I have to print over 1000 pics and don't have money to do it right now. So I decided to put the old pics I have into the books.

I made a family book with a section devoted to each sibling and their families. Then I made a book for myself and another for dh. Our childhood pics, personal events that had nothing to do with each other. I made a grandparents book, half is dh's parents and the other half is of mine. The final book is our life together, from dating until our first child was born. The kids each have a book with all our events in them. Of course she has pics of his birthday party but his has all of the pics. And her slumber party pics are not in his book because he was not there. Any pics from things dh and I do separate from the kids will go in another album for us.

The book I just completed was our book prior to kids. I put all our pics in order and separated by events. I took solid colored paper cut into 4x6 or bought precut papers. I layed out the pics, without trimming corners because the papers are not trimmed. Everything is square. I found one pc of paper that matched the pics and layed in in middle of page, changing the angle on each page. I then layed out the pics with the hint of color showing through. I journaled and put some stickers on the page too. Simple. It is nowhere near the decor my kids books have of course. The main point was to get the pics in fast but nicely. I left project on table for a few weeks, working a few pages every night, some nights getting a dozen done at a time. I then stored all the leftover pics in a storage box with all the negatives, keeping them in order of course.

I never thought I would be able to get this done. With work and two kids and a house/life to run I kept putting this off. I am now ready to get caught up on the kids books that are two years behind. As events happen with dh and I , I will start the new book just as the other was done. My kids will have super books from their childhoods and will have our family books done nicely.

It is just a matter of getting the supplies layed out and working on it each day a little at a time. My dining table is now clear and I feel like something I have been wanting to get done for years has finally been done.

Set yourself small goals and before you know it you will be done. Big projects only get done one step at a time!!