Search Results for: blog choo choo scrapbook

Genealogy And Homeschooling

With the start of the new school year, curriculum may be on the minds of many homeschooling families. If genealogy is something that you would like to incorporate into your children’s homeschooling there are many ways that you can do it. Genealogy lends itself well to many different study areas including creative pursuits like scrapbooking, English language (writing family history), science, and geography as well as history. Depending upon the ages and interests of your children, you can introduce them to genealogy in any number of ways. For example, you could create a pedigree chart, have each child choose a … Continue reading →

Documenting the First Day of School

The first day of school brings out the inner paparazzo in nearly every parent. Moms and dads often try to capture every moment of their child’s return to the classroom. That goes double for parents documenting their son or daughter’s very first day of kindergarten. Depending on how snap happy you are, you could be sorting through hundreds of images at the end of the day. Be careful when sifting through the photos, as you don’t want to delete a picture that could be used later. Once you’ve selected your best shots, showcase them in a scrapbook along with records … Continue reading →

School Days

Here’s an idea for a unique school-themed scrapbook layout: A photo collage of me and other moms with the bloody fingers we got from labeling every. single. school. supply. our kids are required to take to class. I typed up and stuck on more than 100 labels to individual crayons, pencils, markers, folders and notebooks. Insanity. And here’s the irony: I’m sure my kid will still get her stuff “accidently” stolen during the school year despite my four hours of hard labor. It’s not like a single white label is going to be a deterrent to kids with itchy fingers … Continue reading →

Too Cool for School

My 7 going on 17-year-old daughter thinks she’s too cool for just about everything these days, including third grade. Fortunately, I am not letting her attitude affect my tradition of documenting each and every detail associated with the first day of school. Classes resume next week. Yes, summer is almost officially over in our neck of the woods. My digital camera is as ready as my daughter’s new backpack and individual labeled No.2 pencils. I am planning to capture the day live as it unfolds in front of my lens. Then, as I have done for the past three years, … Continue reading →

Scrapbook the Snips and Giggles

Next week, my soon-to-be third grader will visit the salon to get her annual back-to-school haircut. Nothing drastic; the hair stylist will simply clean-up her existing bob. I’m not anticipating any tears, though you never know with my scissors-fearing kid. This is a child, who has never once felt the sting of a wayward clipper, blade or stylist’s fingernail, but freaks out whenever we enter a hair salon. It’s been this way for years; however, she’s gotten a lot better in the last 18 months. Still, if you look through old scrapbooks documenting my daughter’s visits to get her hair … Continue reading →

Busy Summer Scrapbooking

According to the owner of my local scrapbook supply shop, summer is her slowest time of the year. Ironically, summer is when I do the bulk of my memory book-making. Perhaps, it’s because my daughter is off of school during the summer and we tend to craft more when she is home. However, I have a feeling that the reason I complete more scrapbooks in the summer months is because I take more pictures during June, July and August than other months. While the rest of the world puts their cameras to use extensively during the holidays (October, November and … Continue reading →

Scrapbooks Made Easy

I am a huge fan of Shutterfly albums. While some call them an insult to scrapbooks, when you are in a hurry or simply don’t have the creative juices to craft a traditional memory album, the hardcover digitally generated books featuring your favorite photos and journaling, simply can’t be beat. I like to refer to the albums as scrapbooks made easy. You simply can’t fail when crafting the digital albums, as the directions are a cinch to follow and the actual steps are short and sweet. Several companies offer these types of books, including Shutterfly and Snapfish, which have designed … Continue reading →

Scrapbook Layouts as Gifts

Earlier this summer I attended a wedding for one of my former TV news co-workers. He and his wife got married in a lovely ceremony on the shores of Lake Michigan. It was a touching vow exchange, though, I was equally impressed by the gifts the couple received from the bride’s crafty friends. Each of the gals from her weekly book group got together to design individual scrapbook layouts for the newlyweds’ wedding memory album. While this is not an entirely novel idea, what made their layouts stand-out (to me, anyway) was the fact that they all included the same … Continue reading →

Frugal Scrapbook Fun

My 7-year-old has been on summer vacation for nearly two weeks and I only got around to sorting through her bulging backpack yesterday. She brought the bag home on the last day of school crammed with the contents of her desk and nine month’s worth of junk. Given my frugal nature, I refused to dump all of her school supplies in the trash. Rather, I painstakingly sorted through the pile of used items to see which ones I could salvage for the upcoming school year. Obviously, I couldn’t save it all, but there were many materials that could either be … Continue reading →

Crafting Reunion Scrapbooks

Summer is primetime for reunions. Whether you are attending an annual family get-together or that all-important 20th high school reunion, the special moments shared at the events can be treasured for years to come by crafting a scrapbook. If you are just getting started with scrapbooking and are looking to create an album to store all the precious memories made and shared at your summer reunion, my best tip: Keep it simple. Avoid trying to bite off more than you can chew, otherwise your memory album will end up looking like a mish mash of odds and ends. The trick … Continue reading →