Once I started taking sports photos of the boys, it took me about...mmmm...three minutes to decide what to do with them: open-face 4x6 mini albums for each sport for each season + scrap pages of a few of my favorites.
I did a few things to consolidate the process so that I'm not perpetually five years behind (although I am already two basketball seasons behind).
1. Make the album a 4x6. This way, I didn't have to crop in Photoshop, and it's a really easy and cheap size to print. It also helps patterned paper go farther since a 4x6 template will go into a 12x12 sheet of paper six times. (Math!)
2. Pull a small set of supplies. I went through my patterned paper scraps (the ones that Y always tells me to throw away because I'll never use them - booooo0yahhhhh!) and pulled just a few pieces. Then I picked a sticker set to match, a thicker set to match, and 3 or 4 washi tape rolls. That's it, that was all I was allowed to use.
3. Use a small set of designs. I stuck with banners, flags, and labels stapled or taped or both. Over and over again.
J might have gotten misty-eyed when I showed him.
Ethen might have been overwhelmed when I showed him. He was quiet and smiley, he looked through every page, then he looked at me, nodded, and said, "That's really cool." It was a moment. Of course, then I ran and told Jason about the whole exchange.
I can envision a whole library of these minis, and it makes me really happy. : )
See Alex's football album tomorrow...
