Creating a Family Yearbook: Tips from two Moms

I am very excited to introduce you to one of my oldest friends, Jessica, today as we are going to discuss our methods for creating family yearbooks for our families.  When I got to thinking about doing a post on the yearbook I created - I couldn't stop thinking about how disingenuous it would be to do the post without consulting with Jessica, since she was the one that encouraged and inspired me to put the effort into finishing.

For a little backstory, Jessica and I became friends in high school and spent our afternoons together writing in composition books about boys we had crushes on and sneaking to the mall to secretly buy compacts and lip gloss.  Thinking of those innocent, girly moments makes me so hopeful that someday in those awkward initial teenage years - maybe Gemma will find her own Jessica to share and giggle their way through that stage of life.

I started thinking about making a yearbook for our family after seeing this pin and also after looking at Jessica's yearly photobooks she creates for her daughters.  She is a Shutterfly girl (like me) and her books are so beautiful capturing all of the milestones and important moments in her girls' year between each birthday.  And shortly there after I realized that I have so many photos saved digitally but not really printed anywhere and that was the fire that got me started thinking about creating our own family yearbook.

I am excited to discuss this topic alongside Jessica since we have two different approaches to creating our yearbooks.  When I was feeling uninspired after my initial start - it was Jessica who talked me through some of her design layouts and templates that got my mind spinning again to continue working on it.  It's a daunting task; to look at your year's worth of photos and get them organized - but I think all you need is a little encouragement and proof that it can be done to keep going.

From the interviews below; I think it will be helpful to get familiar with each of our styles and figure out which feels more like your own -

Jessica's approach is simplistic with a focus on the pictures.  She likes symmetrical templates with clean, straight lines and even spacing.  Jessica keeps her book streamlined and flowing by ordering her pictures chronologically (highlighted with the date) and using minimal to no captions.  Her main focus is on the photos and the people in her family.

Tabitha's approach is similar to the layout of a high school yearbook.  She likes customizing templates by changing photo size and adding stickers.  She organizes the pictures chronologically but groups together common events when applicable (house projects, bathtime photos, etc).  Tabitha uses lots of captions and text throughout.  Her main focus is on the events and the things that her family does during the year.

Why do you make a family yearbook:
J:  I like to have photo sessions with the girls - I'd get them all dressed up and take like 150 pictures and pick 1 or 2 to display in the house.  I'd always have a bunch of goofy ones, that I wouldn't want to enlarge but wanted to have printed, but printing a bunch of pictures is useless to me - they just end up in a box in the closet.  So, my original intent for 2012 was to have the photo session in the book and sort of do a coffee table/'proof book' kinda deal.  As I started to make it, I realized I didn't want to skip the holidays or random candids (bathtime, playtime, dinner...) that occasionally would result in a really good picture.

T:  We do a lot of things during the year - that's how we mark time passing in our family; by the things we do and the places we go.  Outside of social media (and the blog) the pictures that we take throughout the year go almost nowhere.  Our kids don't really spend time looking at pictures, nor do we spend time as a family looking at pictures together of things we've done.  This makes me very sad - so I wanted a way that we can sit together to look back at all the things we do together as a family.

What is something you like to remember when you're making your books:
J:  I try to remember the purpose of it...I'm not entering a contest, so it does not have to be perfect.  It will be perfect for me, due to the content.  It's for me to remember when we were just a young family and how my girls' grow up and how we grow old.

T:  I try to remind myself that I don't need to include every tiny thing that has happened to our family throughout the year.  I remind myself not to stress about how to include all 64 pictures that I took during our 'mud pie' session this summer.


What size & type of yearbook do you have:
J:  8.5x11 Landscape Hardcover with a Padded option (additional $4.95, but it makes it look a little more professional)

T:  I went with the 12x12 Hardcover.  It's huge and at first I was little taken aback - but its since grown on me and I've come to really love the dominance of it.  It's size definitely sets it apart from any other book we have and makes it feel sort of magical.

