Scrapbooking is a great way of recording key moments in your baby’s life. Selecting those key moments is up to you, and there is no right or wrong way of doing this.

Where to start

If you have trouble getting started, try and keep in mind the scrap element of scrapbooking, so as not to restrict yourself. Nothing has to be set in stone. At the end of the day, pages can always be recreated, removed or torn out. In times of creative despair, try not to be too much of a perfectionist, and remind yourself who the book is for - for you and, one day, your child. Regardless of how much time you choose to spend creating the scrapbook, it should be fun and relaxing, not stressful. The finished product is important, but the more you can enjoy the making of it, the more satisfying and meaningful the whole process will be. And as it could take years to put together, it is worth making it a past time, and not a chore.

Set realistic targets

Set yourself some targets, it helps keep up the momentum and motivation, and it means you always have something to work towards. But, do be prepared to fall behind every now and again, and don’t punish yourself if you do. Ultimately, if you don’t allow yourself time to make the memories then you will have one very empty scrapbook.

Map out your scrapbook

Don’t put yourself under too much pressure. An occasion or event might trigger some sort of scrapbook inspiration when you are short of time, but as long as you scribble down some notes and put aside any pictures, souvenirs etc, then you can work on the finer details when you do have the time and energy to commit to it. You'll just be adding to your bank of potential scrapbook material.  It is also an opportunity to map out the scrapbook and make decisions on the order and layout. If you are creating a timeline of your baby or child growing up, and you want pages to appear chronologically, then you could mark up potential pages so you can come back to them.  Inspiration and ideas for some pages may come to you more easily than others, but don’t restrict yourself by thinking that you have to create the pages in the order that you want them to appear. If you have any sort of creative surge – just go with it!

Types of scrapbook

• Digital scrapbooking. This usually involves some sort of software, such as StoryBook Creator 3.0 or Photomix Digital, both free to download. These programs help you to organise photos according to subject, theme, event or date, ideal if you have all of your photos stored online. They also provide thousands of potential themes and digital scrapbook layouts.

• Traditional scrapbooking. There is an unlimited range of albums, scrapbooking papers, embellishments and tools. It might be best to start with a kit and then grow your collection from there. Basic kits are generally themed and include; papers, stickers and an ideas book. However, if you know what you want then go online or to a shop and put together your own kit. Be warned, there is a lot to choose from, and there will always a new must have gadget or scrapbooking tool.

Tips

• Start keeping hold of any ribbons, embellishments or paper from gift wrapping, wedding invitations etc, anything that might stand even a remote chance of being put to creative use.
• Collect any handmade cards you receive, they can provide a lot of inspiration for scrapbook pages, especially in terms of general design ideas, colour schemes and layouts.
• If you really don’t know where to start, a good introduction might be a scrapbooking class. There is no need to sign up for a course, you can just go to a one off session and get some tips and ideas.
• There are tons of books and magazines with ideas and themes, as well as the online library that is the internet. If anything, there is too much information. A good thing to do is adapt ideas or themes, simplify them or just add your own twist.

A seasonal idea

Flower pressing.  Pressed flowers are a really nice, simplistic touch. And now is the best time to pick them, while the colourful summer flowers are in bloom.  They work best when picked fresh. Alternatively, for an even deeper meaning, you could just choose whatever flower is in season at the time of your baby’s birth. There is no need to go out and buy a flower press, when heavy, hardback books work just as well.  It’s recommended that you place the flowers between two sheets of paper, before sandwiching them in between two heavy books (or amongst the the pages of a single book), and then it’s just a case of waiting a couple of weeks.

It's never too late to start

My Mum has just started compiling a scrapbook for me. In her retirement she has combined a newfound love of card making with having more time to wade through boxes of dusty photographs that she’s had hoarded away for years. So, if you do suddenly find yourself several years down the line, and running several years behind, then making a scrapbook when your baby has grown up is an alternative option.

Photo credits: Scrapbooking images, dada and t-love, used with permission from RellyAB Dorsolateral via Flickr

With a picture of your baby, Little One Prints can personalise your thank you card on the outside. Why not try injecting some of your personality into the inside...

Stuck for words?

It’s easy to play it safe when writing thank you cards, particularly if trying to compose a message in a hurry, or, if it’s been an embarrassingly long time since the gift was received.  Everyone has their own fixed formulas, which they fall back on now and again, mostly, when they’ve put themselves under immense pressure to ‘come up with something good to write.’  By good, I mean original, maybe even funny. In most cases the standard message tends to open with thank you, closely followed by a polite comment about the recieved present. And then, particularly if writing to a distant relative, there’s a fair amount of padding out, maybe a brief family-news-related comment or two, a we’ve been up to this or, we’ve been up to that. The message usually closes with a polite hope all is well with you or a hope to see you soon.  I’ve definitely written a thank you card or two of a similar ilk, but I’m sure there’s potential to move away from the more formal message writing and write a card that’s not only more original but more personal.

