Preserve memories, photos by organizing, scrapbooking

By Jennifer Kuszynski
for The Northwestern

Scrapbooking is all the rage right now. But if you’re a time-starved mom, you might be wondering how to find time to create beautiful pages while juggling an armful of children.

With the advent of scrapbook page kits — packages of scrapbooking materials, designed to make a number of finished pages — many parents can find time to do just that.

“Those page kits can really help,” said Sandy Fischer, scrapbooking department manager at Hobby Lobby in Sheboygan. “When those came out I said ‘Those are for me.’”

Fischer said the page kits sold at Hobby Lobby range in price from $5.99 and $9.99 and offer about four to 10 complete pages per kit, a bargain when you consider the investment if each of the pieces were bought separately.

“They have all the stuff in one package, and it’s the paper, the stickers, the embellishments, and in a wide variety from baby to wedding to family, all the holidays,” said Jane Nygaard, scrapbooking/crafts department manager at Hobby Lobby in Oshkosh, who said she loves to scrapbook but also doesn’t have a lot of time.

Page kits, available at local arts and crafts stores, cut that time drastically and cover every imaginable topic, from babies to grandparents, sports to weddings, birthdays to Christmas.

“I don’t necessarily always do the kits, but I am looking at one on heritage,” Nygaard said. “It’s got your family tree; it’s really cool, the paper’s really neat, there are places for your pictures.”

Organizing your photos as you get them printed is perhaps the best way to stay on top of your scrapbook project. Consider getting boxes and separating your photographs into categories, such as birthdays, holidays and vacations, or in chronological order by year.

Sorting your photos will make it easier to put them into page kits later, Fischer said.

Jennifer Kuszynski is the editor of Sheboygan Family Magazine. Sarah Owen contributed to this report.

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070419/OSH05/704190303/1168