This post was originally published in December 2014 at the Daily Digi. I wanted to re-publish it as it reflects how I plan my scrapping. I hope this post inspired you to make time for scrapbooking in 2018.

Update: In 2015, I did complete Lucy's Baby book, and I used the same plan in 2016 to complete Matthew's book too!

How much will you scrap this year? To answer this question I began to plan out my scrapbooking for a whole year. Now before you stop reading, I have to say something about planning.

You don't need to plan to scrapbook. In fact, too much planning, like too much organizing and shopping can prevent you from even getting started and gaining momentum. I plan my scrapping because I want to, and for me it's a way to make sure I put aside the time to scrap.
You don't need to do any planning, unless you want to because it helps you make scrapping happen.

I'm happiest when I scrap and print my pages regularly. So this year, as I do most years, I am planning time to scrapbook and to print my layouts. Today I'll share my plans for scrapping.

There's a couple of aspects to my planning: 1. A time to scrapbook 2. Projects to scrapbook.

A Time to Scrapbook

As a wife, mum of four, homeschooler and business owner scrapbooking time doesn't grow on trees. Inspiration strikes much more often then I can actually sit down to scrap! But instead of letting that worry me, I've chosen a couple of times a week to allocate to scrapbooking. I typically spend an hour on each layout so I use that as my basic scrapping time.

Like many scrappers, I enjoy scrapbooking on Sunday and even started posting my layouts with #ScrappingSunday on Instagram and Facebook. I'd love you to join in and share your pages too!

I also set aside an hour on Wednesday to do some scrapbooking.

Throughout the year, I like to take part in Layout a Day, so I'll add an hour of scrapbooking time each day for February and October.

Then there's a monthly craft group I attend, where I scrapbook my memorabilia in pocket pages.

Each year I itch to try traditional project life weekly spreads and have completed a few here and there. But if I was to commit to doing weekly Project Life style pocket scrapping, that's all I would be able to fit into a normal week. In 2017, I created a single page with the Project Life App on my phone, and sure enough, I've done just a handful of other pages.

So that begs the question... what do I want to scrapbook?

Projects to Scrapbook

As scrapbookers, our work is never 'finished'. There's always one more story, day, event, moment or photo to document. I tend to scrap random pages rather than going in chronological order or even doing specific projects. You may feel motivated by ongoing projects or themed albums, so your list of projects to work on may look different than mine. I had just one ongoing project on my plate for 2015, my little Lucy's baby book.

Baby Albums

I have three small children, so since 2009, I've been working on baby scrapbook albums!

Each month for Lucy's first year, I have been creating a page for her, as she's 6 months now, I've got 7 more to do, then the cover and some collage pages to showcase more cute baby photos!

I'll also do a page when she begins walking and for her first birthday party.

So let's say about 10 pages for Lucy.

Recurring Pages

I said I don't have ongoing projects, but I do like to record certain things throughout the year that my family and I enjoy looking at. With the exception of my Christmas album, they aren't big projects, and some of them I even create on my phone with the Project Life App.

Each year I try to create:

• Birthday pages for all 5 of us
  
• Week in the Life (7 pages + cover with the Project Life App)
  
• December 'Not So' Daily/Christmas Album (~30 pages)
  
• You right now (A page for each child with random moments I want to document)
• Family photo page (Pretty pages to showcase our family portraits with baby Lucy)
• The 10 pages I mentioned above for Lucy's album.

All up this will total about 60 pages. So that means even if I have no more ideas for pages, I'll need to scrap more than one page per week to create them all.

Layouts for fun!

I don't want to over-plan my layouts, so there's leeway to scrap whatever I like. The other 40 or so layouts I create will be prompted by activities, moments or challenges that I participate in. My schedule is to allow time for the joy of creating!

What I don't do

What I don't do when the time comes to scrapbook is almost as important as what I do. To give you an idea, here's what I don't do when it's time to scrap:

• Download photos from my camera or phone (this happens automatically)
• Go shopping for the perfect kit
• Unzip/organize my supplies (I set aside a Download Day each month to do that)
• Make everything look perfect (I do my best, and come back to a page later if it's not working for me)

What I Do

• Look a my list of page ideas (I write them down when inspiration strikes)
• Open Photoshop Elements Organizer
• Pull some photos out and edit them with Radlab if needed
• Open my supplies catalog
• Browse recent kit previews
• Choose one
• Scrapbook
• Run a save action to save my pages for print and web
• Upload them to Flickr to share the inspiration!

Ready to Go?

So what do you think about planning your scrapping?

Do you use a routine?

Do you plan what pages you create?

Do you prefer ongoing challenges?

I'd love to hear how you will plan to make time for the joy of creating.