Find something worth saying

In order to make thank you cards seem less mass-produced, place more emphasis on who you are sending the card to. The chances are you’re sending cards to a lot of people though, so realistically you do need to be able to duplicate the message. A way to get around this is to make what you are saying interesting, even better make it relevant...

Tell a short story about baby

You don’t have to be a whizz with words, a poet or a comedian. Just tell a simple a story. There is such a phenomenon as ‘flash fiction’, which is essentially a micro-story, just a very short story. There’s bound to have been a moment within your first few weeks as new parents that is worth sharing!  Just keep in mind - write the highlights and cut the waffle. Think of the story as more of an anecdote, a short account of an interesting or humorous incident. It might be an idea to write a quick, rough draft to begin with, give yourself a chance to run the story over in your head, before putting pen to paper on the actual card.

An example of a short story:

When Isaac met Henry...

By Henry, I mean the hoover. Forget musical mobiles, when Jake starts crying, Henry's switched on and (sigh) silence is upon us once more. Only downside is we do have to keep the hoover running for a while, which isn't ideal for the neighbours at 2 in the morning!

Include a quotation or anecdote

There are quite a lot of unconvincing, overused quotes and sayings flying around.  For every one of these, I can assure you, there is a gem. The trick is finding these rare beauties, which can take a bit of looking around, but once you have found one that you like, you can include it in every card. Voila.  Quotations and anecdotes are a matter of personal taste, here are a couple that I managed to find...

Kindness in words, creates confidence
Kindness in thinking, creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving, creates love.

Mud puddles and Dandelions

When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. My kids see flowers for Mum and blowing white fluff you can wish on.
When I feel the wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I see a mud puddle, I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets. My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross and worms to play with.

Poetry

There is a lot of decent, contemporary poetry that is accessible to all readers. The key with selecting or writing a poem for a card is, again, to keep it short.

Here's a quick acrostic poem I came up with, thanking friends for their gift to baby Jake:

To begin,
How are you?
Ahhh – is Isaac,
No sleep – is us,
Kind of chaotic – is life.

Your gift is great, thank you,
Our translation – Isaac’s noise!
Until he can say ‘thank you’ himself.

The wild card

Just one final and rather modern-technology focused idea. You could record a short video message, upload it to YouTube (It’s possible do this for private viewing, so the whole world cannot see it) and finally, write the link address in your card.

Some other useful resources

Visit a card, gift shop or WHSmiths. They often have small books of sayings and quotes.

• Go online, there’s tons of quotes, anecdotes and poems available
• There are specifically labelled collections of ‘short poems.’ Have a look in your local bookshop, library or go online. The poets.org website might be a good place to start.
• Sometimes, just looking at the messages on the front or inside of bought cards can give you ideas or inspiration.

The core message is – allow yourself to be open minded, adventurous and have more trust in your creative instinct. Whether or not you find a message or write one yourself, these suggestions will hopefully result in a card that you’re really pleased with, and one that hasn’t actually taken you any longer to write.

If you’re wary of being more experimental, then you can keep it simple and just write what you feel comfortable with in the main section of the card. But, there is definitely nothing to stop you from including a separate message on the other side of the card, the side that’s usually, rather disappointingly, left blank!

Photo credit -  Pen and Print - David Herbers Hammer Photography

I never thought I would be one of those people who signs the card “Love Baby Boy” but I have completely become that mommy. I find myself writing thank you cards for playdates and pretending that I’m Baby Boy. “Thanks for playing with me today. I really loved your fish tank.” And, every time I do it I feel completely cheesy and tell myself that next time I’m just going to send a normal thank you note.
 
But, the next time comes and I here I am, looking for the crayons so I can write a thank you card. Is this normal? Is his sweet little baby talk making me completely sappy?  I think the answer is yes. He is just getting to that age where he is really expressing himself. When he is excited his hands and feet flap so hard I think he’s trying to take off. And that’s why the cards have to be from him.

Because, whether it’s Oma’s birthday or wishing Papa Happy Valentina’s Day, I can see that he has so much to express. He may be a baby physically, but his heart is filled with so much joy and excitement, that needs to be shared with all of his favourite people.

Yesterday Baby Boy and I had a wonderful playdate with two of his favourite girl friends. Yes, he is a complete flirt already! It was raining cats and dogs so it was great to just have a change of scenery and enjoy some new toys, while I enjoyed catching up with the ladies. And, although the playdate was very informal and relaxed, I still wanted to say thank you. Not because of any other reason than it’s nice to show appreciation- even for the small things.

And I decided, life is too short not to make those personal touches. Whether it’s a note scribbled on the back of a receipt or a personalised thank you card, I think we need more personal touches in this world, not less. Because let’s face it, we all get enough bills and marketing material in the post. When there’s something that doesn’t fall into those two categories it can make your whole day better.

It’s not a quick as a text message or email but it somehow means more because it’s not as convenient.  Hand writing the note, finding a stamp and taking it to the postbox all shows how important saying thank you meant and how important the person you’re thank is to you.

