When it comes to keeping in touch with relatives, I’m usually an e-mail kind of girl. But this year, my kindergartner (who is just learning to write) has inspired me to send out more snail mail with a scrapbooking twist. Below are four easy projects that can help you and your kids stay connected with faraway relatives. If you keep it simple, as I did, you can complete each of these projects in less than an hour.
A Mailable Scrapbook
Progressive Album
This first project is a mini-album that both you and your relatives can add to. To get started, you’ll need a lightweight 4 x 6 album (mine is plastic), a few 4 x 6 photos, and several 4 x 6 pieces of cardstock. Create a simple cover using photos, patterned paper, and letters from your stash. While you’re working on the cover, have your children draw pictures or write letters on 4 x 6 pieces of cardstock. Slide the cover into the front pocket; then fill four to six pages with family snapshots and 4 x 6 cards. Before mailing, add a few blank cards and a note encouraging your relatives to add to the album and return it to you. Mail the album back and forth until it is full. Then make a copy of the album for yourself, and send the original back to your relatives.
Progressive Album
Materials: patterned paper (BasicGrey) + ribbon (American Crafts) + Caecilia Roman and Zurich fonts + 4 x 6 mini-album by Rebecca Cooper, Raymond, AB, Canada
At-a-Glance Album
Keep your relatives up to date on your family’s life by creating a small summary album that you can add to throughout the year. Set aside time at the end of each month to complete one 4 x 6 page with photos on the front and handwritten journaling on the back. For this project, I created 4 x 4 photo collages using Adobe Photoshop, but you could crop four 4 x 6 photos to 2 x 2 to achieve the same look. Mount each photo collage on a 4 x 6 piece of cardstock, add a strip of patterned paper, and write a few details about the month on the back. Punch a hole in the top-left corner, and mail it to your relatives. Be sure to include a binder ring with the first card so that your relatives can link all the pages together.
At A Glance
At-a-Glance Album
Materials: patterned papers (American Crafts) + ribbon + binder ring + Book Antiqua font + 4 x 6 mini-album by Rebecca Cooper, Raymond, AB, Canada
Letter Binder
This next project is a decorated three-ring binder where your relatives can store traditional letters, printed e-mails, pictures from your kids, and more. All you need to decorate the cover is a printed title, one sheet of patterned paper, and a few coordinating embellishments. Once you’ve decorated the exterior, fill the inside with everything your relatives will need to stay in touch: blank notebook paper, envelopes, a pen, and a booklet of stamps. This will encourage them to write you back! Make yourself a matching binder to organize their correspondence.
Letter Binder
Letter Binder
Materials: patterned paper (Chatterbox) + paper flowers (Prima) + rhinestone brads (Karen Foster Designs) + MS Mincho and P22 Dearest Swash fonts + binder by Rebecca Cooper, Raymond, AB, Canada
Online Galleries
Want to share your memories with loved ones for free? (No postage required!) Many scrapbooking websites allow you to upload scans or photos of your pages to online galleries and then share a link with faraway family members. Sites like twopeasinabucket.com and scrapbook.com even let you create virtual scrapbook albums especially for family and friends. You can also share layouts on your personal blog or through online photo albums at sites like flickr.com and snapfish.com. Be sure to post pages of your relatives every once in a while so they feel included in your life and memories.
I hope you enjoy making these projects as much as I did. And I hope they help you stay connected with those you love.
Online Galleries
Materials: big brads (Bazzill Basics) + photo corners (Heidi Swapp) + Garamond font + Sizzix Sidekick, flower die (Ellison) + 11 x 8 page by Rebecca Cooper, Raymond, AB, Canada
Online Galleries
Materials: patterned papers (My Mind’s Eye)+ large paper flower, brads (Making Memories) + small paper flowers (Prima) + photo corners (Heidi Swapp) + 12 x 12 page by Rebecca Cooper, Raymond, AB, Canada
- Rebecca Cooper
Tags: Mailable
This is a response to Progressive Album
It is not necessary to mail the whole album. Take a picture before you send “that page” on. Relatives will already have the first album you sent and have the the jacket to put the new page in. When that is full, send another album, etc.