Scrap Journaling

I finally have been able to get underway with a project that has been smoldering on the backburner of my mind for a while now: scrap journaling all the bits I have been saving over the years.
I had no idea how to pull this off until one day I stumbled onto a blog post that seemed to fit what I was capable of doing.  And you know what the hardest part was?  Getting that first page done.  Once I had the scraps laid out, things just started clicking and before I knew it, I was whizzing along filling pages.

Many of the ideas for how to arrange and organize my bits of paper came from this helpful post using SMASH Books products. A quick trip into Michael's while Seth was at soccer scored me a nice archival pen with a gluestick on the other end seen in the linked post above. I also managed to find some small paper pockets on clearance which I have used so far to hold some medical bracelets from when Seth was little. You can see it in the last photo where I stapled it to the page before filling it.
I tape things along the left to create a hinge so that you can turn the paper to see what is written on the other side. I use regular clear tape, but mix in some of my washi tape for fun and color.

I also create a cascade of  papers, taped one over the other so that you can just lift each one up to see what's underneath. Again the idea came from the SMASH post linked above. It's a great way to showcase several similarly sized bits of paper without taking up much space on the page.

Christmas gift tags from over the years

scavenger hunt clues from previous years

I'm using a SKETCH book I found on the bargain shelves at Barnes & Noble. The pages lay open nice and flat which is great for attaching bulky scraps. I haven't gussied up the pages very much as I was trying to just get stuff into the book. Once I am caught up, I would like to go back and fancy up the pages a bit.  I'm so relieved to have found some inspiration for this project and that that intimating first page is behind me.