Margaret's Inspiration

Jill says:
I had a friend ask this morning if I had any tips about taking photos for the year and keeping/making a mini album. Thanks for the inspiration to create this post, Margaret.
The first thing I would say is "Keep it simple". If you have a busy life, you will definitely drop this project if it's too fussy when life moves up a notch. Simple photos, simple recording and simple album.
Here's what else I found that works:
1. Purchase an inexpensive 1 month to an opening diary in A4 size to record the days you took the photo and any journalling you might want to remember. Leave it open somewhere prominent so you will write in it. This saves time at the end of the month or whenever you get a chance to get ready to put it into paper form.
2. ATC pockets are great for this. They are inexpensive to buy, you can keep them in an inexpensive but attractive ring binder from an office shop (rather than an expensive scrapbooking album), there isn't much area to scrap so it doesn't allow you to "over" create (back to the keeping it simple idea), there is ample room on the reverse of the card for journalling (they are 3 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches) and due to the size of the pockets you can save money by mixing and matching papers and using scraps. My album last year consisted totally of scraps.
3. Keep your Lifescrap digital photos organised in a monthly folder so they are easier to print out and keep track of.
4. Take your camera with you at all times. If your phone has a camera, use that or make a point of taking your camera. Try to see things from a different perspective or give the camera to someone else to take the photos. Take photos of things you normally wouldn't take photos of: coffee shop signs, menus, the road, road signs, medicines, the washing from underneath or in the basket or machine, sports equipment, kids drawings, etc. To get some more ideas for photos look at our monthly posts of our finished product from 2010.
5. In saying that, it doesn't always have to be a photo. Use whatever you have: clothing labels, movie or show tickets, sticky notes your family has written, love notes, school notes, the list really is endless.
6. Dont' be afraid to mix it up. If it's not inspiring you, change it no matter where you are at in the year. Better to be mixing it up than to be uninspired and have it as a drag or another project that is unfinished.

This blog holds many more ideas and tips, starting from it's inception in January, 2010. Have a read over the posts from last year and if you get stuck, come back and look some more.