Scrapbooking with Kids - Bridie's Turn

As soon as Bridie (who turned three last month) saw that the boy's had their own scrapbooks to make, she of course wanted one of her own. I had pretty much figured that would be the case, but knowing that her one is more likely to have - shall we say - 'additional journalling and embellishments' added with time, courtesy of Miss Bridie, I was keen to make it a quick and simple little book. That way, it would be easier for me to let her do her thing with it, and actually enjoy it, rather than me hovering over her ready to say the words 'put that pen/scissors/sticky tape down now!'

Bridie wanted to help make the book too. So that was another reason for quick and simple! To start off I let her choose a patterned paper (from the 'retired pile' - stuff like that isn't important to kids!) and then we gathered some card to match. I trimmed the pages so that each was slightly longer than the previous one, and then to add a girly twist we punched out one side using the eyelet border punch. We then scored each page about 2cm from the opposite 'spine edge' just to make it easier to open the book when it was done. Lastly we punched holes along the 'spine' and used jumbo eyelets to hold it all together. That was the base of the book done.

Here is a quick look at the back of the book too. By attaching more jumbo eyelets at the back, inside of the first ones, you can make the back of your book look just as neat as the front.

When it came time to decide what to put in the book we encountered a few problems. Asking Bridie 'what do you want to scrapbook?' resulted in answers like 'my scrapbook'. Asking her 'which photos she would like to stick in there?' was also a little broad. So I ended up making an executive decision, and suggested we should make the book about our visit to Disneyland a few months back. She thought that was a good idea (whew!). From there it was much easier for her to choose her favourite photos from a much smaller selection, and we printed them out 'wallet size' here at home. I did the cutting out, and then we sorted them into piles - princesses in one pile, minnie's house in another etc. Together we stuck them all on. Bridie especially enjoyed putting the double sided tape on the back of the photos.

We attached all the photos at once, just so we don't lose any of them. Writing 'the story' though, is a process I am hoping we will be able to stretch out for a few days. That is a really interesting process in itself. Bridie chose which page she wanted to write about, and which colour pen to use, and then she tells me what to write.

Although I am sure that I would have written how much fun it was to visit Minnie Mouse, and how much Bridie loved exploring her house, I had definitely forgotten that Bridie had pretended to eat Minnie's food, and hadn't realised that it had made such an impression on her. Another reason why I am really enjoying these projects with my kids.