Yesterday a dear friend of mine shared an online article from 2015 written by a professional photographer, Mike Yost. It was titled “The Most Photographed Generation Will Have No Pictures in 10 Years!” As I read the article, a lot of what Mike said really hit home. I too grew up in an age of film photography where you didn’t know how the shot turned out until you’d paid to have the film developed. For this reason many people only took photos on special occasions, or to mark particular events. It’s no wonder I don’t have a whole lot of even half-decent photos from back then. Today everyone’s taking photos, all the time, so there’s no excuse. Sadly though all these memories are kept hidden away on electronic devices. So I’ve decided to buck the trend and start a new adventure.

At least twice a month, starting today, my blog post will encourage you to get at least some of those photos off your phones and computers and into a physical format. I’ll admit right up front that I’m not really a scrapbooker, despite having everything I need to do it. So please don’t expect elaborate scrapbook pages right out of the gate (or at all). In fact, as I only decided this about an hour ago, I don’t even have any photos printed yet. This means we can set out on this exciting journey together. So let’s start with something really easy, a pocket photo album.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

I purchased my pocket photo album at the Dollar Store for $1.50. It had a pretty tacky cover, but I didn’t mind as I planned to replace it with one of my own. The album has 18 pockets pages so can take 36 4″ x 6″ photos if I put them back-to-back. Plus there are the pockets for the front and back cover.

This album will contain photos on a theme, so I began by looking through the Come Sail Away Memories & More Card Pack. I found the perfect 3″ x 4″ card featuring a pale map background, plus a sextant and the word “Adventure” in Mossy Meadow.

Next I went looking for a background for the album cover in the coordinating Come Sail Away Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. In among the sheets was a darker Mossy Meadow map design, so I cut two 4 x 6″ pieces. One went straight into the album to form the back cover, and the other was set aside ready to be decorated for the front.

Going back to the Memories & More Card Pack I then looked at the sheets of coordinating printed stickers. I liked a thin rope design sticker and added one to my background layer. This was followed by the 3″ x 4″ card, attached using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

NAUTICAL ACCENTS

Keeping with the nautical theme I next turned to the Sailing Home Stamp Set and the larger yacht image. First I stamped the image onto some Whisper White Card using Soft Suede ink. Then I coloured the image using the Mango Melody and Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blends combos.

Once that was done I used the coordinating die from the Smooth Sailing Dies to cut out the image.

Putting my pieces together, I liked the pop of yellow against the darker background but felt it need a little bit of shine. That was an easy fix when I used the ship’s wheel die to cut some Champagne Foil Sheet. Then I fixed the ship’s wheel and yacht to the background using more liquid glue.

All that was left was to slide the completed piece inside the front of the pocket album and my project was complete.

Well when I say “complete”, that’s not strictly true is it? Now I need to spend time looking for the photos to fill it. After all, that’s the whole point of making this photo album.

JOIN MY ADVENTURE

So that’s the first album one ready at least. Now I want to think about the next one, or several.

So my question to you is this? How would you keep your memories? In strict date order? By theme, or occasion? Or something else entirely?

I have a few ideas but I’d love to know your thoughts for subjects, themes or simply a title for an album or scrapbook page. Do leave a comment and you never know you might might find you’ve inspired my next memory jogging project.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Sailing Home Stamp Set and coordinating Smooth Sailing Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This saved me 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included both options below so you can compare them for yourself.