Hello friends! I’m so excited to be with you here today talking about pocket page scrapbooking.
Pocket Pages have been a huge trend for the last several years and I think it’s here to stay. I have completed a “Project Life” pocket page scrapbook album for the last six years. I enjoy these albums so much and so does the rest of my family!
I attribute my success with pocket scrapbooking to being diligent about decision making and preparing for these pages at the beginning of each year. Today, I want to take you through some of the decisions that I go through each year as I’m evaluating my plan for these pages. These are decisions you can think through as well if you’re interested in beginning pocket page scrapbooking or evaluating your own process.
Format | First you must choose what format you want to complete your pages in. There are really three formats to choose from…paper, digital and hybrid. I am a full digital pocket scrapbooker and I really don’t see that changing, except for mini-album projects.
Size | Oh, there are so many sizes to choose from! Some of the more popular sizes are 12×12, 6×8, and 9×12. I do my Project Life album in the traditional 12×12 size.
Time Approach | Again there are lots of choices here. Some keep to a weekly format, with a two page spread for each week, or even one week per side. I think this is how the trend started and it’s how I’ve done my pocket pages for the last five years. That is a system that truly works for me. Some other formats are monthly, seasonal, and even what I like to call stream of consciousness that doesn’t hold to time limits at all.
With all of these approaches, it’s important to decide if it’s going to me important to you to stay current with your pages. I enjoy scrapbooking more “in the moment” so it is important for me, but there have been times when I have gotten “behind” and was able to catch up because I have a regular system for completing these pages quickly. I want to note that I put behind in quotations because I truly believe there is no such thing as being behind in scrapbooking. There are no scrapbooking police and there are no rules that you have to adhere to.
If it is important to be current in scrapping these pocket pages, it really helps to decide on a time each week or month, depending on which time approach you’re taking to get your pages done. I try to schedule my pocket scrapbooking for Sunday or Monday afternoons.
Template(s) | Decide on which template packs you want to use. I try to use templates from the same set throughout each year for consistency and speed.
Kit(s) | Again for consistency it may help to decide on which kits you’re going to use with these pages in advance. I tend to use a combination of Memory Pockets Monthly and Just Jaimee’s Storyteller kits. These are both available as subscriptions and work really well with pocket pages!!
Fonts | I like to keep to just a few fonts that I use throughout my pocket page albums. I switch these up from year to year.
Printing | If you’re using a hybrid format, you need to choose how you’re going to print. Are you printing at home or using a printing service? And if you’re a full digital pocket page scrapper, how often are you going to print your pages. I would love to have my completed pages printed every three months…that’s my goal for this year! In the past I’ve printed whenever my printing service has a sale!
Oh, and with printing you also should decide if you’re going to print your album in bound book form or if you’re printing individual pages.
So…that is a lot to think about and I’m sure I may have missed something! But please don’t be overwhelmed. Making these decisions or at least thinking through some of these topics really helps to nail down a process. And having a process is key to being successful in a big scrapbooking project such as a pocket style album.
Also, I wanted to let you know that there is a ton of information and helpful advice available in the Project Life/365/52 forum. This is also a great place for sharing your pocket pages!!
If you’re a pocket page scrapbooker, what would you add to this list?
Jenny says
I loved your post. Very helpful! I am new to pocket scrapbooking. I am trying to decide between digital and physical. What program do you use to do your digital pages?