Creating an album celebrating your child’s accomplishments during his or her first year is a wonderful way to capture the exciting growth that takes place during the year. This can seem like an overwhelming project, but with a little planning, it should be a fun project.
I have now created three first year baby albums, one for each of our three kids and I have learned a lot during the process. I’d love to share some tips for managing the project and would love to hear about what others have done for their child’s baby album.
Keep a daily calendar for your child.
Purchase a blank calendar and then fill in the dates that will match your child’s first year. I did not get to the calendar everyday, but I made it a goal to fill in the calendar each week. Some ideas of things to include on the calendar are: events (trip to the zoo, dinner at Grandma’s), accomplishments (sitting alone, first smile), and sleeping and eating habits. This calendar will make the journaling in the scrapbook simple.
Sort pictures by month as you get them printed.
I like to slip them right into the page protector in the album where I want the page to go. I also write on a sticky note the subject and dates related to the page (second month, Easter, etc.)
Do one layout for each month.
This may not seem like enough space to capture each month, but I have found it is plenty of space to place my favorite pictures for the month and write in the journaling (with help from my daily calendar.)
Create a few other pages to celebrate special events.
There are a few holidays and other special events (such as a vacation or birthday) where you will have so many pictures that you will want to make another layout for that event. I would suggest keeping this to five or less event layouts for the entire album so that the album project doesn’t become too overwhelming.
Use one paper line that you really love.
I chose to use Basic Grey’s Sweetpea Alyssa Baby line of paper and then bought coordinating packs of cardstock. Using only one paper line gives the album a unified look and makes it easier to design since you don’t have to go through piles of paper looking for something new to use for each layout.
Keep the embellishments simple.
Repeating the same embellishments throughout the album will give the album a uniform look and help keep your design simple.
Enjoy the process.
Have fun remembering each moment of your child’s first year and enjoy creating a gift that he or she will cherish forever.