How do you start the book (title page, beginning pages, etc):
J:  I start my book by totally skipping the first page in hopes that by the end inspiration will strike.  I started my 2012 book out by spending a few hours trying to describe what my intent was for the book...failure.  I read it a few weeks later and thought...who cares?  I know what my intent was...just put more pictures.  So I came back to the first page when I finished the rest of the book and put 12 pictures around the perimeter of the title page of pictures of the girls throughout the year (I think all of them were instagram pictures!) and I put them in black & white to look 'classy' - hahha!

T:  I start my book with sort of an introduction to what our family was like for the year.  So the title page has a picture of all four of us, followed by a page of Brandon and I that we answer a few questions together (like, What was our hardest challenge that year? and our favorite husband&wife moment..etc).  Then I even gave the pets a page with their own glamour shots (hah!) and the kids each get their own page with a bunch of my favorite pictures of each of them.  It includes a little blurb about their knicknames, likes/dislikes over the year & milestones.  (I totally borrowed that idea from Jessica's daughters' individual books - thanks Jess!)

How do you make transitions through the book?
J:  I start with choosing the pictures I want, and since I am doing it by date, it sort of has its own flow.  I try to make the 2 page spreads coordinate - sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  I guess I am describing what I did with the date/chronological order set-up.  That really simplified things for me, and it put the focus on exactly what I wanted it on:  my pictures.

T:  It took me a while before I figured out how I was going to transition from month to month and then I started noticing that I had a few pictures each month of things we did or places we went that didn't necessarily warrant an entire page in the book, but they were certainly things I didn't want to leave out.  That lead me to making a month page at each transition to include a couple pictures from things we did that month and a little note about the day or trip.

What is something you wish you would have known when you started the book:
J:  The only thing I really wish I had known was that the internet is not always reliable and I should save more often than I'd probably like to (since that also takes a little time for the saving process to do its thing).  I did lose a page or two (or ten) and had to recreate them by not saving every 10 minutes.

T:  I think I would have made sure I was uploading pictures to the site regularly before I started making my book.  Especially now that I'm working on older years - so many of my pictures from years gone by are on various hard drives or were only partially uploaded to the site...I've seen it takes a lot of your focus and creativity away when you have to stop every few minutes to go try to locate a picture you want to use.  I'm working on uploading pictures more regularly now for my future self.

What do you like to experiment with when working on the book:
J:  My yearbooks are pretty simple, some pages only have 1 picture on them.  I also don't like to use a lot of words because I end up looking back at what I wrote and thinking - 'you are suck a dork.' hah!  To avoid that self-criticism, I only put the date on the page.  At the end of the book, I do a page or two of photos that I like but didn't make the actual book and I make every effort to completely randomize them.  Outside of that, I do really like the new photo effects that Shutterfly offers (vintage, fade, sunshine, etc).

T:  At first I was really hesitant to do any customization or use any of the embellishments that Shutterfly offers.  And then I just dove in head first and fell in love.  I love jazzing up the background to include stickers to highlight whatever the event or activity is on the page.  I'm surprised that I like stickers so much (who knew?!) but I really had to just jump right in and I'm glad I did - I think it brings a fun and silly element to the book.

monster hand stickers (left) and summer-y stickers (right)

still T:  I also realized mid-way through book creation that there are things that I write on the blog that don't go anywhere else (like posts from an important day, or about my kids, or Brandon, or about us) and I really wanted them to have their own place in print somewhere.  The yearbook seemed like the perfect place, so I included some of my favorite posts from the year on dedicated pages throughout.  Sometimes I had them on top of a picture (faded out a bit) and other times they were just stand alone with a plain background.

How often do you work on your book:
J:  I try to work on my book every couple of months so I don't get too far behind and overwhelmed, then I am not thinking about the page I am working on, but more about how much I still have to do!  Plus, I only get small chunks of time to work on it anyway.  When I start, I just try to pick the pictures and the order that they will be in the book.  I found that if I spend too much time on the background or stickers, etc - it's typically wasted since I end up changing everything over the course of the year.

