Conversion Experience

I have been a life long scrapbooker. I love pictures and I document everything. I love to include ticket stubs, certificates, receipts etc. in with the pictures. I am obsessive about keeping everything together and in chronological order. I have done this with great success in Creative Memories 12x12 books with scrapbook pages and portrait sleeves for all of the pictures and memorablia from the day I was born up until March 10, 2007 (the day Noah was 4 days old). After that...well...there is nothing. I have all my pictures organized and labeled in Picasa and uploaded to Shutterfly. I have all the memorabilia organized for each child, but I have nothing scrapbooked. I just can't bring myself to do it. The task is too overwhelming. I just don't have the big stretches of time that one needs to do this.


So, I had to make a decision. Keep going like this and hope that one day when Noah and Anna are in school I will actually have time to scrapbook OR take a different route. And surprisingly I have been converted. Yes, me, the Creative Memories 12x12 scrapbook devotee has been converted to Shutterfly picture books--the things you can make in about 4 hours and get all of your pictures in an actual book that your kids can look at and enjoy paging through before their 35th birthday.

I've been doing them by season so I just finished summer 2009 and spring 2009. Sure I won't be able to put ticket stubs and things like that in these books like I had done in the CM scrapbooks. And I won't be able to include (in chronological order) any pics that I get from friends unless they send them to me as attachments so I can save them to my computer and include them in the Shutterfly books as I make them. But there are empty pages at the end of the Shutterfly books where I can stick a few random snapshots given from others or a ticket stub or two. And one great thing is that if I'm feeling generous I can order 2 of each book so that instantaneously Anna and Noah can each have one of their own. I mean, really, the idea of scrapbooking one book is overwhelming enough. The thought of making one book for each of them about makes my head explode.

What really pushed me over the edge is when Jon wisely said, "you know, the enemy of good is perfect." And he's right. These Shutterfly books, while not perfect are a good enough solution. I can't wait to click that "place order now" button for my "fall 2009" book so that in just a few short days an already made book will arrive at my doorstep. Ahhhhhh....conversion.