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This post is also known as “This momma is far to lazy for scrapbooking.”
I like scrapbooking in theory, so if you do it, go on. Scrapbook. And skip this post.
But, if you are more like me, scrapbooking is something you know won’t work for you. Because it’s overwhelming. And expensive. And because you are a bit lazy. I love the IDEA of scrapbooking, but I always end up with tons of expensive stuff and too many ideas and not enough time to execute. Which means all the stuff and photos would sit in my basement with other unused scrapbook supplies for eternity.
So, I thought I’d share how I handled the baby book. I actually ended up with three books, all of which add up to be everything I wanted in a baby book. I’m weird like that. But the fact that they were all done within a month of Henry’s first birthday means this is a win in my book. And it was truly easy.
First, there was the baby book itself – I wanted to be able to document milestones and memories from the first year. But when I came home from the hospital, I had zilch. I hadn’t seen one that I liked. And I started to OBSESS about what the perfect baby book would be. I did lots of Etsy browsing on my iphone during middle-of-the-night feedings in those first few weeks.
What I found – there is NOTHING perfect. But I did find something really great. I went with a first-year album in brown houndstooth from 2giggles.
I ordered it with extra blank pages and baby shower pages. I also ordered some brown kraft paper envelopes to add for momentos like Henry’s hospital bracelets. It is really well-done and easy to fill in and make your own.
Each month had a few pages – one for a picture, one for milestones and two for journaling. I picked up a date stamp which I think is a really cute touch. And I added photos to the page with clear photo mounts from Amazon.
There was even room for pregnancy moments and showers, which is ideal since I lost all of my pregnancy journaling when my computer crashed.
First I slurped all of my favorite photos of Henry from the year photos into a book by date. It ended up only being around 1,000 photos, which I thought was pretty reasonable. I even pulled all the photos from my phone that I loved. This actually took very little time because I let the program auto fill the photos and then I just went through it over a few nights and switched around layouts.
Since I wanted the photos to be the attraction, I kept a black background and no text.
I picked some of my favorite photos to be the large page photos.
Although it was difficult to choose my favorites sometime. They really are all my favorites.
Then, I decided to do a separate book for Henry’s weekly photos. I wanted them all together and didn’t want to mash them up with other snapshots. Having a separate book worked well.
Finally, as the year progressed, I realized that there was a lot of other “stuff” I wanted to keep – loose photos, discs and tons of greeting cards. So, I started throwing them in a photo box in Henry’s closet. This was the perfect way to keep them together.
Even better, the photo books fit perfectly in with the cards for storage. (Although we have the books out on the coffee table to browse through. Henry loves them, too.)
And that, my friends, is how I tackled the baby book. Or more fairly, books.
It may seem like a lot, but because I spread it all out throughout the year, it was perfect for a lazy mom like me.
Thanks so much for sharing these simple ways to capture the precious moments throughout the year. I feel like you layed it out extremely well, and I so appreciated the links to all of the great resources you used!! My daughter is 1 month old and I already have pictures but nothing to put them in, so I just ordered a baby album and I feel ready to roll! 🙂
Hi! I was wondering about the pages in your photo scrapbook where you have included pictures. They have some sort of shiny shield. What did you add?
They are photo mounts that stick to the page – I got mine on amazon. (<<
Where did you get the brown kraft paper envelopes?? I was looking on etsy and amazon, but couldn’t seem to find them. They are perfect for the extra pages.
I’m going to do this project since my son is now 7 months and I don’t want to forget things. I wish I would have done this for my 6 year old. I can’t remember anything from when he was a baby 🙁
I could have sworn I got them on Amazon, but I just scoured my Amazon orders from 2012 and didn’t see it. These look really similar to me. https://www.etsy.com/listing/128761717/5-string-and-button-envelopes-160mm?ref=related-0
Where did you get the pages with the Month numbers on them?
The links to the book and pages are right in the post! =)
Girl, I like your style. I keep all of my son’s pictures organized by month and year. After his birthday each year, I spend a few weeks creating a Shutterfly photo book for him. He loves looking at them and talking about the memories with me!
So fun! Henry has a few photo books and he loves them, too. Kids are so vain, huh?
They probably think this song is about them. 😉
Wait till Henry is a little older–Brannon has started posing supermodel style–pouts and all–whenever the camera comes out. Cracks me up!
Another option is to use a photo album that uses adhesive pages. This style of album page quite simply lets you insert a picture on to the page leaving a black sight line around the image as a contrast. Whilst having the option to remove or change the image at a later date etc
Love this so much!!! Awesome!!! I’ve been excited to see what you did with all the weekly round ups…. What a great way to put it all together!! And lazy?? Hardly!! It’s DONE and you are current. That’s the best way!!! 🙂 love how you tackled it and look forward to continuing to see how you carry it forward every year! 🙂
ugh. I didn’t do anything! I love the baby book you found. We bought one, but it is sadly blank!!
