How to Keep Your Scrapbook Resolutions

Having just celebrated the turning of another page, at least on our calendars, it is a natural time to make some promises to ourselves about the direction we would like to take in the coming year. However, no matter how well intended these goals may be, they have a tendency to fall by the wayside all to often as the year progresses. Hence, people interviewed on the street these days will tell you, "I don't make resolutions because I have always broken them." One way to keep from sliding into this pattern of failure is to set attainable goals, which are followed with specific objectives. As one applies this method to scrapbook resolutions, the seemingly lofty becomes attainable. What are your plans for your scrapbooking this year? Do you have specific goals in mind? Have you laid out several objectives which will help you work toward those goals? This article is a "How-To" for those of you who wish to keep your scrapbooking resolutions. Let's examine four different types of resolutions:

Resolution 1: "I resolve to complete (fill in any number here) scrapbook pages this year!" Whether you have just joined a club whose goal is for each participant to complete 500 pages this year, or you simply want to get one page done a month, setting some goals and objectives is essential to being able to keep this resolution. To begin, try dividing the number of pages by the number of weeks in year (you can use a rough estimate here). For example, if your goal is 500 pages this year (yes, a seemingly unreachable goal), then you must realize that you are resolving to complete about 10 pages each and every week. So your next step would be to come up with specific objectives that will help you reach the goal of ten pages a week. Write this goal at the top of a clean sheet of paper and jot down beneath it things you can do to help yourself meet this goal. Some ideas include:

1. Go to a weekly cropping party. Most scrapbook stores offer weekly times for scrapbookers to gather to work on albums.
2. Gather regularly with friends who share your scrapbook goals. Meet together with friends to crop at times when a formal crop may not be the best option or is not available.
3. Set up page kits ahead of time. Begin organizing your photos, paper, stickers, die-cuts, etc. based on page layouts. Store these with your scrapbook pages and essential supplies in an easy-to-pull-out anytime location. This way when you have a few extra minutes, you can put together a page quickly.
4. Evaluate whether your scrapbook style and your current goals will work together. If you absolutely adore pages that include a lot layering, piecing, or pen embellishing, and take hours to complete, then you can see that even 10 pages a week would simply be a full time job! If you don't want to change your style, then this may be the time to adjust your goals.

What if your goal is more general in nature? How about, "I resolve to get 'caught up' on my scrapbooking?"

Resolution 2: "I resolve to get caught up on my family albums!" The first thing to realize with rather ambiguous goals, such as getting "caught up," is that in order to achieve a goal you must have a clear idea of the objective. Do you have a certain box of pictures that when they have been put into a scrapbook you will feel caught up? Will it matter that the pictures from your daughter's birthday party last week are still in the camera, meaning you are not completely caught up? So to begin, clarify this goal. Write down exactly what you need to get done. "I need to complete a wedding album and three baby albums." That would be a clear goal. Next, break the goal into manageable bits and write down objectives for each portion. Some more ideas to help with this goal include:

1. Organize your photos. Print out your photos and place them into one photo-safe storage box per album that you need to complete. Then, using acid-free paper begin to organize the photos into potential pages.
2. Try to get the family involved in the project. Many hands make light work. See if you can convince your husband to do some journaling for you. You will love having his words in the album and everything he takes care of is one less thing for you to do.
3. When you have a good pile of your photos organized jump right in and set some pages goals. Use the steps on page one of this article to set-up a time frame and stay on track.

Resolution 3: "I resolve to get organized!"

First, determine if your scrapbook goal is to organize your photos, your supplies, and/or your work area. Any of these make terrific goals, but being specific about which one you are hoping to attain, or in what order you want attain them, will help you write some manageable objectives. Some ideas include:

1. Determine which supplies you use most often. Organize these supplies in a convenient and portable organizer.
2. Find an order that makes sense to you for the rest of your supplies. Find a place for each catagory of supplies (punches, stickers, rub-on's, ribbon, brads, etc.) so that you know where they are when the inspiration strikes to use them.
3. Organize your photos based on the albums you will be creating with them. Divide the pictures into separate photo safe storage containers based on album themes. Label the boxes. And, choose a box to begin scrapbooking.
4. Set-up (if at all possible) a location that is just for scrapbooking. I know this is something that we would all love to have, and for many of you it may not be a possibility. However, if you can organize a place in your home that is your scrapbooking workstation, your productivity will soar. If a permanent location is not feasible, organize your supplies in such a way that you can get them out and put them away quickly and easily. The time spent preparing to scrapbook by organizing supplies, is not time spent completing pages.

Other Resolutions:
Have you resolved to lose weight? Stop smoking? Begin an exercise program? Use the goals and objectives format discussed above to break down each resolution into specific goals. Then, write down the objectives (or steps) that you will take to meet each of these goals. This process changes a resolution from a wish to a plan of action.