I’ve been searching Pinterest and the internet to try to find pictures of several photobook albums displayed on a bookshelf. I’ve had a hard time finding what I’m looking for. Maybe nobody has completed that many? lol! Or maybe they just haven’t thought to take a picture of them on a shelf. Most online images of photo books seem to share what the inside looks like. Of course, I’m very interested in that too - but I have been trying to figure out what I want my bookshelf to look like when I have multiple albums finished because that will influence what I decide to use for the covers. It’s a way to scrap with the end in mind.

I’m always grateful for my monthly roundup habits and my favorite way to use these prompts is right on a scrapbook page. I love adding details to my THIS MONTH cards and putting them all on a page with photos and a few fun cards to make it complete. Here’s what July looked like:

Today is a holiday in the state of Utah. The 24th of July is known as Pioneer Day around here because that is the date that the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley (in 1847) and decided to call this home. The 24th is often just as big of a deal as the 4th of July around here. There is a big parade downtown + a marathon and many people gather for barbecues, picnics, and fireworks.

Now that the year is more than half over (gulp), I’m realizing that I haven’t done much with my One Little Word yet. My word for this year is STORY. I’ve definitely thought about it throughout the year and it has been a positive influence in my life, but I want to take more action around this word. I want to be sure I’m aware of my story and that I’m telling it. So I’m doing what I usually do when I need some inspiration - turning to Pinterest. Here are some images that I’ve pinned to my OLW board.

If you’ve been following me for awhile, you will know that I typically go through a lot of technology upgrades around here. Both my husband and I love to keep up on new technology and we are suckers for new iPhones and iPads. My kids have no complaints because they often get our hand-me-downs. We also love that Apple has now made it so much easier to trade in old devices to get store credit. They also make it much smoother to transfer your old data to a new device now. I recently got a new Macbook Pro and it was so easy to switch.

For more than 13 years, I’ve kept a private blog just for my family. It’s been a place to share photos of my children with my parents and siblings. We used it to document our homeschool years and even though it’s been more than 7 years since anybody in the house has been homeschooled, we still tend to refer to it as “the homeschool blog” for some reason.

It’s a place to record vacations, school and work information, missions and church stuff, health progress, holidays, special events and more. I use a very similar format to my Creative Lady blog.

I’ve always loved reading and I graduated from college with a degree in English. I also went on a literary tour of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France for a study abroad program. If you ever want books to come to life for you, just visit the place where they were written or take place. Here I am on the moors of England while studying Wuthering Heights in 1989. Epic!

I was quite surprised when I got an email about a week ago asking me if I was willing to share any digital files. I thought it was pretty bold for someone to ask a designer, but I know it happens more than I would like to think. It made me realize that it’s important to review digi scrapping etiquette (and legal terms) once in a while.

I don’t even have to think about doing a roundup at the end of the month anymore because it has just become part of my memory keeping routine. I can look back at any month since I started doing roundups in January of 2006 and find information on what our lives were like at any given time. It’s very useful for memory keeping and often helpful in many other ways as well. I’m excited to getting working on my April roundup! 🌷