i promised to have a post about my school album progress … and this is a big one with lots of pictures. i spend some more time on friday night and saturday night working on these. i got so caught up in this last night, that i was up until 2:00am working. lol! i actually didn't want to stop. but here's what i have to show for my work … 4 albums.
so the facts up front. i'm using the becky higgins school KOTM for these. i got them a year ago … and they are not actually available anymore. but you could easily do something similiar. in fact, my friend marissa shared these pocket pages with me that she's using … they're the same idea. i have 2 kits … and also 2 of the expansion kits that have extras i can add in. each one has preschool thru 12th grade. i'm not sure that i'm going to include preschool … we'll see. i'm using 12×12 AC modern albums … they're 3-ring style which i love. at some point, i'll add just a little something to the covers or put something on the spines to tell them apart.
once i got started assembling these … i figured out that i can really only fit 4 years in each album. that seems to be the perfect amount … without bulking it up too much. now, since there are 13 years total (kindergarten thru 12th) … i'll have to try and get 1 extra year into one of those albums. so i have 2 albums for alyssa shown here. she's in 7th grade right now … so her two albums are pretty full and have the 8 years that she's been in school. and i have 2 albums for sarah here. she's in 4th grade … so one album is full and the other is just getting started with her 5th year of school. i do have 5 of these albums (i'm using the same color for both of the girls) … so i'll just have to get one more at some point.
so here's my basic set-up that i came up with. each year is set up the same … and yes, i have them all done as of last night! these are in the same order you'll find them in the album … so just imagine me turning the pages as you read these. and if anything looks crazy blurry … it's because i blurred some of the school info on purpose. click on any photo to see it a bit larger.
i have the pocket page in front … since it has a little tab on the side and the super large grade number on the front. this is where i put all their papers and stuff i wanted to save. this is the stuff that was in those bags i showed a few days ago. you could really stuff a lot of papers in this pocket page … but i didn't want to fill them too much. the pockets themselves are pretty bulky … so i have a decent handful of papers. pretty much everything that was in those bags. and these have 2 little pockets on the front. i realized i had all the girls student ID cards … so i stuck their ID card from the year in the little pocket.
this just shows you a sampling of what's in that pocket page. this is from alyssa's 4th grade year. some of her stories and writing, a homework packet, some drawings, her mission report, etc. it actually doesn't look like that much here … but it's a good stack of stuff. i still have the larger projects that i'll be taking pictures of … and then i'll work those into the album in some way.
next page. that's the backside of the pocket page on the left. then i inserted some 8.5×11 page protectors in the album. i'm using these WRMK ones … mainly because they're great quality and a good price. all these next items were in those expandable folders that i had with the bags of papers. i just pulled out the stuff from each year, and added them to these next few pages. i have their class photo … which i mounted on a piece of white cardstock. and why they always have this bright blue background, i have no idea. is everyone's that way? our school colors are green .. you'd think they'd use that. whatever.
next page. on the backside of the class photo … i slipped in their final report card for the year. we get a copy each trimester. but the final one shows the grades for the entire year … so i'm only keeping the last one. it's a long paper … so i just folded over one end and tucked it in the page protector. then i added a second 8.5×11 page protector … and put their awards in there. i didn't want to have them all seperate … figured that would be too many page protectors. so if they had 6 awards for the year … they're all in this one page protector. honor roll awards, acheivement awards, perfect attendance awards, and other special awards. however, i did have to start adding an extra page protector once alyssa hit 6th grade … because she just had so many awards.
next page. the left shows the backside of the awards page. forgot to mention i added their STAR testing reports in there too (some california standard tests required each year). now the kit came with the stuff to make 2 double page spreads. but i think i'm just using 3 pages instead of 4. the first one has their offical 8×10 school photo. the paper came with the grade printed on there. i did add a small strip of pattern paper (from the expansion kit) … just to add a bit of color. might add something else to this page later … but at least i have all the photos on there for now. and just a funny sidenote. i never hang up or display their school photos. and i really have a hard time paying the prices for them … since i can usually take better photos myself for a lot less. so last year, i didn't order any extra photos. then i realized that this kit is made to hold a 8×10 photo … and i suddenly regretted that i didn't have their photo. after all … it IS their official school photo. so now i order them! and i was able to still do last year … since i was able to order the spring photo.
next page. this is the 2page spread that came for each grade. i put the papers together (hard to tell, but that cream paper is ruled) … and added the chipboard grade circle. this it the part that i'm going to have to work on later … and figure out exactly what i'm putting on there. but these are all assembled and in the albums … so they're all ready for me.
next page. i'm planning on leaving the backside of that last page blank. the back of the paper on the previous layout is actually white. and i like that it'll be blank … since the next page is the start of the next grade. kwim? but what you see in the left page is actually the sticker sheet that goes to the previous layout. these are the stickers to fill out and journal about their year. and i'm not sure if i need that curved pattern paper piece yet. but i just slipped both in the page protector … so that i could keep it all together and ready to use. i'll just pull it out once i'm ready to journal … and then when i'm done, that will be a blank page.
and since i can't play favorites … i have to share one of sarah's years too. lol! shows how i used the same ideas … and same set-up. this is sarah's kindergarten year.
i cannot tell you how good it feels to have these done. they're not totally done … but they're really close! i want to keep going … i didn't even want to stop. but i do have to put them on hold for a few days. i actually have some scrapping assignments due in 2 days … thinking i should start those. lol! and i have 3 days to get my tax stuff ready … i've barely started (and i have 3 small businesses to do paperwork for!). but for now … how cool do these look all lined up?!?!
please feel free to ask any questions you might have … if i didn't cover it. i like the plan i came up with … but there are lots of different ways to go about this. i'm all about easy and simple … so i'm keeping this pretty basic. that way, i know i can keep up with it!
Laura Vegas 
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