result of that idea :)


Sometimes the 1/2 pages are perfect for one larger photo.


And the back cover. I'm planning to keep the cover the same for each quarter of this year... just changing out the 3 months on the front cover that are included in the book. Keeping it simple and cutting down on the amount of work I have to do to call a book DONE.


Just a note... Last year I ordered Shutterfly's lay-flat pages to try them out. I was tired of things falling into the abyss between the pages. Turns out, I LOVE the lay-flat pages. They are a great solution for maintaining the integrity of the content toward the center of the layout. As for the impact of the pages on the album itself... the album is thicker for sure, but the pages are much sturdier as well. The one real drawback is the additional cost. If you don't want to splurge on the price, then it's just as doable to avoid adding details to the center of the layout.