Am I ever going to get caught up..

I just really started scrapbooking at the beginning of the year and I have 3 boys, my oldest being 6. I get so overwhelmed sometimes thinking I have so many years of sb to catch up on. I also have gift ideas but I would like to do my family albums first. Will there be a time when I am caught up? Being a Mom of 3 also doesn't leave me with much time to work on LO's. I just needed to vent..lol

Don't worry. I know exactly how you feel. I just started scrapping this year too and I have TONS of books in my head that I want to do. Finding the time is the hard part. I work and go to school so weeks go by without me actually scrapping. You are not alone!

LOL! Sometimes it seems like there are so many pictures, and so little time! Vent away!

Understand completely. I've been playing catch up for my one DD and it's overwhelming just thinking of all the pages I want to do (I have over 5000 pictures just for her first 18 months....I don't even want to THINK about how many pictures I have for 4 years altogether).

Last night I made the decision that for now I will do my current pictures. When I get to my past pictures, I get to them...but if I keep playing "catch up" but never scrap my current stuff, I'll ALWAYS be playing catch up....KWIM?

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. I hope you find a system of scrapping that helps you not be overwhelmed!

just scrap what ya want, when ya want. don't worry about 'getting caught up' if you want to do an older picture, then do it. if a newer ones inspire you, then do them. don't stress, or it's not fun.

I pretty much scrap in the here and now. Occassionally I will wander back and scrap earlier pics of my 2 ds's.

You can't scrap every photo you've ever taken, and you can't make a scrapbook for every event in your kids lives. I had to realize that, too. Right now, I figure if I have a layout of an event or a moment... one for each month of the year, to me that is a successful yearbook. I have a separate album for layouts from the years before I started scrappin', and although I try to keep it in somewhat chronological order, there are several different years represented in there.

To answer your question -- NO, you won't ever be "caught up" most likely! But don't waste time worrying about it, either!

I know how you feel. I started last year and all I can think about is what I need to scrap next. I feellike I'll never catch up.

My dds are 14 and 16...I don't think I'll ever be caught up but I've accepted that and I'm happy about what I can get done, knowing they'll love to look at it in the years to some. There's no rule that says you have to be caught up, just enjoy it!

I wouldn't catch up- just start now!

I don't have any children (except my 3 furry ones), and I still am no where near being caught up. I don't stress over it, I do this for the enjoyment of scrapping and as a relaxation medium.

I agree with the previous advice of scrapping what you want when you want.

Another strategy would be to write journaling that you don't want to forget or you feel is imperative to your books. Then match the stories up with appropriate photos and make those your priority layouts. Then go back and do other pictures/memories as you can.

Keeping a journal to write things down could help. That way you wouldn't lose the stories you haven't yet scrapped.

I've read a lot of posts where mothers say that once their children get a little older, they don't seem to have as many opportunities to take photos. Although I'm sure this doesn't apply to all families.

Try not to let it overwhelm you. Just work on what you can and realize that each time you complete a layout you've recorded another memory for your family.

i only have time to scrap between 9-11 p.m. at night. Sometimes it takes me a whole week to finish a LO.

Sketch your LO ideas

The next night do your prep work - seperate your embellis and papers and cut your matting'

WHen you get time off then you can start gluing things down

just enjoy scrapping when u can and know that tomorrow is another day,gee that sounds corny!

I knew some of you would relate . I have been scrapping with most current first and finishing up my 3rd ds baby album. A lot of my older pictures are still on CD's and not even printed. So at least I dont' have to look at them right away and get more overwhelmed I enjoy every minute of sb but no matter what, I think boy do I have a lot of catching up to do.

I started getting overwhelmed because it bugged me that so many of my photos were not in albums so that we could enjoy them. To solve this problem I bought some page protectors that hold regular 4x6 photos. You can mix them right in with the pages you scrapbook, and it gets more of my pictures in albums faster to be looked at & enjoyed. Down the road if I want to scrap them I will take them out of the protectors and scrap them. This might not help you, but it really helped to take some of the pressure off for me. Now I just scrap what I want, but all of my photos are in the album.

I try not to do chronological scrapping for that very reason!! I just pick photos that I like and enjoy the freedom.

I just started scrapping last year. My kids are 28, 26 and 21 there is no way on Earth I could scrap all those pictures! I've been doing a LOT of my granddaughter. I scrap what ever strikes me at the time. I would go nuts trying to catch up 28 years worth!

i hear ya.
ill never catch up unless i quit taking photos and i dont plan on doing that!