I can’t believe I’m writing 2010. A new decade. It’s definitely true that time goes faster as you get older, especially with a baby around. Looking back at photos from a month ago seems a lifetime away. I can still remember trying to decide on the best photos and design for our birth announcement, now I’m starting to think about his first birthday! It’s even stranger to think about the big bump I was carrying around last year...surely that was 4 years ago??

If I think about how quickly the last year has gone I definitely have visions of sand slipping through the hour glass. From waiting for the baby to arrive to feeding him his first cottage pie has really been like a dream. Luckily that dream seems to focus on all the wonderful, heart-warming moments and leaves out the endless sleepless nights and never ending nappy changes. It makes me feel so lucky to have experienced this crazy adventure called parenthood. And maybe even more proud to have survived it with my husband, because it’s a pretty steep learning curve- not just on how to parent but on how to share the responsibility and support each other along the way.

For those of you just welcoming your new baby boy or girl or boy, congratulations! Your life will change forever, but really, in the most wonderful way. For those of you 2-3 months into parenthood, having forgotten what a full night of sleep feels like, hang in there. Each day is a new day and one step closer to a more routine and structure. But enjoy those cuddles and watching your baby dream, because those moments pass all too quickly. And for those of you already enjoying first steps and first words, don’t forget to share the experience. Because one of the nicest things of parenthood is that we all get through it slightly different- which makes it all the more fun!

We all need down time. No question about it, sometimes you just need 30 minutes of Hello! or X Factor or some other way to just turn off for a new minutes. The list of “to do” never seems to get shorter so I often just say, right, this is my time. The laundry/ dishes/ bills/ etc won’t mind if they have to wait 30 minutes.  Now that Baby Boy is on a fairly descent schedule (sleeping 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon) I can actually find a chance for some down time most days.

But, lately, instead of zapping through the monotonous channels of day time TV, I find myself taking the time to write old fashion paper letters. I recently discovered Royal Mail offers online postage- which, thanks to my handy kitchen scale- basically means I never have to visit a Post Office again. So, with a fresh supply of stationery and usually some personalised photo cards (because everyone loves to see a baby) I have been writing letters. And I’ve discovered it is such a luxury!

At the risk of sounding completely over the top, I have discovered a complete joy in the sensation of touch. Knowing that I loving wrote the words and carefully placed the card in the envelope and that my loved-one will equally, hold the envelope, wonder who it’s from and then enjoy the little note, has been just magical.

For us, picking a name for Baby Boy was never really a problem. We knew he was a boy from my 28 week scan and we knew from the scan that we would name him after my husband's paternal grandfather. Not for any "William Paul III" reason but rather just for the memory of a wonderful grandfather. So recently, when a friend of mind didn't name her son for four weeks I began to wonder how hard is choosing a name?

Let's forget about sending baby announcements, or even baby thank you cards. Let's just think about the simple act of referring to your son. I think after a day or two of having to say The Baby I would need to just pick something. Your name is actually a significant part of who you are – or maybe you become a significant part of what that name means to people. So I of course understand how hard it is to make the decision. But...four weeks?

While I loved the freedom of my twenties, the experiences that are filling my thirties - going to weddings, comparing baby bumps and helping friends move house – feel a bit more lasting. It seems like every week there are new announcements and more reasons to celebrate. Pregnancies, engagements, babies, new homes, promotions. I have always liked kids, but holding your best friend’s new born baby is basically surreal. We’ve come so far.

And the nice thing is that, unlike non-descript birthdays or leaving drinks, it never feels like “oh, another christening” or “another birth announcement”. These experiences become wonderful gifts in their own right. How did I get to lucky to be part of these moments? It is something really special to know that your friendship is more than just after work drinks or weekend shopping. By sharing some of life’s most intimate moments you realise the true value of friendship.

It doesn’t diminish previous special moments but does distinguish a new level of intimacy with those friends you know you will have forever. You actually realise who your true friends, those that you really want in your life and who really want to be there. Knowing love, the love of true friendship, is the best reason to celebrate of all.

There are lots of wonderful things about being pregnant; getting a seat on the bus (most of the time), taking advantage of a few extra rubs and massages from my hubby and always having an excuse for ice cream (even if it means the middle of the night). But one thing I wasn’t expecting was all the wonderful surprises from friends and family that come with pregnancy.

Whether it’s something as simple as baby advice from my colleague Tim (who swears by Gina Ford but I’m not convinced) or an elaborate care package from the best mother-in-law in the world, the closer I get to 40 weeks hardly a day goes by without some little surprise. As I get more and more nervous at the thought of labour, my friends and family seem more and more excited about welcoming our little one. It’s great to share the excitement.

And I love saying “thank you” for all this love. Writing a personal note to say “thanks for making us feel special” let’s me enjoy their thoughtfulness even longer as I express. I hope that by saying thank you our friends and family know how much they mean to our little guy already.