For years I have kept my photographs in boxes. So many special moments and memories just tucked away in a box.
When I would find my kids going through the boxes I'd be the first to tell them, "Make sure you keep them in the places you found them, I worked hard on organizing them all". Sounds a little crazy, right? And no matter how much I reminded them, the pictures were never put back in the same places. But watching my children go through the pictures, laughing and reminiscing of memories of the pictures they were holding in their hands....I knew I didn't want my cherished photographs to be kept in boxes any longer.
I decided that day to start a project that I know will take quite a while to finish. But I know when this project is finished, it will be well worth all the hard work I put into it.
For me it was like Christmas the day this book was delivered. My kids spent over an hour looking through all of the pages and reading all that had been written for that year. They were laughing with each other, tearing up at several of the deployment pages, pointing out favorite days and remembering all the days and memories from the book they were holding in their hands.
This was a deployment year for us, so the book was full of pictures and memories. I added a sentimental quote to the front cover, something that represented our year. I used the overlay tag from
Jamie Shultz Designs.
I chose to use
Blurb for our books. The program is easy to use and I wanted to be able to put a whole year of pages into one large book. I chose the 12x12 size and filled up the book with as many pages as I could (440 to be exact).
I designed monthly pages for our book; it was a simple way to keep it all in order.
I have kept a family blog for years. I love how I am able to go back and put all the stories that I have written into each of these books.
I have a few favorite layouts that I find myself using in the book. I love having a favorite picture as a full page spread and then using the pictures from the same event on the facing page.
This is another favorite page layout -
I try to keep a good balance of white on the page, I feel it lets the pictures stand out and help tell the story of the book. But some pages, just a few, I love filling up every bit of the page.
This page below is a favorite design as well. To make this page, use a full page spread on both the left and right pages. Slide the picture over just a bit on the opposite page as the picture, or until both pictures overlap and you have a page that flows from one page to the next.
I always try to include a letter to my husband and each of my children in the book.
I love Instagram. I also love how you can fill up a page full of Instagram pictures.
I always take detailed shots of where I am, it really adds to the look of each page.
I always include a page in the book for our dog, Molly.
I also try to make sure that I include things that have great significance. I looked at the countdown app every single day of the deployment. Looking at the screenshot of the countdown reminds me how excited I was the day it finally said " One Day...". I also photographed the email that I received from my husband letting me know the first part of his trip home had begun.
And this page, I designed it so that it would show the sequence of events. We had planned a surprise homecoming with each of our kid's schools. This one is of our son and his surprise at a Friday pep rally. He had no idea what was going on or why he was called to the floor for a spirit award. Little did he know his father that had been deployed was waiting for the signal to run in and surprise him.
And just to give you an idea of how many pictures and pages can be fit into one beautiful book. . .
Each week I will be writing a post and a project for the "Cherish Your Photographs" series.
Here are just a few ideas of the upcoming posts:
Collecting and Organizing Children's Artwork and School Papers
Photographing Keepsakes
Organizing Photographs and Negatives
Transferring Negatives to Digital
Follow along with me if you like! I have years of photographs and memories to put into books.
For Pinterest: