How to Make a Complete School Days Scrapbook Album with Noreen Smith

Hi there! Noreen from OrganizedandCreativeMom.com here to get you in a back-to-school mood with the new “Back to School” Collection from Creative Memories! It’s that time of year that the kids are heading back to school and this is the LAST year of school for my older son Grayson – where does time go? In anticipation of his graduation next spring, I am excited to create a School Days Scrapbook Album for him as a gift! I’m going to be using the fun composition style Ebony Back to School Album Cover with a Custom Foiled Spine, then filling it up with Large Pocket Pages, Multi-Pocket Pages and 8.5” x 11” Pocket Pages and papers from the fantastic new Back to School Annual Paper Pack. The album itself is going to be super-fast to set up, and then I’ll be able to spend a little time over the next few months completing some decorative pages and adding photos and memorabilia to the Pocket Pages. I started by adding the pocket pages to the album in a specific and repeating order – one Large Pocket Page, one Multi-Pocket Page and then one 8.5” x 11” Pocket Page. These three pocket pages will become one “spread” for each grade. Then I loaded in my Annual Papers, beginning with the Preschool paper with the decorative side acting as the title page for the album. When I flip the first page, the Preschool spread will be seen. I can add my son’s school picture with one of the three new XL Layered Frame Embellishments along with a title from the Back to School Embellishments and the first page is done! Next, I can slide in some photos, memorabilia or Back to School Variety Mat Pack cards for journaling into the pockets on BOTH sides of the Multi-Pocket Page. I can get up to ten 4” x 6” or 6” x 4” photos, cards or pieces of decorative paper into these pages so I can really include a lot of the highlights from Grayson’s Preschool year! The 8.5” x 11” Pocket page that comes next in the spread is the perfect way to include report cards, artwork, certificates or programs, and its smaller size adds interest and variety to the album while allowing glimpses of other pages to be seen. And to finish off the spread I added the decorative side of the next grades’ Annual Paper to the next Large Pocket page and used in as a more traditional scrapbook page, adding a “graduation” photo, sweet hand and footprint art and a handwriting sample cut from one of Grayson’s worksheets with All-Purpose Scissors. I also added just a couple more embellishments and a journal box so I can record a few more details. What a great way to encapsulate the highlights from entire school year in just a few pages, and even though I have the rest of the grades from Kindergarten through Grade 12 to complete, I think this School Days Album will be a treasured gift for Grayson! Now because I know that it’s often easier to SHOW you how to assemble the album than to describe the steps in writing, I’ve filmed a video for you showing you how I loaded the Pocket Pages and Annual Papers into my album and added the Custom Foiled Spine, and give you a little flip through of the first few pages shown above! Grab a beverage to watch it here

I hope this inspires you to create a School Days Scrapbook Album for your child or grandchild, or even for yourself! I’m sure you’ll get an A+ grade on a special album like this!

Noreen Smith | Creative Scrapbooker Magazine — Noreen Smith

All Creative Memories products featured in this project are available in Canada on my CM website, and my Canadian Customers receive an invitation to my exclusive VIP Customer FB Group where I share even more easy, fast & fun ideas! You can also find CM advisors in the US and other countries by using the Advisor Lookup feature. Please drop by my Blog, Facebook Page, YouTube Channel and Instagram Feed for more ideas and inspiration where I create layout sketches, cards and other projects which showcase Creative Memories products & tools on a regular basis!