T:  ugh - I'm the worst.  I waited to start my book in late December last year and didn't get the whole thing finished until mid-April of this year - hah!  I think I'll probably do the same thing though now, sort of just seems to work since then I am in the same creative mindset for the whole book.  I am going to try to stay consistent with uploading pictures throughout the year though so that at the end of this year - I only have the book to work on instead of both uploading and book creating.

What does a yearbook give you that you don't get otherwise:
J:  I now have something visual that I can keep over the years..the final printed product is nice compact, clean looking book that documents our year and I can keep it in our living room for visitors to enjoy.  No messy boxes of mixed up photos or photo albums filling up my closet...and I can share the select pictures without all the blurry or bad ones that for whatever reason I can't bring myself to delete!

T:  Happiness.  hah!  But it honestly makes our whole family happy to look at it - and we laugh at the funny pictures and memories.  I loved our 2012 one so much that now I'm working on one for previous years (2011 & 2010 at least) because there are so many pictures that Grey doesn't have access to when he was a little baby.  Its such a nice visual reminder of how happy we make each other as a family.

We hope this post helps other Moms see that a family yearbook is a completely attainable and worthwhile goal for your family.  Jessica and I both use Shutterfly - but we are not getting endorsed in any way for this post - we just use what has worked best for us in the past and have had great experiences with them.  There are lot of different options for book-making (like Blurb) or some folks use photoshop, and there are certainly people who do better with the traditional scrapbook with real materials.  Whatever works best for you - and maybe it will take trying a few different options out yourself.

As a sidenote - if you need a reminder that YOU (the mumma) should be included in your yearbook now matter how you might not look your best or if you're still carrying around some extra baby weight (ahem, tabitha), or you're making a really weird face in all the pictures from the fourth of July...READ ONE OF MY FAVORITE POSTS by Allison Tate and then get yourself in there!!

Lastly, your yearbook doesn't have to look any particular way or be some extravagant thing - it only has to be manageable and realistic for what you can do (in both time and creatively).  There are so many possibilities and options - but the only thing that really matters is that its about you and your family.

You can do it!!

Good luck Mummas; the treasured memory keepers :)

toddler & baby Kindness - Guest Post

I apologize for the lack of posting going on this week.  I'm going to give you an update very soon (tomorrow?) but I've been doing a little internet dieting - so thanks for hanging around.

I am excited today to direct you over to Nicole's Craftastic Life blog where I did a guest post for her about how we incorporate kindness in our day to day lives.  Even with very young kids, we try to remember kindness everyday.  Check out Nicole's blog for my post and to read her own posts on a normal basis.

Thanks for letting me guest post, Nicole!

The metamorphisis from plain old sister to bright shining funny amazing aunt

It is a funny thing to be the oldest sibling.  No matter how old your younger siblings get, they are still younger and thus, less wise than you (heh).  As the oldest, I've experienced most things first; shaving my legs, first kisses, going to college, getting married, having a baby and all along the way I've been able to very wisely dispense my wealth of knowledge of these subjects...but there is one thing that they both beat me to; one thing I have absolutely no experience in; being an aunt.  It's amazing to me to watch how they have gone from my baby sisters to these women who easily morphed into caretakers and nuturers.  I see the way they light up around my son; the way they laugh at everything he does even if its naughty or whiny.  How they make up silly games to play with him.  I know what it is like to be a mother, but I have now idea what it feels like to be aunt.  So I asked,

