This month on the blog we are talking about connections. Nikki shared how she connects with music, and touches on the importance of Christmas music. I am going to go into a non-holiday version of connections—and that is how we make connections in our scrapbooks across the years. So let’s dive right in to ways we can make connections over the long term.
Wrap up a year
December is a prime month to look back on our time and collate events and moments. If you do a year in review around this time you may want to look for patterns. I created this layout in 2006. As I was perusing photos to choose for a 4th birthday review for my middle kid, I realized there were a LOT of photos of her posing in silly ways. I knew right there that I had found an important connection between these photos for my layout.
Tip: Look over photos of a bigger time frame to see if you can find any originally unnoticed connections.
Connect some dots
When this same daughter was 7 she really wanted to get her ears pierced, but she was way too nervous about the pain of it all. I captured that in-the moment feeling not knowing where it would lead, if it would lead anywhere at all. Then 9 months later she found her bravery and went through with the piercing. I’m glad I had both parts of this event to connect the dots of a bigger picture to this story.
One thing I did to the photo on the above right was add a rhinestone to her ear as an anticipatory element to the story.
Then when she actually got her ears pierced, it was surprising how similar the fake earring looked to the real one!
Tip: Capture stories that have unclear endings. You never know what will come in the future.
Relationship connections
I like to take photos of my kids with their current friends. Some of these friendships are fleeting and that is okay! In the moment, those connections really matter to day to day life and that is an important story. Capturing those people — and their names — will be rich memories for later. But what I love the most about capturing friendships is seeing the ones that last over years and years of time.
This first layout was taken in 2010. The two connections on the left have been long-term, very personal friendships that continue to this day (see next layout). And the friendship on the right is still around but has taken a smaller role as this relationship has aged.
I’ve shared an unfinished version of this layout before. This time however, I have the final 2021 photos in place and the story is now up to date.
Tip: Capture the relationships of right now. They may fade or they may blossom. You never know! Either way is a great reason to scrap those moments!
Bonus Tip: And if those relationships continue over the years, capture many years of connection on a single layout to really show the passing of time!
I hope you are making lots of connections with loved ones this holiday season. And be sure to take lots of photos of those relationships so you can connect the dots on your next layout!