smash book

Love Letters Scrapbook

Love letters scrapbook is awesome to keep memories in one spot. My husband and I have a lot of letters, cards, drawings and tickets from the past 8 years. I had them all in two shoe boxes that we never looked at. I wanted to be able to have them in a place that was easy to pull out and flip through when I’m feeling especially girly and sentimental. I wanted this book to be all about the contents and not about the stickers, brads, gems and extra goodies I usually put into scrap booking, so I picked up a Smash Book binder from Michael’s and started loading everything in! Our love letters scrapbook is now one of my favorite keepsakes.

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

Love Letters Scrapbook

The first step was to sort through the most important memories. All of our memories are special but they can’t all fit in one book and I wanted them all in one space (up to this chapter of our lives). The next step was to attempt to put them into chronological order. This was, by far, the most time consuming step of the whole project. I didn’t stress out if I couldn’t remember when something had happened…I’d just throw it in somewhere close to that time period.

I loved that this book had a large pocket in the front and back to put larger treasures. I also used photos as pockets by adhering glue dots to the back and making it look pretty with washi tape on the front.

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

By layering pamphlets with their tickets, I was able to create a tangible layout. I’d kept the keycard holder from the hotel we stayed at and used it to hold the keys and tickets. I left everything in the envelopes accessible so we can pull them out later on. Envelopes also made for great pockets to hold letters.

I also bought a pack of hole punched folders to stuff holiday cards. I’ve saved all of the cards from flowers that Jeffrey has sent me and put them in the mini pocket folders. Anything that was a little heavier, I adhered with glue dots.

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

Anything that was double sided, I attached with washi tape so we’d be able to lift and read both sides. Again, in the above photo, I used an envelope that held a card because it had writing on the back that I didn’t want to be glued to the page.

In a few cases I had a lot of one thing (tickets, letters, art) so I made an envelope out of scrap paper and glue dots but covered with washi tape to make it a bit prettier.

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

I’d also gotten a clear photo holder  that was by another company so I had to re-punch the holes. I wanted something clear that would hold photos, or in this case, movie tickets.

With the pack of hole punched folders I’d already mentioned, I added all of the remaining holiday cards. Another helpful technique was to accordion letters and tape one edge so you could unfold the letter to read it. I would show you a picture but I don’t want our love letters on the internet.

DIY Love Letters Scrapbook

As always, a shot of my work area: messy. I was sure to include a few photos sprinkled throughout to show what we looked like during these memories. I have several photo scrapbooks already but wanted a memory album full of  tickets and love letters. There are a few more pages left in the book but it’s so packed I can hardly wrap the elastic around it. I’ll just have to make a new one in 5 years! Have any of you made a memory album? What do you do with all the little trinkets you save from trips, birthdays and invitations?

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Check out my Scrapbooking board on Pinterest for more ideas:
Follow Shelly @ DIY Mama’s board Project Life & Scrapbooking on Pinterest.

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Love Letters Scrapbook

Life Planner

Today I’m going to let you hear me. Yes, I’m doing my first ever vlog. Sigh. It’s so hard to hear yourself on camera but I wanted to try it out so you guys could get to know me a bit better! I’m going to talk about my life planner and show you what works for our family in hopes that it sparks some ideas for your planner!

planner

First things first! HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!

spring

Life Planner

If you want better quality, click HERE to go to my YouTube page.

Here’s the ridiculous set up I had for my make-shift tripod!! Please tell me how you set your cameras up so you can use both hands!! Please disregard all of the scrapbook stuff on the island out of frame! I’ve been smashing lately!

tripod

As promised here are the links to everything you see in my planner. If there’s anything I missed or you care to know about; like my nail polish color, what make up I’m wearing, where I got my Mickey earrings or any other random thing you see, just ask! Ps. Stephen King would be SO mad to see his book next to Twilight! You can definitely pick out which books are mine and which are Jeffrey’s.

There ya have it! What does your life planner look like? One of many things I learned while doing this vlog-look at the camera. Sorry friends. *Disclaimer: I do not discourage tree climbing except for when the tree is dead.* How’d you like the vlog? Honestly, I’d love any and all feedback you have regarding the matter! Also, sorry for calling my sweet neighborhood my ‘hood’…I’m weird.

Interested in more organizational tips? Check out my Pinterest board!

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