A Word on Card Keeping

I keep two albums for scrap booking cards: one for everyday use and one for Christmas cards. In my "Everyday" album, I also keep birthday, get well, congratulations, baby and graduation announcements, and any other holidays, such as Easter, Valentines, etc.. I use a 3 "D"-ring album with a fabric cover. I prefer these since they open like a regular 3-ring binder, and I don't have to mess with the old fashioned tabs that require you to load each page individually and limit how and where you can move them once you are done. Regardless of what style you prefer, most all albums are made with acid free paper to ensure your cards won't yellow through the years.

I used my Cricut cutter to label them on the front. If you are looking for a simple, but fun way to keep your cards intact, you may like to develop some system of your own similar to this or any other number of ideas. I would love to hear from any of you that save and scrap your cards. I'm always up for new ideas.

If you are new to saving cards, have no fear. I only recently started scrapping my cards- probably in the last three years. Before then, I kept them in a big clear Rubbermaid tub on a shelf in my craft room. I never enjoyed them that way. They were out of order and rarely saw the light of day.

Though I may get some New Years cards later in the week, I went ahead and scrapped my 2010 cards tonight, which is another favorite activity of mine.



 I just use regular double sided tape- strong enough to hold the cards in place, but if I don't like the layout, it doesn't tear the cards to move and reposition them either. Always position them first and tape last. If you are new to scrabooking, this is my best tip. Ha!

This is the first page of my album- these cards start around 2001. I thought I would show a few pages through the years before I talk about how I decide my layouts.

These are the cards I received this year. Before I get started, I fan them all out so I can see them according to size. Deciding on layouts is much easier if you can see all that you are working with.

As a rule, I try to group them so that each double page spread either coordinates by size or design. I also try to never overlap them or cut off any one's face. : ) I will, however, trim newsletters to fit beside their prospective cards.



I loved the size of the middle card- it worked perfectly to separate two photo cards.

Here is a newsletter and photo card from the same family- I did cut the excess paper from the sides of the newsletter to make it fit. Try to keep pictures with newsletters as you work so that you don't end up with a random picture at the end and have to search through 30 pages to find its match.

This spread had some coordinating elements. On the outside corners of each, I kept a loose photo (not a photocard) with the store bought card it came with and included two different sizes of photo cards. Though it is not an obvious theme, grouping cards is always a good idea when trying to create a theme. I never use extra paper or embellishments in these types of albums, so you naturally do what you can to show coordination.

For this layout, I just used store bought cards. Grouping them helps create a theme so that a lone store bought card doesn't appear out of place with photo cards. I always make sure to tape the cards down only on the back side and never in between the actual card. In doing so, when I want to reread them, I can pull out my page and open them easily.

If I have cards where the sender hand wrote a special message, I may tape them down to show the internal view and not the outside. 

Also, some cards, depending on size, may require a full spread of two pages. This card, from Miranda, included a newsletter and a birth announcement, which required more space. If your cards are spread out before you start scrapping, you can make sure you will include all pieces and not run out of pages to group them together.

I try to save a few cards from my students every year, too.

I do save all the envelopes every year as well, but I only do it until the next Christmas. I make sure to send a card to everyone I received from. It is a good system that works for me to guarantee I won't forget anyone.

So there you have it! It is simple, but very valuable to me. I love looking through the book every year and remembering what family and friends looked like or did or said as the years pass.

I would love to do a post on my "Everyday" album, but I'm sure you are half asleep as it is! Ha!