We’re so excited to be participating in a Back To School Blog Hop, put together by our friends at Elizabeth Joan Designs! Stick around til the end of the post for links to more great projects!
Last year was Sam’s first year of preschool. I saved a bunch of his artwork and pictures that were taken throughout the year…and they’re all still sitting in a box. My follow through is less than desired when it comes to doing something with all the pictures I take. I don’t want to leave these keepsakes in the box, so I definitely needed a better way to stay on top of it all.
This year, we’re putting together a Memory Book at the beginning of the school year, which is essentially just a binder with plastic sleeves. It sounds so basic, but the magic comes from actually designating a place to put all those papers as they come in the door. When you don’t have a designated place, stuff tends to pile up in the “I’ll get to it later” box. Add just a few extra items on your back to school shopping list, and you’ll be ready to go too!
To set up your memory book, you’ll need the following items. If you’re making an album for more than one child, double or triple the list as needed.
You Will Need:
1- Binder (we used a 12″ x 12″ binder and supplies)
Scrapbook paper. You will need 2 pieces for each month (front and back). We only did the school year, Sept-May, so we needed 18 pieces of paper. If you want to do a book for the entire year and not just the school year, get 24 pieces. Choose any color/type of paper you like. We tried to coordinate the paper to the month, so for October, we got Halloween paper, Christmas paper for December, etc. We did a patterned paper for the front of each month, and a coordinating solid color paper for the back.
Page protectors (plastic binder sleeves). You will need one for your scrapbook paper for each month of the year you’re doing, and a bunch of extras to slide school papers and artwork into. If you run out of page protectors, you can always 3 hole punch the school papers and add them that way.
Some type of adhesive to attach your pictures to the scrapbook paper, (ex: tape runner, glue stick, double sided tape).
Now this part is critical…put the binder together now! Put the sleeves in the binder and add your scrapbook paper in monthly order. Slide the adhesive you’re going to use into the binder pocket or one of the sleeves so it’ll be right there when you need it.
And now you’re ready! Keep the binder in convenient location and as artwork and pictures roll in throughout the year, just grab the binder and toss them in. By taking just a few minutes now, you’ll be able to stay on top of the highlights of your child’s school year and have a really cute, completed memory book at the end of the year with very little effort.
Download Memory Book Printable
To get your memory book started, we’ve created this fun printable that you can download and print for free! We’d love to hear what you’re doing to get ready for back to school!
Looking for more back to school ideas? We’ve got you covered! Check out these other great projects from some of our favorite bloggers!
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So smart to be thinking ahead. That is usually my first mistake. I love the different scrapbook paper arranged by month! Great job!
Thank you Sarah!!
The kids (and you) are going to love having these memories as they get older. Great idea.
I agree, Kat! I’m usually so terrible at stuff like this but I’m pulling it together this year 🙂
I love this idea! There is so much that goes on through out the year, and this is a great way for the kids to look back on and enjoy.
Exactly Emily!! If I’m not prepared from the beginning it’ll never happen and I don’t want to regret not doing this kind of stuff once they’re older.
This such a super cute idea! Love it!
Thanks Emily!!
Love this, Amy! I collect so much though out the school year and will keep this in mind! I live handmade and this is a great way to preserve memories!
I hope you try it Kendra!! It’s the only way I can stay on top of all the pictures and projects, and I know I’ll be glad I did it when they’re older!
What a cute idea! My daughter is a bit of a hoarder— I don’t know where she gets it from 😉 —and she has recently developed a love of scrapbooking. She will absolutely love this! I’m pretty sure I have all of the supplies on hand anyway!
Haha Jen! It’s not hoarding, it’s “collecting” :). I love that she likes to scrapbook. This will be perfect for her!!
This is very cute! Great idea, thanks for sharing!
Thanks Angel!!
I LOVE this idea! You’re so smart for thinking ahead so that you don’t forget special memories. I NEED to do this for my little one!
Thanks Christina! I feel like I don’t have time to put an entire album together at once, but when you break it down like this it’s totally doable 🙂
How cute! Your son will love looking back through these scrapbooks when he is older 🙂
I love seeing stuff like this! This is a great idea! I will have to do this when my daughter is in school!
Thanks Shambray! This is the only way I can get a memory book done! Otherwise I’m going to end up with a few dozen boxes of pictures when my kids are grown :). Thanks for stopping by!!
What a precious keepsake this will be! I really need to get back into scrapbooking, I enjoyed it so much when I used to do it!
Scrapbooking is so much fun! Vicki is a fantastic scrapbooker. This project is more on my skill level, but I still love how it turned out :). Thanks for stopping by, Carrie!!
This is SUCH a stellar idea! Im so doing this now! My boy is just 2 years old but I’m hoping for part time preschool this year. Thanks so much!
Thanks Corinna!! Preschool is the perfect time to do this! Last year was Sam’s 1st year of school (part time preschool) and he brought home so many cool paintings and pictures. You will have that book filled up with cute stuff in no time 🙂
This is such a great idea! Keeping it simple has to be the solution to staying on top of it all. I’ll bet the kids would love it too! Thanks for sharing with Creative Spark Link Party. Have a great day.
Glenna @ My Paper Craze
Thanks so much, Glenna! And you’re right, Sam had a blast helping with this project 🙂
You need to teach us how to be better organized! Love your creativity!
Thank you ladies!! And if I were to show you a picture of our craft room you would never, ever ask us for organizational advice 🙂
Great idea! I’m gonna start doing this so I don’t feel the need to by those expensive year books! Thanks for sharing at the Teach Me Tuesday Linky Party! Hope you can join us again starting tonight:)
Thanks for linking up at the creative spark link party we hope that you will link up again today! http://bit.ly/1l2qbE8