PL vs. Separate album issue

[tkradtke]

Sigh...

I just can't make a decision.

A few weeks ago my daughter and I spent a week in Anaheim, CA for her dance nationals. On that trip, we went to Disneyland for a couple of days. I took a TON of photos the first day and not too many the next day (my camera was acting up). I had decided that I would just include all of the photos from our two days in my regular PL album.... but as I got started, the pages started mounting up. It began to seem a little much so I thought maybe I would just do a separate Disney album. Ugh... I have a bunch of photos considering that they're just from one day... but when I started laying out a separate album... there's just not enough to justify it (even stretching things out with an 8x8 album size). I could do a whole trip album... but as great as our Disney days were, the dance nationals part was a train wreck and not anything I would want too many pages to document it.

So... I'm trying to puzzle this out. I know it's my album and I have the freedom to do whatever I want with it... but is it obnoxious to have like 10 pages of Disneyland photos in our regular PL album, especially when it was just my daughter and I who went? I'm contrasting this with the trip to NYC that we went on the week before. I only did one page per day in my PL album since I have more than enough photos from our trip to justify a separate album. I just don't want it to seem strange that for a family trip I have one page per day, but six Disney pages from just one day with just my daughter. My album always seems so Clara heavy anyway since my son just isn't into photos... just afraid this would make it worse.

If anyone would like to "talk this through" with me, I would greatly appreciate it! I actually have my Disney PL pages done (well... laid out on templates, not completely done)... both ways and I just can't figure out which direction I want to go.

 

[mrspotts]

What is your PL album for? By that I mean is it a family album that you display and plan to keep? Or are you making a copy for each of your kids?

I would say if it is a family album then don't worry about the amounts of pages. I mean you and your daughter are part of the family so of course you would want to document that time you spent together. Also I really don't think anyone would think twice about the fact that you have multiple pages about a trip to Disney. It is really hard to pair down a trip like that into one or two layouts...even if you were there for just one day.

 

[lmccandless]

I am not home right now to take a pic and share it with you, but hopefully, I can describe what I did.
In one of my PL albums, I had a pretty similar situation to yours. I used a polka dot manilla folder that I cut in half, to make it a divider to mark to enclose the Disney pages. I embellished the front of the folder with the trip title and a castle photo. Then, I punched a hole in each side, just slightly below the halfway point. I used an elastic with one of our smallest lanyard pins as the closure. It basically functioned to make almost a mini book inside my PL and set the trip apart from the "regular" pages.

 

[rach3975]

When I make a separate album for a vacation and put just a few pages about it in the main family/PL album, I try to mention it in some way. For example, I might do a 2x2 pocket or a tag over a photo with a note to see the vacation photobook for more photos. That wouldn't really solve your problem of feeling like your daughter is in the album more, but it would be enough of an explanation for why there aren't more NY pages.

My oldest hates having his photo taken, so he's also in the album a lot less than my younger 2. I try to mention it in a humorous way in the albums so that one day when he's looking through them he'll remember that I wanted him in them more and it was his choice not to be. So every once in a while I'll include a photo that has a blur of him leaving the room or a photo with an arrow to where he was standing a minute before paired with a caption explaining why he isn't in the albums as much as the other 2.

 

[Mrivas]

For me if I went to Disney and created my pages PL style I would just include them in my PL album. Especially because it's only six pages.

 

[klee73010]

I say do what you started and not over think it.... include your Disney pages in your PL album. I like Laura's idea with the separation

 

[Karen]

You could also have something like a Disney section that you could put at the back of the album and in your weekly spread reference it with just a couple picture and put a big card that says "See Disney section in the back" or something like that. Then I wouldn't be too intrusive in the flow of your PL spreads, but it would still all be together in the same album.

By the way, I LOVE the idea that Laura shared too! I'd love to see pictures when you get home Laura!

 

[NancyBeck]

I think Tracie has her PL printed in hard bound books, which is why this might be such a dilemma for her. (Tracie, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that.) Those of us who put our PL pages in a d-ring binder don't have any qualms about including everything from that year, even stand alone pages. Laura's idea is awesome for us binder folks! When it is all said and done, it was a big part of your year, Tracie and deserves to be in your PL book if you have room there. Those pages might mean more to you and your daughter than to the rest of the family since they weren't there, but I think that is OK.

 

[tkradtke]

Thanks for all of the input everyone! I do love your idea Laura, but Nancy is right, I do bound books. I was waaayyyyy overthinking things, but I think I'm good now... thanks to all of your help. This is a family album, so it makes sense to include all that our family does. I'm going to include all of my Disney pages in my regular PL book. I am printing three books this year, so I have plenty of pages available for this book. And I just thought about the fact that my son is on the Justice Journey (a tour of the major civil rights sites of the south) with the youth group and they've been taking lots of photos and doing detailed blog posts for each day... I'll do a page a day for his trip which will even out our "summer" PL album a bit.

Thanks so much for talking me through this!

 

[RebeccaH]

Okay, so I know you've already made your decision, but thought I'd throw my 2 cents in as well... and good thing it matches your decision!

Earlier this year we went to Vegas for a gymnastics meet. We were there for about 5 days. Not enough to make a whole album about, but more than enough for SEVERAL pages. I also do bound albums, and was puzzling over this. I decided to do one of my little 1/2 page 6x12 divider pages as a Vegas intro page, and then I started my pages from there. It flows pretty seamlessly, and I'm happy with it.

Link to my very unfinished album:http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BcNXLVo5ZsmFg around page 12 maybe?

 

[tkradtke]

I love that idea Rebecca! I think I'll use it! It will be a nice way to separate the trip out without really separating it... if you know what I mean.

I loved looking through your book! I'm always looking for ways to mix things up with Project Life each year to keep things interesting and I love your big two page photo spreads! May try working a few of those into my plan for next year!

Edited to Add:
I usually try out my new ideas for next year's project life in my road trip album each summer. We leave on Thursday and I'm practically giddy about trying this out with Niagara Falls photos!! Thanks again for the inspiration!

 

[RebeccaH]

I love that idea Rebecca! I think I'll use it! It will be a nice way to separate the trip out without really separating it... if you know what I mean.

I loved looking through your book! I'm always looking for ways to mix things up with Project Life each year to keep things interesting and I love your big two page photo spreads! May try working a few of those into my plan for next year!

Edited to Add:
I usually try out my new ideas for next year's project life in my road trip album each summer. We leave on Thursday and I'm practically giddy about trying this out with Niagara Falls photos!! Thanks again for the inspiration!

Ooooh! Niagara Falls! Have a great time!
I can't wait to see your amazing pages!!

Glad you like the 2-page photos! I felt like all of my pictures were starting to look the same, so those were a nice way to kind of mark the start of a new activity, or else just show off a photo I really liked.

Clearly my book is nowhere near being done yet .... pretty sad, since that's only my jan-march book for this year (sigh).

 

[sucali]

Rebecca, your book looks wonderful! The 2 pagers are so perfect.
A wonderful inspiration!

 

[RebeccaH]

Thank you Susanne!!!

I'm super close to having this one finished and ready for print!! I feel like I've been working on it for a small eternity! It will feel good to finally have it in hand!