Nancy O'Dell's Scrapbooking Tips for Busy Moms
All of my friends know that I love to scrapbook, and the thing they always ask me is "How do you find the time?!" The truth is, it doesn't take me a lot of time. I've gotten it down to a system where I can do it quickly, but still create really special books. That's what inspired me to create a line of scrapbooks with Creative Memories. I wanted to bring my methods of simple scrapbooking to other busy people.
Here are my 6 best tips for busy moms who want to scrapbook, but think they don't have the time:
report abuseHere are my 6 best tips for busy moms who want to scrapbook, but think they don't have the time:
- Get Started! Some people never start scrapbooking because they feel like they have to start from the beginning—like do their kid's baby album before their fourth birthday book—so they end up never doing anything. My advice? Don't think that because you're so far behind you can't start! Don't miss the memories that are happening now. Start today with events that are happening now! You can always go back and do the events that have passed when you have the time.
- Get an All-Inclusive Kit! Pick up a kit that has everything you need to make a scrapbook—the album, the embellishments, the photo mats, the tape runner. I created the Hummingbird Series scrapbooking collection with Creative Memories to make scrapbooking as easy, fast and foolproof as possible. Everything is color-coordinated so no matter what you do, it looks great. Everything you need is right there and the embellishments all have sticky backs so you just peel and stick them on. You can't mess it up!
- Have a System! Create a system to you keep all of your events organized. It can be as simple as a 9x11 manila envelope. Write the name of the event on the outside and stuff all of the photos and memorabilia in there. If your kid just graduated, for example, toss in the photos, his tassel, the program, etc. Then jot down memories, quotes and little anecdotes about the event right there on the outside of the envelope. Keep it organized like that so when you sit down to put it in a scrapbook, it's all there.
- Do It With Your Kid! If you feel like you never have time away from your kid to scrapbook, do it together! It's a great bonding activity. My daughter Ashby loves to scrapbook with me. She loves to punch out the little accents. I also have these vellum letters in my line, so not only is scrapbooking with my daughter fun, I can make it educational and teach her the alphabet while we're at it.
- Get Other People to Do the Work! A great, easy way to scrapbook is to involve others. If you want to make a special book for someone, have everyone in the family make a page, collect them all and put them in a book. I did one for my Dad to show him how grateful we all are for him. Everyone in the family made a page and the scrapbook built itself. It made such a beautiful gift.
- Take It With You! You never know when you're going to be sitting around with some time on your hands to scrapbook. So grab a tote—I actually have one in my line—and stuff all of your scrapbooking stuff in there. I have a scrapbooking tote that I take to work with me. When I'm waiting around between takes, I sneak a little scrapbooking in. As I said, I'm really fast. I can do 10 pages in 10 minutes. Wherever you have 10 minutes, you can sneak in a lot. People don't believe me, but it's true!
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