An Organized Mess

Tonight I spent a couple of hours working on Little Miss' scrapbook. I have about 7 or 8 pages done, and don't have a whole lot more to do until after she's born. I told Jason that I hope I have the time, energy, and ability to do one of these for each of our kids. I don't want to be one of those parents whose oldest kid has everything - all the keepsakes, all the cool stuff - and the younger kids get a half-filled photo album with only a few things labeled. We'll see!

So when I scrapbook, I pretty much take over the living room floor. I don't like sitting at the table, so I spread all of my supplies out around me. In the bottom left-hand corner is the trash pile. Next to that are the empty pages, then the mementos such as shower wrapping paper, papers from the birthing class, ribbons, etc. After that is a pile of paper, some of which were chosen to go together and it's a challenge to remember what I bought to go with each sheet. The book itself goes right in front of me, with the completed pages above it (I use the back of the book as a hard surface for creating the pages). Next I have all the photos I want to use (some of which don't ever make it in), and then all the cards we've received, and little creative elements I purchased at the scrapbook store (rub-on designs, etc.). The cards are great for phrases ("Baby Shower," etc.) and for poems or quotes to use to decorate pages. And they're meaningful because they were meant for us for Little Miss' birth. I'm looking forward to adding pictures of her to the book.