I recently painstakingly went through my totes filled with unfinished mini-albums. Oh, the ideas were all so good and fun at the time.
But now, they feel like an overwhelming, refuse-to-go-away headache. Oh, it ain't that bad but the totes are too full with these half-finished promiseland of projects. Somehow, taking inventory forces me to face the music and work on getting them completed! I'm not putting a timeline on finishing these or anything but I do hope that by looking over this inventory from time to time may inspire me to sit down and work on a few and get 'em done once and for all. Amen.
When I take inventory I wanted to be very clear with where I was in the project, how I feel about working on it, what still needs to be done, and maybe a few extra notes. You will see what I mean when you read my list...
1. SHE. This was an idea packet that I received about a hundred years ago from one of the "superstars" of yesteryear. No photos pulled nor specific ideas written down. In order to work on this project I would need to pull a handful of photos that represent things I might crave, what I cherish, what I love, places I love, what I struggle to find, a specific moment I want to remember, etc.
2. A WEEK IN THE LIFE. An idea on a step-by-step plan to complete a project about a week in my life. No ideas pulled nor project worked on at all. In order to work on this I would need to capture my life over the course of the week. (Side note: I would actually like the kids to do a project like this during summer to capture their lives as they see it.)
3. TEA PARTIES. I have a simple slide-in album that captures one photo, maybe more, from each tea party I have given in California from 1999-2008. There are a few years (2000 & 2001) that I need to scan the already scrapbooked layout to print out a photo. I have red and green cardstock already cut for titles.
4. 52 WEEKS. The book is already assembled and decorated...all I need to do is add journaling and photos ongoing throughout the year. Maybe I can start this at any point in the year instead of just January.
5. BYE BYE BIRDIE. This is an already decorated album with spots for photos and lines for journaling. The book was presented to me upon leaving Idaho for Pennsylvania in the summer of 2009 so some of the journaling reflects memories and kind sentiments about our departure. What can I do with this album? Add pictures from our going away party? Maybe document our life from Idaho 2004-09?? A snippet of memories of Idaho and our journey to PA? Unsure.
6. CHRISTMAS CARDS. An altered book with Xmas card photos glued inside. I am several years behind and I have stacks of Xmas cards that need to simply be glued onto the pages.
7. HOUSE. A complete project I received from designer many years ago. The album is actually cardstock and wood in the shape of a house. All the necessary design elements are included in the kit. I need to assemble the album and fill it with photos. Oceanside house? L.A. house? Idaho house? Not sure yet. Nothing has been pulled for this project.
8. DAD'S FUNERAL. I have put together a raw Pickle album filled with pages...some of the pages have signatures of attendees at my dad's funeral. My original concept was to fill the album with my dad's life: childhood, Navy, family, work, home, cars, etc. I could also fill the book with the photos I took in late February, 06 as he lay in the hospital on those last days, through his funeral, and the kids at the beach writing in the sand how much they love and miss their papa days later. I'm not sure what I want from this book and at this point I can't work on this album, especially the hospital/funeral shots.
9. CHATTERBOX SENTIMENTS. I have red and pink strips that need to be cut that state certain sentiments, such as: Who I am...what I am not so good at...etc. I have no photos pulled nor album in mind but the sentiments are ready as well as pink ABC letters.
10. THREE HEARTS. Another CBX creation. Yawn. Either way, I have the step by step instructions and ideas and magazines needed to complete the project already pulled as well as a variety of ABC stickers and a CBX black page inserts that constitutes and complete album. Would need to decide on photos, if needed, as it doesn't appear that is the purpose of this project but instead using magazines to pull sentences and snippets of words that create and help support the theme.
11. SUMMER ADVENTURES. The saddest of all my unfinished projects. I left off in 2007. I have all the paper and alphabets and have completed a handful of pages...mainly the opening first pages. I believe only two "weeks" were completed and they were done right onto pages of a CM album (wish I didn't do that, oh well). I need to order the rest of the summer of 07 photos. Embellishments are in the bag, for the most part, although it appears that I used foam stamps and paint, which I no longer have (paint) so I might have to adjust or buy new paints. Sigh. The bigger problem is what to do about the pages themselves. My thought since stopping in 2007 was to combine the years since then and put all the pages into a 3-ring binder. (Side note: I have decided to finish 2007 in the original state, working on CM pages as I once did over a decade ago and just move on and THEN combine at least 2008, 09, and 2010 in one 3-ring binder since those summers were spent in some degree of turmoil and moving across the country, twice. As for this summer, 2011, the jury is still out. I will either: a) add it to the 3-ring, if there is room in the 2008-2010 album; b) put it in a separate album altogether; c) begin a new summer album for the next several years...depends on how the summer plays out.)
12. ALL ABOUT ME. This is a project I packed to bring to Idaho when I visited my friends in May, 2010. Each idea, 50 in all, are written down on a sheet of paper with detailed journaling notes, some have sketches in the margin, and all the photos are pulled and labeled in the back. This project also has a variety of titles using up misc. ABCs already packed and labeled as well. All is needed is creativity and extra embellishments depending on the page...a good project to bring to a crop since it is already packed up and ready to go and picking up new embellishments would be fun.
13. COMPARING HOUSES. This was supposed to be a quick little album, already more or less decorated and half completed with images comparing different elements of both my houses (Oceanside and Idaho). For instance, a photo of the backyard in Oceanside and our yard in Idaho. Ditto for kitchen, views, a shot of the front of the house, etc. However, it remains only partially completed. And, I didn't pull the papers I used so I would need to figure out what would match.
14. THROUGH THE DECADES. This book I began when some SD friends came up for an extended weekend way back in 2005! I love the idea but executing is kinda overwhelming, as are the pages (they are WAY busy and looks like pages did back in 05). The idea is each two-page spread represents photos of that era. I have all the papers pulled as well as many notes and scanned photos to use but I only have about half dozen pages actually completed.
15. THE 70s. Dammit to hell...I pulled the photos and began the pages long before I realized I wanted to separate photos by person instead of trying to scrapbook ALL the photos my mom handed off to me by decade, which is how I thought I would scrapbook them in the beginning. Oh well. I am about mid-way through the 70s capturing a collage of photos with pages including: holidays; highlights of the year; and birthdays for each year of the 1970s. I have pulled paper, stamps, buttons, and photos all ready to go. My plan at this point is to move forward and complete one CM album dedicated to the 70s only. Why not, right? The remainder photos I will simply add to the "people" 3-ring notebooks for later use.
16. PA: MOVING ON '09. Here is a simply decorated album that only requires some journaling and photos. I need to print all the photos from our journey EAST in the summer of 2009. I have many already printed but it seems like I was missing a couple of days (not sure, and therefore need to check my Kodak photo folders and discs and see if everything was uploaded to Snapfish for that trip). This project would be an easy one to finish once I make sure I have all the photos together.
I have decided two things as it pertains to mini-albums:
1. I will not start any other mini-album project until I finish some of these listed above so I don't just have MORE unfinished projects in totes.
2. If I do happen to start a mini-album (hey, don't judge) it will have to be so that it is easily finished in one or two scrapbook crops (because, it seems after a couple of nights of working on a project I bore easily).
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