I started scrapbooking in 2003. My scrapbooking process is described in this post. In the last 9 years, I have created hundreds, maybe thousands of scrapbook layouts. How do I keep track of it all? I will go through the evolution of my tracking system.
How It Began
I started with a draft e-mail that I kept in my personal e-mail account. The list included the date and the subject/event of my layout. After a while I started listing all the layouts that I wanted to scrap and not just the completed ones. I used a blue font color to highlight the layouts that I still had to create. This is an example of my list.
2/28 – February Calendar
3/29 – Silver River Camping
5/21 – Sean’s Graduation
7/3 – Niagara Falls
Once a layout was completed, I changed the blue font to black. This recoloring was my equivalent of crossing the layout off my list.
A Spreadsheet Is Born
2003 rolled on into 2004 and I added the year to all the items in my scrapbook layout list. At the time I was only a paper scrapper. I found myself printing pictures for a scrapbook layout more than once. This made me realize that I needed a better system for not only keeping track of my layouts but also of what pictures I had printed – my spreadsheet was born. This is a snapshot of part of my 2003 sheet.
- Date – date the event occurred
- Title – This contained a brief description of the event or subject. Sometimes if I had a clever idea for a title I would put it here. The 1 and 2 followed the titles for 2 page layouts.
- Photos – I had my photos organized in clear 4×6 boxes. The boxes were numbered so if I had photos for a layout I put the box number in this field.
- Sketch – I loved using sketches so I would add sketch information here.
- Journaling – I put an X in this column if I have already written journaling for the layout.
- Comments – This column contained anything I wanted to remember when I did the layout like certain pictures to use, sizes of the pictures, etc.
- Color coding – Layouts that aren’t done are in yellow and single page layouts are in purple. (There are still layouts I haven’t done for 2003! *gasp*)
I have a sheet in my spreadsheet for each year (2003 – 2012) and a separate sheet for each “special” album (son’s first year, daughter’s first year, sister’s wedding, etc.).
Along Comes Digital
In 2010 I graduated to digital scrapbooking. I didn’t have to worry about printed pictures because they are always on the laptop that I use to scrapbook digitally. My spreadsheet evolved again. This is a snapshot of my 2012 sheet.
- Date – date the event occurred
- Title – same as 2003 sheet
- Printed – An X indicates that the layout has been printed (by the awesome Persnickety Prints) and now lives in my scrapbook.
- Comments – same as 2003 sheet
- Color coding – same as 2003 sheet
I love knowing what layouts I’ve done and what layouts I still need to do. The spreadsheet also helps when it is time to put my printed layouts in my scrapbook.
How do you keep track of what layouts you have done?
I just found this post from years ago. I needed to reference it today. Are you still using the same spreadsheet. Have you made any changes to The spreadsheet yet. How do you determine what goes in the family album vs your daughters album? Thx a ton!
Hi Joy. Yes. My spreadsheet is basically the same. I put school related layouts and any after school activities like dance, gymnastics, tae kwon do (you get he picture) in school albums. I also have my children’s birthday party layouts in their school albums. Everything else goes in our family album. I also do Project 365 which you can read about here: http://simplykellydesigns.com/blog/2014/12/29/frequently-asked-questions-about-project-365/
Great organization Kelly! I keep mine in a notebook. I love your idea better because you can easily make changes.
Thank you Renee. I change and update the spreadsheet all the time and love that flexibility!
Do you use a pc or Mac? How do you organize your pictures?
Thx!
I use a PC. My pictures are in folders by date which is how my camera downloads them to my computer. I will add the name of the event to the date for the folder name. I rename special pictures but don’t do anything else. I would love to tag the photos, etc but what I do works for me now. I won’t make any changes until my process is broken. 🙂
Thank you- thank you thank you!
Do u have one sheet per child or just one sheet total!
Like July 4th- you do 3 pages right? One tailored for each kid and then one for your book?
For 4th of July I will just do a family page. The only thing that goes in my children’s school books is stuff related to school or anything that is just related to that one child – like my daughter’s dance recital.
Great system!! I really like your explanation. My wheels are turning – hopefully, I can get organized. The question for me is, “where to start?!?”
That looks a lot like my tracking file. The main difference is that you’ve been awesome to blog about it. I hope to share your link soon.
Thanks for stopping by Lalia! I have had a blog reader and a couple of friends ask me about my spreadsheet lately and this way I can share it with everyone!
great organizational tool – love it – thanks for sharing your process
You are welcome Pam. I hope it helps you come up with a system that will work for you!