A good friend asked me this question recently - do I create my albums based on a theme or do I stick to a chronological order? My answer is that I rarely follow any rules while I scrapbook. I scrap for the feeling of accomplishment and the satisfaction in knowing that at this moment I am a creative person. I can't draw a stick figure well (trust me on this one!) but scrapbooking lets me feel like a true artist. So I just don't worry about themes and timelines and being sure every page matches every next page. I treat each set of photos as either a one-page or two-page layout, and then I repeat the process until I've completed the album. In the end it probably is fairly orderly in terms of chronology and often several pages might have a theme (birthday party, swimming in the ocean, vacation, etc.) but the entire album is usually a mixture of moments. (see photos below showing two theme wedding pages within my
Year in Review album)
That is not to say that I don't make themed albums because I do. And I've already said that I make a
Year in Review album which is definitely a chronological album. It's just that I don't always create my albums with a clear plan. A lot of times they just evolve into a collection of favorite memories. I trust in my journaling to keep track of when and where the events happened.
Enjoy the ride!
Sue
