OK, not physically, but I sure got to take a trip down memory lane on Sunday…and Monday.

I finished our 2010 Family Storybook on Sunday morning (actually I finished it at 1:00AM on Saturday- decided I’d do a final proofreading on Sunday- I did- and sent it off to the publisher around 11am).  I should be receiving it in just two weeks- I can’t wait!

While I was creating it, though, I had a dilemma….

Do I incorporate the pictures and memories from my New York trip into our family album?  Or do I have enough memorabilia to dedicate an album to just my New York trip?  It was pretty easy to decide- I simply did a count of my “most favorite” pictures and there were SIXTY.  Problem solved- I’ll just make a New York book!  Later.

Well, later ended up being just two hours after I finished the family album.  I knew that Creative Memories Storybook sale would be ending on Friday.  I also knew that my consultant status (meaning my 30% discount) would also be ending on Friday.  I could save close to 50% if I can finish the book before then.

I discussed it with Jim- because when I’m scrapbooking- I’m not doing anything else.  Meals slide, housecleaning, looking after the kids- it all goes out the window.  We agreed I could probably finish the book in 3 days since the photos were already chosen (although I had 60 “most favorites” I had 120 “favorites”!) and all the journaling and photo captions could be taken from my trip blog.  Thank goodness for modern technology, right?

So there I was- 1pm on Sunday- starting a new book.  I worked on it all day long and by 10pm that night it was probably 85% finished.  Monday during quiet time I finished adding the rest of the pictures and text.  After work I spent my time adding backgrounds and photo mats, and at 8pm I was doing my final proofreading and verifying alignment across pages, etc.  At 9pm I uploaded the file- one last proofread- and at 10:30 I hit “order”.  Ta-da!!

I created an ENTIRE 48 page vacation album in under 2 days.  I’m still in shock!

My process was simple- I followed my blog.  Text was added to each page first, then I added the pictures that relate to that blog entry, divide the text across pages if necessary, add more pictures- or dedicate an entire page to pictures….then after all the text and pictures are in place, go back and enhance the pages with backgrounds and frames, etc.  No ribbons or embellishments.  Just text, pictures, background, occasional photo mat.  And to keep it even more simple I used only one of three backgrounds throughout the whole album.

I’m not going to load the file here….but you can access the album on my Facebook page by clicking on this link.