Two important baby scrapbook ideas to bear in mind are physical changes and milestones. First smiles, first roll over and crawl, first words and gestures are all priceless and need to be recorded quickly before the infant advances to toddler hood (which could be a whole other scrapbook and will happen in what will appear to be the blink of an eye)!
Here are some baby scrapbook ideas, which will help you organize your material.
1. Begin the baby scrapbook journey during your pregnancy.
Start with photos from baby showers and early ultrasounds. Include doctor's visits and the actual delivery day. What was the weather like? Anything else special happen on that day? (Of course, there couldn't be anything more special than baby's arrival into the world.) Who was present at the birth? Doctors, nurses, visitors? Record it for all time in your baby scrapbook.
2. Focus on the first year of life.
Some things should be written down for the sake of posterity, like weight and length at birth for example. You might also want to include color of eyes and hair, time of birth, doctor's name and how long you were in labor. Other baby scrapbook ideas will come to you as you progress in your project such as perhaps, the price of gas, houses and cars at the time of birth and information on the family tree.
3. Use photos to indicate milestones.
Take photos every day of the first month of life and then once a month next to a large stuffed animal. Keep a list of events connected to each month until the baby is a year old. Take pictures of different looks and moods; happiness, sadness and don't forget the most adorable moments of sleeping time. Don't be afraid to take too many pictures, as that can never happen in the endless search for baby scrapbook ideas.
4. The baby scrapbook must reflect emotion.
You want to smile and maybe even cry whenever you look at your baby scrapbook. The way to insure this is to pick those topics to write about that cannot help but evoke special feelings even when viewed years later. Some baby scrapbooking ideas might include: how the baby got his or her name, what does the name mean, how often did he or she cry, where did he or she sleep, did the baby sleep through the night and how did the little one react around people? Have other close relatives and friends write their feelings about these events on a special page designated for this purpose.
5. Decorate your baby scrapbook with items that are baby-related.
Although this may seem obvious, it's still a good baby scrapbooking idea to keep in mind while trying to capture as many feelings and memories about past happiness. Use stickers and ribbons. Keep trinkets and mementos, even things like wrapping paper from special presents. Capture all these moments of baby's first year with pictures and journaling. One baby scrapbooking idea for use of ribbons could involve cutting a journaling block into strips and then tying a ribbon in a bow to the left end of the first strip, then the right end of the second strip etc. Still another effective baby scrapbooking idea for ribbon might involve scraps, which could be made into bows and used to cover a spiral binding.
Don't forget real mementos, such as a clip of hair from baby's first haircut and also famous quotes and sayings about babies and babyhood might be appropriate as headings or captions on the different pages. The world of literature is your source material. Try to choose selections that are not so common. It may take a little research but this is one baby scrapbooking idea that is sure to pay off at the end.
Your baby will only be an infant for a moment in time. Capture it for always with a memorable baby scrapbook. Use these baby scrapbooking ideas, and as you do you will certainly come up with ideas of your own. But hurry. Time's a wasting!
Michele Cardello, director of marketing and creative for Life Imprints, a creative scrapbooking [http://www.lifeimprints.com] supplies company also offering contemporary picture frames, in Cleveland, Ohio, has worked in the photo packaging industry for 10 years. Cardello helps customers find creative ways to preserve and appreciate a lifetime of memories.
