I received a question the other day that I think is worth sharing. I imagine that several people have felt this same sort of apprehension about how to tackle the whole thing and make it cohesive. Here’s the actual comment:

Late to the game here, but...I bought a huge bunch of PL/pocket page protectors, and am having issues. I "thought" I'd like this form of scrapbooking, but...

HOW on Earth does one plan these pages? I've watched lots of videos about PL/pocket page scrapping, but none explain how to plan the pages. I can do one side, but then the next side... I'm seriously regretting making this purchase. :( Maybe you can explain how you plan both side of these pages!

I have a couple of ideas that I’m hoping will help this reader and others who feel this way as well.

For a long month, July sure did speed by! I’m getting ready to do my own personal roundup of the month’s events and I wanted to remind you that this is the perfect opportunity to take some time to document your own life. You can start this process at any time and you don’t have to do it every single month - although you will be glad if you are regular about it. Just look over the prompts and answer a few questions. Easy peasy!

HOW TO GATHER JUNE MEMORIES:

• Review calendars, social media posts, journal entries, etc. - I use the Momento app to keep everything in one place and then look back through my online calendar.

• Make sure all your photos are uploaded and backed up to at least 3 places. If you use Google Photos, your photos will already be sorted by date. I like to search the month (June 2019) and then select all of those photos and create an album for them in Google Photos called June 2019. It’s not necessary, but I find it useful.

• Gather any memorabilia from the month such as ticket stubs, invitations, programs etc. Scan or photograph them if desired and then upload them with your photos for the month. And/or put them in a file marked June 2019 if you plan to save the physical copies for scrapbooking or memory boxes.

I’m so grateful that I started this layout early in the month and kept adding to my journaling cards as the month progressed because as I reached the end of May, I didn't feel like working on this project. I think it’s important to carve time for creative projects when you have the energy to work on them.

Here’s a little glimpse of my past month:

I think you know what I’m going to say here, right? It’s the last day of the month and that means I’m going to share my roundup prompt!

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for March to be over! We had a crazy month full of injuries and sickness and I’m excited to turn the page of the calendar and start fresh with April. I am looking forward to doing my roundup. It’s just become part of my routine and I’m so grateful for that. 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. If you’ve never tried a roundup, how about making this the month you start? ☘️

I’ve been meaning to write a post about this for awhile now because this is one thing you need to keep in mind when creating a photobook. If your photos are close to the edge of your layout, they might get cut off in the “bleed” section of photobook printing. This post does a nice job of explaining about bleed.

For the past 13 years, I have done a simple little exercise at the end of the month that I call a roundup. This has been the most useful memory keeping tool I have ever used.

At the end of each month, I will be posting a reminder graphic to help prompt you to take a few minutes and gather your memories from the month. It’s easy and so worthwhile!

Here’s your February reminder ❤️

I finally got around to trying Chatbooks and I think they are a fun way to create easy photobooks from your Instagram feed. I wouldn’t use them as my main form of memory keeping, but they now have a place on my shelves and in my heart.