Confessions of an Ex-Scrapbooker #25: 2009 Family Yearbook Challenge

Today's confessions is all about helping you find the easiest ways to capture your family's memories from 2008. Some tips, tricks, and ideas for 2009 as well....

& the announcement of the

Family Yearbook Challenge 2009!!!!!

With 2008 coming to a close and 2009 already underway, now is the time to remember and record all of your family’s 2008 adventures. There are 100’s and 100’s of events and moments worth recording from just one single year. So how do we organize and and stay on top of all those stories? How do record and pick out the most important events?

1. Don’t wait! Get a jump on your family yearbook as soon as you can. Have a goal to finish it by January 31 of the new year. Use the buddy system for find a group of friends that want to do it with you...doesn't matter, just get it done!!

2. Get your family involved. Have your husband, children, grandparents and friends share their favorite memories, stories and photos. Ask them about their favorite events, memories and stories from the year.

3. Do an A-Z book. When you’re “chronologically” challenged, resort to the A-Z style. Pick a few favorite pictures and memories that work with the intended letter. I've done quite a few A-Z books....I'm not 100% perfect with organization of any kind, so I resort to the A-Z style often. Plus my KIDS LOVE THEM!

4. Use your calendar from the previous year. Sometimes flipping through your old calendars will help remind you forgotten events. Calendars of all kinds, whether electronic or paper, hold most of our important memories without us even know it. It's a great tool to use!

5. Try out Cherish’s Bound Family Yearbook Story Starter. I use one of these every year. With it’s pages of questions and room to write, our year is organized and ready in no time at all. It's broken up into sections to help you write stories about all different areas of your family's life, events, and it's a great tool to interview your children, spouses, family and friends to get their two cents as well. There's room to write in it too!

6. Don't feel the need to have EVERY SINGLE picture in your book. It's the stories that count. The photos are the bonus....so don't waste too much time hunting down photos. Your family will thank you for the collection of "stories" as you watch them sit around the couch and READ about their family's adventures.

7. Keep it simple. Less is more…

Now here's a FANTASTIC idea that I stumbled on yesterday over at Robin's Life. She's a Scrapper, digital scrapper, yes, that's okay.....anyway, she's doing something every week of the year. So each week she'll have a page or two done of the events that happened. By the end of 2009, she'll have all her memories and ideas captured and ready to share. BRILLIANT!

I'm so inspired by this idea that I'm going to start a weekly "Yearbook Class" to help you capture your families memories WHILE THEY'RE HAPPENING!! Monday Morning I'll post the first Class and every Monday in 2009 after that. Spread the word...I'll have a button for you, prizes, giveaways, and at the end of the year, one lucky follower and classmate will get their family book PUBLISHED FOR FREE! Yep! For free. I'll have all the details on Monday. But we're going to need to get started quickly to catch up with the 19 days that we'll be behind on....so get ready!!

This will not be Digital Scrapbooking....I'm no expert in it and have absolutely no right to subject you to my skills....I can do it, but can't teach it. (Does that make ANY sense at all....)This will be a class about collecting the stories writing it or typing it...organizing your photos and getting them all in one place. They'll be in a "file" system on your computer where you can watch your family's story unfold and then share it with them. If you're a digi scrapper....have at it! You'll know what to do :O) Robin has great ideas too!

So....Who's in?

Hope these simple tips will help motivate you and help you tell your family’s stories year after year. And don't forget to spread the word about our Family Yearbook Challenge 2009!

Happy New Year!