Scrapping Big Events
Posted in SCHOOL of SCRAPPING | 12 Comments »
12 Comments »Birthdays. Vacations. Weddings. Special events…All BIG events. All HARD to scrap.
ONE WEEK VACATION: 28 PHOTOS (out of over 600)
When we have hundreds — if not thousands — of photos of a single day/event in our lives, the thought of scrapping it can be overwhelming! It is hard to know where to begin, how to move forward, and how to call it done! The days and moments are important to us and so we need to approach them..not in fear but in freedom.
“Freedom in what?” you ask. My answer: FREEDOM TO NOT SCRAP EVERY PHOTO. Freedom to not even scrap all the good photos. Freedom to choose the best of the best (whether in quality of photograph or quality of story-telling ability) and leave the rest.
Click to Enlarge. 4 DAY VACATION: 32 PHOTOS (out of 400+)
Look at it this way: A birthday is an important event. However, most kids who live with their parents will have 18 birthdays at home. If you scrapped even just ten pages for each year, you would end up with 180 birthday layouts for one child. Is a birthday so important that it takes up that amount of space in an album and so much of your time to create the pages?
Click to Enlarge. 5th BIRTHDAY: 24 PHOTOS (out of 150)
There are numerous ways to tackle “the big events” when it comes to scrapping, and today I am going to share my most-used process. At the end, I will share a few other ideas as well.
My number one go-to strategy for scrapping events/days that I have hundreds of photos for is this:
Narrow it down, scrap a multiphoto layout (one or two pages), and call it done.
Click to Enlarge. 4th BIRTHDAY AT DISNEY’S PLAY ‘N DINE: 31 PHOTOS out of 200
I know, I know. It sounds scary. How can I go from 200 photos to just a few? How can I capture the HUGENESS of this event on one or two pages? How can I not scrap all these photos? I ask those questions and then I answer myself with comments like,
“This event is big now, but not necessarily huge in the context of our whole story.”
“I don’t need 100 photos of my daughter’s 5th birthday in order to remember it.”
“I would rather scrap a few photos and then move onto other — just as important — stories.”
Click to Enlarge. BUILD A BEAR WORKSHOP: 32 photos (out of 200+)
1. Narrow it Down: This is the hardest part of the process, but the most important. When I go through my photos for a big event, I try to ask myself, “What do I want to remember most about this day?” I choose photos that represents the bigger story for me. The rest of the photos I leave. I may revisit them later, maybe not. I usually end up with 20-30 photos that “tell the story” best.
2. Scrap a multi-photo layout. This is where I usually run to a template. Over the years I have created tons of multi-photo templates so that I have a starting point. With a template chosen (usually a two pager) I look to see how many photos I need. I then go through the favorites that I picked out and narrow it down again or add in a few more. I choose a kit that fits with the theme, share the story, and add to my album.
3. Call it done. For some people, this is the hardest step. When an event seems big to us, when it is filled with so much emotion, it is hard to have just one or two pages to commemorate it. However, when you look back on the event in years to come, it may not seem quite so big. And when you mix it in with the hundreds of other big stories in your life, your one or two pages will seem very adequate.
Click to Enlarge. CHRISTMAS 2008: 20 PHOTOS (out of 500)
Obviously, there are some stories that are bigger, that need more space, that are worthy of more than a few pages. Examples that come to mind:
Weddings
Once-in-a-lifetime trips
Stories that continue and can be added to: (people you love, places you have lived, recipes, etc.)
Special Milestone birthdays and anniversaries
Here are some other ideas for ways to scrap bigger events:
Scrap many different pages and put it album as usual
Scrap many different pages and add to a special album (Christmas, birthday, etc):
Create a Mini Album
DVD slide show
Mosaic
So how do YOU tackle your big events?
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Love these templates you used..could you point us to some of these? I have tons of events with tons of pictures I just want to get done!!
I love using multiple picture templates! I think I have your entire collection. I seldom scrap one or two pictures. I want to capture the entire event so I’ve found that this is the best way to do it.
Is the Christmas layout a template that you’ve sold in the past?
I usually do a mini album for the big events… (birthdays, mini trips, etc….) Although I decided for my Disney trip last year to do a 12×12 album, and it’s overwhelming… I printed over 400 photos… (yikes!)
I’ll never do that again. I may do an album for a trip, but not a big one… Maybe a mini…
Photo Freedom by Stacy Julian is an awesome resource on this topic…. You can use Birthday photos to tell the story of your little girl in other areas. Like if you just wanted to tell a story about her or write a letter to her, use a photo from this years party.
I was going to ask the same thing about the 2 page templates that you used, but they beat me to it. I just love how you have them summarized.
Love, love, love this post. I am so glad to see that you have included lots of photos and that all important journaling.
I am so tired of seeing pages that are all glitter (I don’t mean glitter in the actual sense, but rather pages that are all show and no heart) and the photo is so tiny that all you see is a big head.
Excellent job!
Where could I find these templates? Yesterday we returned from Disneyworld and I have a ton of pictures, but need to narrow it down to something similiar!
These are excellent tips. My husband and I took an epic road trip to Alaska, and I have an overwhelming amount of photos that need to be scrapped. I plan to do a photobook about the trip, but it was in June…and I haven’t even started it! I have made tons of layouts since we’ve returned, but can’t bring myself to tackle this project. I really need to follow your advice and just do it!
I must confess, I have recently decided AUTOFILL in whatever sized book I am doing is fine.
It doesn’t all have to be scrapped, but I don’t want a drawer full of prints, nor a hard drive full of photos I have never done anything with…and I am REALLY GOOD about DELETING photos that just don’t make the cut (I have kids, they take photos, I don’t need 50 photos of the animal abuse *cat in sunglasses, dog in tutu* so I delete them). ANYHOW, recently, I had a couple hundred photos of a hike the kids and I went on with friends – local friends and out of towners – and there were quite a few really cool sequence shots – and they told the story more than journaling would have, so I just closed my eyes at Artscow (after putting multi photo layouts on each page and I think black backgrounds) and hit AUTOFILL. For real.
They’re done. It’s a 40 page 8×8 book, it will fit into my stack. I like 8×8 hard bound books, they are a good size for kids to handle and lots of kids (mine and nieces/nephews/cousins/church) handle my books. It was a relief.
Now, my Hawaii trip…haven’t quite let that one go yet lol
Am seriously contemplating the same Auto fill technique…
[...] Scrapping Big Events at The Daily Digi: This is actually a post from yesterday about how to document big events with multiple pictures on one layout. It has many uses beyond just Christmas, but there are some great ideas as to how to get your Christmas pictures scrapped. [...]
[...] Scrapping big events at The Daily Digi [...]
I looooove the templates! I thought I had most of yours but I don’t recognize some of these…. would love to know if they’re still available!
Loooove your stuff Janet! Big fan!
I use your templates, of course
Some of my favorite pages are two-pagers constructed with your templates. So… THANK YOU 