Getting Ready to Remember

I love fall.  It is most definitely my favorite part of the year.  Cooler weather, warmer meals, time spent with family, having fun with make believe and giving thanks.  Getting ready for the excitement of Christmas, Santa Clause, hot cocoa, and remembering and celebrating the Christmas story, and why we really celebrate.  These are just a few reasons why. 
I know this year with the baby girl on the way I will be busier than I have been in recent years, so I'm trying now to be as organized and prepared as I can be.  I've been trying to get some of the projects I want to do ready and prepared so that when I'm ready all I need to do is write about the moment and capture it with photos.  I remember so many things this way!  If it wasn't for my hobby of 'scrapbooking' there are a lot of memories and special moments that would simply be lost, but it's amazing how much even a single photograph can remind you of.

Halloween Minibook

With these next few weeks fixing to be probably the busiest of the entire season for us, I've been making sure I have what I need ready so that when I get the chance to document a special memory everything I need is prepped and ready to go, whether it be our baby girl's first moments, Autumn celebrations...I want to be ready.  I thought it would be fun this year to make a minibook of some of the fun activities we like to enjoy around here when October hits, so I took some time to put together the base for a small album.  All that's left is to add my photos and journaling as they happen...I won't have to worry about those fun memories being forgotten or left behind, I can just record as I go. 

Here's a few photos of the base of my project.  Getting this project ready just makes me so excited to enjoy the events as they happen!

I started by gathering the supplies I needed for this project, using mostly things I already had on hand, like leftover paper from scrapbooking last years Halloween photos, and just grabbing different elements out of the supplies I already have in the colors I want to use (lots of black, with orange, green, cream and white...really pretty).

The size of this album  5.75" x 5.75", using some square chipboard I had for the front and back covers.  I like the idea of having a front and back cover held together by rings instead of a particular size album I'm confined to. That way if I want to add more pages for photos and journaling (I'm sure I will) I don't really have to worry about outgrowing the album, the pages can also easily be taken out/added/moved around until I find what works.

There's not a ton of embellishing to this book.  I mainly used some glitter foam stickers I found on sale at Michael's, and made the other accents using my Cricut machine, various cardstock, and this Pumpkin Carving Fall Collection cartridge I found on clearance, also at Michael's.  I think the kids and I are going to have a lot of fun trying to carve some of these different designs into our pumpkins this year...can't wait to try it.  You can check it out at Cricut's website here.

Here's a photo of the cover of the album:

And some of the inside pages, without any photos or journaling...now I can just add them in as the events happen. I'll probably use the larger pages for photos and the back/front sides of the smaller pages for journaling:

I'll share some completed photos most likely as November begins and I finish adding the photos and journaling...looking forward to all of those fun fall activities! : )