A Clean Scrapbook Slate for 2012?

Every other Friday, I write a post about Minimalist Scrapbooking.

I really liked this recent post about prioritizing projects from Nancy Nally over at Scrapbook Update.

Nancy goes over her list of projects in progress with a very brief explanation for her reason for the project. She then prioritizes these projects with the goal of at least completing a couple of them before the end of the year.

This is important because we are about to all get bombarded with New Year’s Resolution pressure with new ideas for new projects we should join in on right now.

Las Vegas Travel Album

I now have all my book binding rings for it. I just need to go through and add any last journaling to this book.

My husband’s birthday album

I haven’t worked on my husband’s birthday album since right before his 30th birthday (and that was more than a year ago…maybe more than two years ago…). It’s not a huge priority for me. They are his memories, not mine and he doesn’t even ask about it…so there is no pressure from him to complete it. I do have a couple layouts for the book partially finished so I would like to complete those and add them to the book before the end of the year. At that point, I think I need to reassess which stories need to go in that album and think about a plan for getting those stories committed to layouts.

Ongoing pages

I print photos about once a month. I then file them by year and topic. Then I scrapbook whatever I want. Once I get to the point where there are just a few stories left for a year, then I tend to focus on finishing up that year. I’m getting close to that point for 2010. I hope to finish those layouts by the end of this year.

UPCOMING PROJECTS FOR 2012

Family Stories

I have wanted to begin recording those family stories that come up when you aren’t really planning to record any stories. You know, the stories about a relative you never met but did something really cool or had an interesting hobby. My parents keep those stories in their head. They are not written down anywhere. They are not recorded anywhere. My goal for my summer vacation is to start getting those stories recorded. Over the next few months, I’m going to get the project planned out and prepared so that way I can get a lot of it finished while I’m on summer break.

Project Inspiration

Ok, so I have a secret. I have a project in mind but I’m not quite ready to share it with you yet. I spent some time this weekend ordering supplies for it and it can really only be described right now as the complete opposite of minimalist scrapbooking. I plan on getting a good start on this project during my winter break.

So what does all this have to do with minimalist scrapbooking?

For me its, important to finish scrpabooking projects. So assessing what still needs finished allows me to see what supplies I might still need to get it done. Knowing what still needs done means that the next time I sit down to scrapbook, I know where to direct my focus. This works for me. It might not work for you.

Knowing what I plan to work on next year, allows me to buy any necessary supplies and make a plan to make sure the project gets done. The family stories album did not get started last summer because I had no plan. This project requires a definite plan because it requires the assistance of my parents. My Project inspiration also requires supplies that I do not have. So far it has involved setting a budget, assessing what supplies I have that will work with it, and determining what supplies are wanted and actually needed for the project. Again, I don’t want to end up with a bunch of supplies that I’m not going to use.

Overall, I’m happy with my plan. I don’t think it’s too overwhelming. I think my plans are realistic and doable.

What sort of projects do you want to finish in 2011? What projects do you have planned for 2012? Join the conversation below!

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Stephanie