Aggie Shoots. Aggie Scraps.

Matthew’s second grade album arrived from Artscow and I was impressed with their cover. It’s been a year since I last printed a book from them and I noticed how the cover seems to be more laminated (is that the term?).  The colors were also right. Artscow  has the tendency to have a hit or miss with printing – so it is always better not to overplay effects on photos.

The binding. I remembered to label it. All my eight books have no labels!

Here are the spreads:

A few realizations:

1. Big pictures work on small albums. This one is 8×8 and the solo pictures of Matthew were awesome.

2. No journaling on dark colored pages – or have a font that is BOLD. The last picture had journaling on the red paper and not unless my son really puts his eyes near the book he cannot even read it.

Spreads are easier to do. It may look boring in Photoshop – but it will look so much better in print.

You better hoard on Janet Phillip’s double templates @ SSD now

I am so proud that I was able finish this. I hope I can finish two more before my credits expire on June 6th – trying to balance life a bit so I need to do other things.

You can see our full album here. You need to be an Artscow member first sign up here.

So far, I have managed to get a decent family picture of us every month and have it scrapped. My Project365 has failed (more on that later), I missed a week already when something personal came up. I am going to make books from January-March though. That’s the best thing I have thought of so far – as I have not been scrapping that much as well.

So many things happening with our little family lately that I want to make sure I take it all in and document. But then I realized that you do what you can and just live in the moment, and trust your heart not to betray you and give you your memories

Some important updates though: The husband has quit (or is trying to quit) smoking! Yay! No more arturo fuente cigars and stinky breath! I had my hair curled, after ten million years and I will have two kids in school by June!

Scrapbooking should included as one of the best treatments for depression. Nothing beats putting everything out in the open even if it is just on paper. I know that people need outlets to release their stress and creativity. I have found that in scrapbooking. Note that not all pages need pictures. You just need words. The photo may not be yours even (be sure to credit though).

Here are some of my real life scrapbooking pages:

I am aching to scrap, seriously. I haven’t been able to set aside a day or even an hour to really just scrap for myself. It would either be too swamped with work writing about hydroxycut reviews and outdoor storage, too hot (the heat is terrible I tell you), or too preoccupied with reading this Jodi Picoult book I am having trouble finishing and watching Glee.

I have coupons from Artscow expiring a month from now and I think I will get my Project 365 printed – I didn’t last through April I think – I’ve missed a week already I think. I seriously need to sit down and upload my pictures. I need to set aside some time for that too *sigh*.

I am so excited! I made a very spur-of-the-moment decision last month and did something without even thinking it would lead to something affirmative. But it did and I am so excited! Finally, that is all I can say. My husband is excited and happy for me too. No, we won’t be handing out any baby announcements if you think we are expecting, but you will find out next month once I have proof of it! Yey!

31 is the magic number!

It is the number of pages (some of then two-page spreads counted as one even) I have made for March! March is turning out to be a pretty fruitful month, scrapping wise!

Lest you think that I have not been getting off the computer from scrapping too much and I might need atro phex to help me lose my pounds around my thighs, you are wrong! Thanks to amazing templates I can finish a page within an hour or two! And planning pages really does wonder (being organized too!).

I have finally finished my son’s 2nd grade album (he is finishing 3rd grade next week – go figure!) and I am not doing school by the year anymore, maybe a year per page spread more likely. I have my daughter coming to school by June and I will never catch up if I do this again!

While for some it would be job-related like mastering a project management software or something personal like learning how to drive or cook, scrapbooking forums are abuzz this month with threads on scrapbooking goals for the year.You can find awesome inspiring projects here. I also made a post on my main scrapbooking resolution this year.

I am actually very interested in this (surprise surprise!):

And finally, Listography: Your Life in Lists. This is the first in a series of spin-off guided journals (you’ll also find titles geared toward music, love, the calendar, etc.). It’s not necessarily ground-breaking material—I don’t know about you, but I’ve been making lists since I first started writing—but the guided, fill-in format is kind of fun, the topics aren’t necessarily ones I would have thought up on my own, and the illustrations are quirky and entertaining. Books like this make excellent resources for scrapbookers, because the sole purpose is to help you get your story down on paper. A worthy goal, I think we can all agree. A fun bonus: the creators of this series also run a free website where you can digitize, customize, and categorize your lists (publicly or privately). A list of 52 projects, anyone?

January is the time of the year when most people set goals for themselves and aim too high. Across forums, there is a thread about scrapping resolutions. And I thought I can do one this year because I was able to accomplish mine last year (get caught up in all printing) – I would like to thank Artscow for that. Now if my husband can promise to lessen his habit to buy cigars twice a day, I can promise to scrap less.

Yep, you heard me. My goal is to scrap less this year. Accomplish more things. Live life more.

I only plan to make sure I carry out my Project 365 for 2010. I am so inspired by Janet Phillips’ album (hers is on Facebook) and Shannon Bieger’s album (hers is on Flickr). One picture provides a snippet of their lives and speak so much more than 10 pages of scrapped pages.

Not that I am giving up entirely on scrapbooking – no. NEVER! But I have some priorities that need to take centerstage this year that in order for me to keep scrapbooking, it needs to be modified to fit into my life.