The Chirping Moms

Save the Memories, Not the Clutter : Creating a Preschool Memory Scrapbook


It’s the end of the year for many of us moms and there is one question on every mom’s brain…
Save the Memories, Not the Clutter: Create a Preschool Memory Art Scrapbook

Oh my word, do we have a lot of art right now in our house?!?!  At the end of every preschool week, my kids come home with all the wonderful art projects from the week.  We hang the art in our kitchen on a little “display” wall until the next round comes.  Then, EVERY piece of art that comes home (minus a few coloring sheets & workbook pages) goes into a storage closet where each kid has their own little section to contain their art.   Now that’s the end of the year, it’s time to do something with all of the art (and clutter)!  My solution, thanks to the advice from a dear friend, is to create a preschool memory scrapbook.
Save the Memories, Not the Clutter: Create a Preschool Memory Art Scrapbook
How to Create a Preschool Memory Scrapbook:

1.  Pull ALL the art out of the closet and head outside during the day.  (I find that taking pictures outdoors gives me the best light and the kids can run and play while I get my project done.  A win-win solution!)
2.  Grab a few pieces of cute scrapbook paper to give a fun background.  (You can see in the picture above I just used some I had on hand, but it included chevron prints, polka dots, ikat paper, and more!)
3.  Take pictures of EVERY piece of artwork.  If the piece fits on the scrapbook paper, use the fun background.  If not, no worries because the art is cute enough for itself.
4.  Load all the pictures on to the computer and place in a folder.  In the folder, also add some of your favorite pictures related to school:  special events, first day of school and last day of school pictures, photos from before or after school, pictures with school friends, etc.
5.  Load onto a photo site (I used Snapfish!) and create a photo book.
6.  Last, THROW away all the art but save a few for special memories.  I limited myself to picking five of my favorite pieces, including my Mother’s Day flower painting and handprint poem that was created just for me.
Now, the reason I am writing the post today (a rare Saturday post) is that I want to share about the great deal that is going on right now with Snapfish.  Right now, Snapfish is offering an 8 x 11 lay-flat photo book with 20 bonus pages, 40 pages total, for just $29.99 with free shipping through 5/31/14. (This is their new product where the pages lie completely flat!)  If you have any extra time on this extra long weekend for many of us, you must take advantage of the great deal.  Not only could you create a preschool memory book, but this a great time to get started on a little something special for Father’s Day!  I spent some time creating a preschool memory book last night and I can’t wait for it to come in the mail soon.  
Here’s how I spent my Friday night…(Funny how life changes when you have kids, right?!)

Save the Memories, Not the Clutter: Create a Preschool Memory Art Scrapbook
It’s super easy to create the book at Snapfish.  You easily upload pictures and start creating.  Let’s start with creating the cover.  I just picked some of my favorite photos of Aiden from his preschool year for the front and back cover, but you can customize the cover for your liking.
Now to the inside of the book…
First I picked the background theme for all the pages.   I kept the background simple so the art can stand out.  I just used simple, bold, & bright backgrounds since preschool is such a “bright and happy” time.   Now, it’s time to add the pictures.  (You can do the auto-fill option and keep it super simple.  But if you are slightly OCD like me, then you will be the crazy mom who likes to know what pictures goes on every page.)  For each page, you can pick your photo layout.  I like to vary the layout from page to page showcasing only one to two photos on one page while the next page displays at least eight photos.   On the first (or title) page, I had a collage with his first day of school pictures.  On the last page was his last day of school picture!  For the rest of the pages, I made sure to mix and match photos that included Aiden & his school memories to photos that only included the art.  It was easy & fast to create the book! (And while I was in Snapfish I also took a few moments to order some recent pictures of our family to replace some very old pictures of frame.  Finally Abby will have a place in our picture frames and on our framed pictures hanging on the wall!)
So make sure to head over to Snapfish by the end of May to take advantage of the great photo book deal (and clear the clutter before summer really kicks into gear!).  AND we are SUPER excited to announce that one lucky reader will win credit to create their own special photo book using Snapfish.  Enter in the Rafflecopter and good luck!

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Disclosure:  This post was created in partnership with Snapfish. All opinions are my own. 

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Comments

  4. I love snapfish. What a great idea! I hope I can make one and it would be even better if it was free! thank you

    Reply

  7. Ladies…I realize this topic is a little old but I just wanted to add another fun idea with all of those loving pieces of artwork, instead of waiting until the end of the year take photos of the art once a month and then put the art in an envelope and mail it to Grandma and any other relatives!

    Reply

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