[Guest Post] Capturing Summer Memories

What do your summer plans include?

• Lazy days by the pool?
• A trip to the beach?
• A family vacation?
• Catching fireflies in the backyard?
• Camping?
• Blowing bubbles?
• S’mores?

WOW – there are a LOT of summer memories to capture – it can be overwhelming. 

That’s why you need a plan to make capturing your summer memories easy. A plan to ensure that the pictures make it OFF your camera and your memories and thoughts make it OFF your brain.

One idea is to set up a summer mini-book. (I did one for Christmas and it worked out GREAT) A quick and easy way is to use a 4x6 photo album.

What you need:
-One 4x6 album with plastic slide-in photo sleeves (think Target, $1 store, Michael’s)
-Patterned Paper cut in 4x6 rectangles to fill HALF the photo sleeves (one side of each sleeve)
-White Cardstock cut into 4x6 rectangles, to slip in EACH photo sleeve
-Tabs or Ribbons to attach to the tops of the cardstock

Assemble your album:
1. Attach a tab to the top of each piece of white cardstock and slide them into each photo sleeve. You can also fold a piece of ribbon to make a loop/tab and staple it to the top of the cardstock.
2. Slide in a piece of pattern paper on one side of each sleeve – I alternated, so that my pattern paper was always on the right of an open page.
3. Make a Title Page for the front side of the first sleeve.

Ok – that’s it – you are ready to go. You can slide in your pictures (crop half of them and adhere to the pattern paper if you took a LOT of pictures). Use the white cardstock to record your thoughts and memories. Have your kids write on them. Slide in tickets to the amusement park – whatever.

At the end of the summer – you have a nice little book you can stick in a basket on your coffee table and you and your family can enjoy your summer memories long into the winter.

Hillary is the owner of My Scraps, a blog where shares ideas, opinions, and memories.  A mom of two boys, ages 9 and 3, Hillary is a work-at-home mom trying to find a way to have it all.  She likes to create paper crafts and scrapbooks, as her blog’s name indicates.  Hillary is also fellow member for the Phily Social Media Moms group that I belong to and she’s also very active on twitter.  I’m looking forward to learning more from her!