I haven't noticed a difference, surprisingly, between being a sister & being my sister's son's Aunt. The only thing I can say is that it is easy. Easy to love Greyson, easy to think about him all day long and easy to still be a sister. I thought, maybe, it might be hard to juggle being an Aunt, a sister and a friend. Truth is, it's not hard at all. I love it. I don't have to try to be anything, I just am. I have never been as close to anyone as I am with my two sisters. I would do anything for them and I know they would travel the universe if I simply needed a hug. And I have never loved anything like Greyson Rudy. Quite honestly, I'm not that great with kids. Until Greyson I have never had a baby crawl to me or raise their tiny arms for me to hold them. It makes me feel like crying actually. Haha. It feels good to be so loved by something so tiny and adorable. We have only known eachother for about 10 months, but I love him just the same as my sisters. And yes, if he needed a hug...I would travel four universes to be there for him. Anyday.
-Tasha, better known as Aunt Uch

It's a hard thing to explain. I started wanting (I mean reaaally wanting) to be an aunt the moment Tab's foot stepped on the aisle of the church, the day her and Brandon were married. From that day on my thoughts, hopes and wishes were devoted to Tab and Brandon deciding to grace me with a nephew. Then, one day Tab gave me wings. Literally. I jumped about 7 feet in the air when I saw the plus sign in the photograph of her positive pregnancy test. Let the countdown begin!

The next few months were the longest of my life. I spent hours daydreaming of what it would be like when Greyson Rudy got here. My prayers were answered on my way home from a volleyball game. A voicemail left from my mother, moments before i checked my phone, frantic " we can't wait, were leaving in 5 minutes, THE BABY IS COMING!!!" I couldve passed out, I called my boss, tiny whimpers escaping my throat, "i wont be in tomorrow, Tab is having her babyyyy!" I made it home in record time. sweating, panting, crying, laughing. "thank god youre still here! lets go!" my parents and I piled in the car, close to ten o'clock at night, and b-lined it to the hospital.

Once the endless drive was over, we spent a sleepless night at the hospital (my apologies of being mellow dramatic Tab, I realize my night was nothing compared to yours). The text finally came "He's Here!" followed by a picture message; I have never seen so many adults fight over a cellphone before in my life.

Once we got the ok to go to the room, the guys waltzed causally with big smiles on their faces while us women did that half shuffle/half run with little floaty hearts drifting out of our heads. When I first saw Boo Boo all i could think to do was laugh.

Thats pretty much all Ive been doing since hes been here. Hes cool, really cool. my life has changed because I have one more person to add to the list of people that I live for. People that make my life better just because they are alive. A three hour drive is nothing to watch him do his little dances or to see him look up at me with that heart melting, half smirk.

I have to agree with Tasha describing aunthood as being easy. Its the most seamless transition Ive ever made in my life and by far the best title Ive ever had. I love him every second of the day, I show complete strangers the background of my phone (Grey, duh) I could go on for hours talking about his laugh, or his curly little mohawk. Hes the best. and he is surrounded by not only the two, coolest, most loving parents that I know (or the two prettiest, funniest aunts ;) ) but he also has a ginormous list of family, by blood or choice, friends, cousins, and literally complete strangers that would move mountains for him to make his life easier, safer and heartfelt. He adds love everywhere he goes, and I couldnt be more thankful for him<3

-Kayla, better known as Aunt Kitty

The difference between a mother and an aunt is a great one. Not only do aunts get to return children to their rightful owners at the end of the day; but even better they will get to know my kids in a different way than me. They'll get all the laughs and fun times without any of the discipline and worrying if they are becoming upstanding citizens of the world.  They'll get all the high fives and fun trips without any of the doctor's appointments and parent teacher conferences.  My kids will feel comfortable enough to go to my sisters with details of their life that will be way too uncomfortable to talk about with their boring, OLD mom (who obviously never experienced life before they existed.) They will get to feed them chocolate cake before bedtime and then send them home to me. They will be able to say "yes, as long as you don't tell your mom I said you could." 

Kayla & Tasha - You may have beat me to aunthood, but I'll get my payback sometime in the future when you start making cute little curly haired mohawk babies of your own.  And just as I trust that you will dole out solid moral advice to my babies as they ask you all of those things in the future that they don't think I have any clue about - I promise to do the same for your future babies' questions...Embarassing stories about you kept to a minimum, of course.  (um, yea right.)