• luv2scrap:) Said:

That is EXACTLY what I do. I also will some times make a cover page like thing for each group of photos. So for example, pick a favorite photo of something you have quite a few of...or even say it is your child at age 2. Make one cute layout with some special journaling, plop that thing in a normal page protector, then place all the other photos that go with that group into photo sleeves behind it. That way your photos are organized, people can view them easily, some of the story is told for each year or group, and you can gradually add more layouts to fill in gaps if you want as you go! If you never get around to it, at least you have them organized in that way with some journaling for each event! Oh and another thing you can do is because the photo sleeves hold 6 of the 4x6 or actually 12 of them back to back, you can use 5 photos on one side and one little 4x6 piece of cardstock with journaling. That way you have your journaling with photos and set up so if you get around to making layouts, you don't forget details. If you don't get around to making the layouts, at least they all have the journaling with them.

I think it makes scrapbooking sooo much more organized and so much less stressful! I also choose to just not scrapbook some photos. Some I have too many of so I intend to leave them in photo sleeves like that with just a few pages as a cover page to them that gives a general idea.

It gives me the flexibility to scrap what I want to and still have all my photos organized in a way that people can enjoy them.


Edited to add: I have been rambling about this idea of using photo sleeves that way for a couple of years now (so glad they have them available now...I was rambling about it even before I could find them...that was what I was looking for. ) However, FINALLY there is also an article in a mag that shows examples of this idea. If you get the most recent Creating Keepsakes mag (I am not sure what month of the top of my head, but it just came in the mail from my subscription), it has a full article on doing this with examples!

luv2scrap & riorabbit, I love that idea!! It makes so much sense to me, when I think about all my pics. I'm gonna do it!! My family would certainly have an easier time looking at pics.
Great idea.

i didn't start sb till my oldest dd was a junior in high school!!!so, after a few years of stressing over the fact that i will never catch up.. i decided not to worry about it. i scrap the pictures that i want to, and enjoy the process. and the ones that i don't get done, my two dd can, or just enjoy them. i love sb and decided that i did not want to spend my time stressing over what i couldn't get done, and i have enjoyed myself much more. of course, i would love to get them all done, but i don't think it will happen. plus, now i have my first grandchild, and i have lots to do of him too! just remember to enjoy yourself....good luck!

I try not to scrap *in order* b/c I hated the feeling that I needed to catch up or that I was behind. Scrapping became a chore and I wasn't as creative.


It helped me when I started scrapping what ever. Sometimes my pictures are recent and sometimes the pictures are old, old old.

It worked for me.

Another thing I did when I started was to scrap the most recent first and work on older ones as time permits. That way at least I wasn't getting further behind!

Also, although it takes a LOT of time--I think it's well worth it to get your photos organized and ready to scrap so that when you are ready and your creative energy and time coincides, you can actually scrap and not waste tons of time and not get overwhelmed.) I do scrap chronologically, so I got reprints of the ones I wanted to scrap and put them into photo boxes in order and separated by index cards by events. Even if you don't want to do chronological, this system may help you get to scrappin!

I just scrap whatever strikes my fancy..my original plan was to do an album for each of my 3 kiddos and give it to them on graduation day..well..seeing as if my son is now a Junior in high school..I don't think he'll be getting his on graduation day..maybe his wedding..LOL I have been feeling a little nostalgic lately and have dug out some of my old photos of the kids as babies so I'm thinking one of those will be my next LO

Don't be so concerned with getting "caught up". I think all scrapbookers feel like they have to scrap every picture. I know I use to feel that way. But now I scrap the ones I want too. The ones that inspire me. I will never be caught up and that is ok. At least I know I will never be bored.

I don't really ever want to be caught up. Look at it this way, if you were all caught up(which would be so totally depressing to me) then when some really cute new supply comes out, like for a baby girl/boy, it would be such a drag to be done with that phase and not get to use that supply..LOL....I haven't ever minded being so far behind. I just do what I can and know that whatever I get in my kids books they love.

I agree with everyone that has said scrap what you want, and really, really agree to let go of the 'chronological' scrapping...it's liberating to do so. I also suggest Photo Freedom, by Stacy Julian (and also her Big Picture Scrapbooking book)...both are full of ideas that make sense for busy Moms so we can let go of the "mom guilt" about scrapping everything about every one of our little kiddos. It also works with you to get those pics out where everyone can enjoy them and WOW does that give you freedom too! HTH