Scrapbooking Baby

When it comes to that delightful news that you are pregnant, about the first real view you get of your gorgeous new baby, are the ultrasound pictures.  They are usually very special and very important to you so it makes perfect sense to start your scrapbooking baby album off with the ultrasound pictures.  Not forgetting that some parents like to also include things like a photo of the pregnancy test which first confirmed the happy news, so this may in fact be the first layout in your album, but the ultrasound pictures are definitely a must have in your scrapbooking baby album.

Now it depends on your doctor as to how many scans you have throughout the duration of your pregnancy, but most commonly it around the 12 and 20 week mark.  Your first scan you are full of anticipation and fear, you want to know your baby is okay, and the 20 week scan is an exciting time to see how much your baby has grown and if you want to know the gender of your baby, this can often be looked at on this scan.  Whether you decide to use both the 12 and 20 week ultrasounds in your scrapbooking baby album is up to you, some parents only put the 20 week pictures in as they show so much more of the baby.

If you don’t know the gender of the baby, then choose mutual colors that would fit with both a baby boy or a baby girl, you may even add some quotes questioning whether the baby is a boy or girl.  On the other hand if you do know the gender, feel free to do a very blue or very pink layout to reflect what you know.  Most ultrasound pictures are black and white, (unless you are lucky enough to have a new 4D scan pictures) so you can easily pick any color to suit the images.  Quite often many members of your family and even your friends will want to look at these pictures before your baby is born, so having them safely mounted in your scrapbooking baby album can really help to preserve them when many hands and fingers will be touching them.

Another idea is to add some notes from your pregnancy journal to the layout.  If you only have one or two pictures and there is a lot of room left over on the page, you can combine the ultrasound pictures with some of your baby journal notes to help fill the page and it adds a story to the pictures, has it been an easy pregnancy so far, any complications, fears, dreams, hopes.  It can all be added quite nicely and it can really make an ultrasound page complete especially when you don’t have many pictures.

Whichever way you choose to create your baby’s ultrasound pictures layout, I am sure it will turn out beautifully, just make sure you put them into your scrapbooking baby album as they really are such an important part that you don’t want to leave out.  They are the things you look back on and treasure, and so will your baby in the years to come.

Many thanks to Wes and Eli for the ultrasound layout image above.

One of the most beautiful scrapbooking baby layouts that I don’t see too often that actually works well for any age subject is scrapbooking the meaning of someones name.  I have seen some wonderful layouts done like this and it is a really good idea for a baby album and something I would feature early on in the album.

Whether it be the traditional meaning of your baby’s name and/or the reasons as to why you gave them that name.  Was it a family name, was it out of respect for a family member, or was it a special place where you have been that holds a special memory for you or perhaps it was just a special name that fitted with your special baby.

Did you have the name picked already before your baby was born, or was it one of those names that you waiting for your baby’s birth and then chose a name that suited their personality?

Personally myself I have the name picked, one for a girl and one for a boy, and either way, once baby is born, I know what their name is going to be from the moment they are born.  But lately I have seen a surge in people waiting until the baby is born and then choosing a name, it can take weeks, but the parents feel the name suits the baby better if they get to know the baby first.

There is no right or wrong way, but recording in their scrapbooking baby album how, why and when your baby got its name is a beautiful thing to do.

I just think it’s a wonderful idea.  In years to come when your child grows into an adult and looks back at their scrapbooking baby album one day, they are going to read all the things you have written in there, all the journaling all the little comments and notes you have added and I can guarantee they will be smiling the whole time.

They will love reading about how they got their name, what its meaning is to you and why you picked that name.

Many thanks to Ana C from Flickr for the beautiful scrapbook layout of Laura, thank you.

A few people have been asking me for some ideas for either scrapbooking baby layout ideas or for ideas on specific photos to take of their baby’s to capture specific memories. For me these ideas flow freely but I am also aware that sometimes we all get some form of mental block and end up at a loss for what to do. So I thought I would put this post together to give you all an idea that you may not have thought of.

One of my favorite layouts for newborn babies would have to be their hands and feet. They are just so tiny and sweet, so little, so perfect! But here you go, a big tip is don’t just click away taking photos of hands and feet, you need to plan the photo a little bit. For example, have you ever taken a photo something that was amazing large or small and later looked at the photo and found that the photo really didn’t do it any justice? Perhaps a really big butterfly and later in the photo it just looks like any other normal sized butterfly. Well that is what I mean, it takes a little bit of planning.

So when you take a photo of your baby’s hands or feet, make sure you also capture another object in the photo that gives a true impression of the size of your bay’s dainty sweet little feet or hands. You can use anything at all, you might choose to use your own hand or foot as a comparison or even a ruler to show the exact size. I do have a personal favorite when taking these kinds of photos and that is to use your wedding ring. Or if you do not have a wedding ring, any other ring you commonly wear.

I think it makes such a sweet photo, your wedding ring or rings hanging on baby’s big toe or around their thumb, it gives a true picture of how tiny their little feet or hands are, and it symbolizes your love by using your wedding ring. And then when you actually use this photo in your scrapbooking baby album, keep the layout clean and simple, don’t use too many photos, in fact I like to only use the one photo on the page and make that photo the center of attention. You could do a double page layout and have the feet on one side and the hands on the other side. Trust me on this one, it makes for the most adorable layout.

Give it a try and keep watching out for more ideas and tips in the coming weeks, happy scrapping.

Thanks to Amy from Flickr for the wonderful photo, simply stunning.