first day of school | mini album

School isn't even out for Summer in some parts of the country although we've been on Summer break since the third week in May. Either way, it's a good time to think about making a mini album to house all those first day of school photos. 

I made these all the way back in 2008 when Isabella was just entering Kindergarten and Victoria was only 3 years old. Zach was still in High School. My babies are growing up on me.

Isabella has always been a pink girl while Victoria has been a "boo" girl. She loves the color blue. The design on each album is the same with only the embellishments differing. The pages are from a pack of strap hinge album page refills I purchased on clearance and I strung ribbon through the strap hinges to bind the pages together.

I printed my text onto some old-fashioned manuscript writing paper. Even in this short about of time, I can see that it is aging rather quickly and might not have been the best choice, so if I were you, I would use a scrapbooking paper made to look like manuscript paper instead.

Each page has a tab for the grade which I applied with rub-ons.

Each year I have the kids write their name, their phone number, their address and a few things they love. The pages have been predesigned with a photo matte and embellishments are placed so that I can slip a photo onto the page with little effort.

Each page also has an education-related quote. 

The second week of August the girls will be entering 1st and 4th grades, so it will be time to update our albums once again.