This is me at 17 (1965). It was taken by a photographer at the ballet school where I studied (and taught on Saturdays to pay for my own classes).
When I was a kid, back in the 1950s-60s, my parents took a few photos–but only on important occasions, like Christmas, summer vacation, First Communion and Confirmation. Eventually, my mom would get them developed, show them to us once and then hide them away in a deep, dark closet. Oh, how that frustrated me. I mean, come on, photos are for looking at and enjoying!!
I’m now 64 years old, and just three years ago I managed to get those photos from her (she was actually glad to get them out of her closet). What a treasure box of memories. The idea of making a huge scrapbook sometimes feels like an onerous task, but mini-albums, or vignettes of your life, as I like to call them, are (in my opinion) easier and more fun to create. Also, I like the idea of focusing on one topic at a time.
I’ve never made a scrapbook about myself, but I’m thinking that it might be nice to leave one behind for my kids to enjoy after I’m gone…which won’t be for a very long time, I hope!
Over the past year, I have made several mini-albums for my family. (They serve as both a card and a gift!) For my grandson’s 18th birthday, I made The book of Austin, an envelope mini-album that focused on his many talents. Click on the photo to see a video of the album in its entirety.
When my granddaughter, Lindsay, turned 21, I made one that was sweet and pink and girly, just like she is. I made this one from toilet tissue tubes. It was my first one, and I really had fun with it! Click on the photo to see a video of the album in its entirety. 
The next one was for my granddaughter, Ashleigh, who also celebrated her 18th birthday this year. Ashleigh’s album was a flashback of her life from birth to 18. It was so much fun looking through her photos! I had to enlarge this photo of the cover and, in doing so, I lost some of the photo quality.
Click on the photo to see a video of the album in its entirety.
By the way, I have thousands and thousands of photos, both printed and digital. I keep the printed ones in photo boxes, filed by each person’s name. So, for example, when I want a photo of my mom, I just got to the “MOM” tab and there they all are. I also keep a tab for group shots. This filing system makes selecting photos for a project so easy.
As for the digital photos, I create digital file folder for each year and file the photos as follows; BIRTHDAY-Angie 45th; BIRTHDAY–Ashleigh 18th; BIRTHDAY–Mom–82nd; VACATION 2012…and so on.
My latest mini-album is of my nephew, Eric and his new bride, AnnMarie. I’m going to post it, shortly!
Make one soon for someone you love–why not for Christmas! It doesn’t have to be huge, just six or more pages. I promise you it will be a treasured gift and a lot of fun to make and give.
P.S. In the making of my mini-albums, in addition to photos of each person, I also included inspirational thoughts and messages, digital art that I coloured with my Copic markers, metal charms, ribbon, shiny beads and other bling, as appropriate.
I really enjoyed making this birthday card for my dear friend, Julie. As always, I coloured it with my Copic markers and then added shine and dimension to the cups with 3-D Crystal Lacquer. I tried to capture it on the striped mug, but I just couldn’t get the right lighting. I think you can see the shine and 3-D effect quite clearly on the polka dot tea cup. Isn’t it pretty?