Poorly, that’s how I handle it. I have a box of stuff shoved in a corner waiting for a rainy day with nothing else to do. Hey, it could happen (not likely). I need a better plan!
Great job. I scrapbook and it takes a lot of time. I am about 9 months behind. Henry will love these and you did an awesome job.
Well, I suppose I’ll have to have the baby before I can worry about the baby book.
As I’m not much of a scrapbooker either, I’m gussing I’ll go a similar route to what you did.
Love Henry’s books!
I used to scrapbook all through high school and college, but haven’t touched them since we bought a house. There are other things to do, apparently. 😛 SOOOO I imagine that something like this is also how I will be tackling the baby book. Thanks for sharing!
Um, I love that 2giggles baby book! I wish I had thought to look on Etsy, or even online for a baby book….when it was time for Henry to pop out I panicked because I didn’t have a baby book and had such a hard time finding one in stores, that when I found one that was okay I bought it…and I really don’t like it. I don’t like the prompts it had, the room for writing…I always wanted to just buy a new one and start over but really, that’s not going to happen. I think doing it monthly is the way to go too. Though you are way more on top of doing the photo books than I am…I haven’t even done his 12 month photo recap…
I hear you on the price of scrapbooking and all the extra stuff. I would never get to that either. You are hardly the definition of lazy and I think what you did is amazing. I love the bound books. It would be fun to do with my baby pictures so I can show them to my kids some day and have an extra place for them.
I did end up scrapbooking Rowan’s first year because of all the little odds and ends I wanted to mix with the pictures, but for her second year, I did a photobook. I used MyPublisher, which I love, but had to get two books since I took up more than 100 pages. I looked into Blurb, and I like the concept, but it wasn’t as friendly to me as MyPublisher. Maybe I need someone to show me how to use it. Ugh. So far, for this year, I am keeping up with a MyPublisher photobook again. Now I just need to go back and do family photobooks for 2010-now. Eek!
I love that baby book. I got ours from “ruby love” on etsy and it looks similar. Wher did you find the photo mounts? I’ve been looking for those. The manilla envelope is great for those other little treasures!
I love this! Those books are so cute and fun! I’ve got two small ones from our wedding and honeymoon on the coffee table and I plan on doing one for our big trip to Europe (and any other big vacations after that) and then doing one for our 5 yr. anniversary/pre-children.
This makes me really want a baby to take oodles of pictures of though!
I’m really bad at this too. But I think yours turned out great!
I love all of these books! You did such a great job and I know you will all love going through them in the future! I need to keep these ideas in mind for my future self, whenever she decides it is time to start having kids
This is adorable! I got you bet because Ramona’s baby stuff is just in a ziplock bag and there’s no documentations on any of her early life anywhere. :-/ I’m sure she will appreciate that later. Henry (and his future wife) will have a hay day with this book!
I’m not sure you are familiar with the definition of lazy *cough* miss-three-baby-books-later *cough* lol
I love them all – I think it was smart to stay on top of it through out the year! I still haven’t tackled our wedding album, and honestly I’m sure if I ever will! We have two store bought albums for the proofs the photographer gave us, and I think that may be as good as it gets! Love the houndstooth and the kraft pockets for little mementos too.
Henry is going to really love this when he is much older! I remember the first time my parents pulled out mine when I was about 16. So awesome to read and see what’s in them.
I am so on the same page as you for scrapbooking. I love the idea of it and have a ton of supplies, but Peachy’s first year book is still not done. Digital is the way to go! I already use Shutterfly for all of our pics, so it is very easy for me to put photo books together in it. And then they are done! Great work! And I don’t think this counts as lazy. Just saying. 🙂
Lazy mom whatever! These books are amazing and fantastic. I love that you kept the weekly photos separate. What fun books to flip through. And I love the houndstooth, obviously.
Love this- I’m doing something similar for B. I tried so hard to scrapbook and, like you, just feel overwhelmed by it all. I still haven’t fully done our wedding, which happened 7 years ago!! Ugh. Photo books are awesome- I’m totally jumping on this bandwagon 🙂 I love that you did a separate one for Henry’s weekly photos- it’s awesome that they’re all on the same background too. I might have to do this for B’s monthly photos. I also have been trying to fill out B’s baby book (which goes through year 3) a little bit at a time- it’s definitely easier (and less overwhelming) that way!