album {coleman's first birthday}

this weekend, i completed the photo album that captures coleman's first birthday party. i'm super excited to have this completed (just shy of six months after the big day!). even before the party happened, i had a "vision" of how i wanted this to come together. i'm pleased to say that it's pretty close and i'm happy with the results.

the cover: the green album was purchased from michael's. it's a basic "2-up" photo album (not a scrapbook). i added brown ribbon and one of the many circle embellishments from the party.

on the opening page, before the photos begin, i included an enlarged version of the invitation (this was matted and on display at the party).

the first photo page is just a couple of family shots from the quick photo shoot we had before the party.

this album, like many "2-up" options, had journaling areas on the inside edges of each page. i used leftover party supplies to cover them (cardstock, patterned paper, ribbon, circle embellishments, etc).

i did all journaling on the computer (in the same font used for the party). i printed them in 4x6 so i could easily slip them into photo spots.

i included actual things from the party where it made sense (bottom left is one of the many food labels).

not every 2-page spread contained journaling. some were all photos, or like shown here, a decorative "filler" was added.

at the party, guests were asked to write a note to the birthday boy. i combined these notes (bottom right), with photos of those guests, and my own journaled comments about those guests. i really love this. it combines faces with their own words, but also my notes about who these folks are and why they are important in coleman's life!

after the party was documented, i included photos and details from his daycare party.

the last section of the album includes bits & pieces of all the birthday cards he received. i made sure to cut out all of the handwritten sentiments. where i was able, i'd punch or cut out cute elements from the card as well. we end up with so many greeting cards and i feel bad throwing them away, but it's hard to save (and store) every single one. i love this method.

using this "photo album scrapbooking" technique makes a bunch of photos much more manageable. it's not quite as inspiring as standard scrapbooking, but i feel like it totally *works* for the right group of pictures. since most of my photos were consistent and all embellishments matched, i think it helped make this method come together nicely.

supplies: album - michael's; all ribbon & patterned paper - hobby lobby; scalloped punch - stampin' up; all digital elements were designed by me

most of the photos IN the album were taken by lindsay alexander photography.