Today, we welcome
Andrea Steed to The Mom-tage! Andrea, wife to Ben, and mother of two beautiful children, Ayla and Paxton, has a true passion for scrapbooking. As if Andrea wasn't busy enough being a stay-at-home-mom, she also works for Scrapbook.com maintaining the Learning area of the site and writing occasional articles.

In addition to scrapbooking, Andrea also makes and sells personalized signs. You can see her incredible handiwork and marvel, as we have, over at
SIGNS by Andrea.
She's incredibly talented and though Dana and I are not true scrapbookers by nature, Andrea's works of art leave us drooling, and motivated to finally tackle the giant boxes of old photos in our closets.

Here, Andrea shares some wonderful tips for novice scrapbookers, but first we asked her to complete our silly survey...
1. Edward or Jacob?
60% of me says Edward, if you only read the books. 25% of me says Jacob, if you catch a glimpse of him in the movies (after all, he rarely wears a shirt), and 5% of me wishes Edward would be re-cast for the films. Then I could stop trying to do all this goofy math and just say 100% Edward. But frankly Rob Pattinson gives me the heebie jeebies.
2. Bette Midler in Beaches or Lea Michele in Glee? Did you ever know that you're my hero? Definitely Bette Midler. But then, I've never watched Glee.
3. My quirky habits are:
Order. I like order. It means I'm picking jazz up off the floor and putting things away ALL. DAY. LONG. But it makes me happier to live in order, so I do it. And lists. I LOVE crossing things off of lists. Deleting is no good. It has to be pen & paper. I also feel an incredibly strong urge to eat a bowl of cereal every day. If I don't have it for breakfast (which I usually do), you can bet that sometime later in the day, I'll have a bowl -- or 6. What can I say? I like my cereal.
4. My biggest pet peeve is:
When people say "fixin' to". You're not fixing anything. You're getting ready to do something. Get it right. I also stand firm in the fact that a "toboggan" is a sled, not a ski hat. Perhaps it's the journalist in me that makes me so adverse to these inaccurate terms. Then again, I have been known to speak gangsta just for fun, so maybe I don't have room to talk.
5. My most dreaded "mom chore" is:
Trying to get kids to eat food that's good for them and not snack all day. It's a constant battle, but one I'm determined to win. I think it makes me a better mom. They just don't know it yet.
6. The thing that has surprised me most about motherhood is:
It's 24/7. I'm usually only good to "work" about 6 hours a day. So I have a hard time with those other 18 hours. It's a good thing my kids sleep all night!
7. On average I wipe ____ bottoms a day that are not attached to myself.
1 and 1/2. It's currently a high priority to teach my 4 year old how to wipe her own bottom after going #2. However, at the current rate of independence that my non-walking 16 month old has, I may very well be wiping bottoms for 5 more years.
8. The one item that I should throw out but probably never will is:
A broken (taped-together)
6" glass stir rod that my boyfriend and I stole from chemistry class my junior year of high school. I justify the theft, because after all, I married the guy! It's a reminder of when we first began.
9. The last time I swept and mopped was
a.) two days ago.
b.) two weeks ago.
c.) two months ago.
d.) not applicable.
My husband or I "sweep" every day, and mop about once a week. We don't actually fight over who gets to do it, but we do have tools to make it SO much better.
I even blogged about it. And sometimes whoever sweeps and mops gets out of bath time duty, which is always a plus. :)
10. My children are my:
Anchors. They keep me from getting lost in a world of crafty projects, photography sprees, fashion obsessions, and decorating disasters.
Subjects. They're beautiful. They photograph so well. They have gorgeous skin and smiles. They do funny things that I want to remember forever. They make great topics to write about. And I love to record everything they do in photos, words and stories.
Mirror. They're a constant reflection. While I try to improve their behavior, I'm often forced to fix my own first. Because after all, they learn some of their worst habits from me. Lead by example is one of the hardest things to do, but certainly the most effective!
5 Tips to Take Up Scrapbooking
I love to take pictures, I love to write and I love to create works-of-art. So, it was a no-brainer when I took up scrapbooking as my hobby of choice. Not everyone falls into it so easily. But it doesn't have to be an overwhelming feat either.
First, you need to decide why you're scrapbooking. Is it to record stories? To have a place to put your photographs? To be crafty? All of the above? Any reason is fine, but whatever your reason is, it will be the strongest factor in how you create albums and layouts and it will define your approach to scrapbooking.
For instance, if want to remember specific dates, stories, and reflections, your albums and layouts will be very
journaling-focused. If you're looking for a method of displaying and viewing photographs, you may lean more towards
photo-album-style books. And then there are those who like the crafty element of creating a work of art, who will spend more time thinking about which
products to use on a page, than the photos and words that go with it.
Whatever your reasons, here are a few tips for making it fun and do-able:
1. Set reasonable goals and expectations. Break your scrapbooking projects (which can feel overwhelming and impossible to "finish") into smaller tasks.
Choose photos for an album one day and write your journaling another. On a different day, pick a group of coordinating products to match your theme. In just a few days, you'll have created your own album kit ready to go whenever you are ready to scrapbook those memories.
Instead of scrapbooking *everything*, you can tackle years of back-logged photos with subject-themed albums such as sports, birthdays, school, holidays, etc. Or, divide a year into months, making monthly collages and dedicating only 2-4 pages to each month.
Here are several examples of album organization that I use:
Through the Years Album
Baby's First Year Photo Album (These make great baby shower gifts!)
Basic Baby Album
Elegant Wedding Album
2. Buy product kits.
Kits are fabulous. Everything coordinates, you have all the elements you need on hand (paper, stickers, die cuts, embellishments, ribbon, etc.) and you can store it all together with your project, which makes it easy to get started anytime you have an opportunity to work on it.
3. Keep organized. I can't stress this enough. Keep your
photos filed and dated, your
supplies organized and easy-to-access, and you'll always be able to jump right into a project. There's nothing worse than feeling the urge to scrapbook and having to spend all your time getting organized instead.
See how my room is organized:
Scrap Room Video Tour
4. Write what you won't remember. My memory is terrible, so I write everything down - names, dates, locations, and most importantly, the story. What happened? Who was there? What did they say? How did you feel? Keep a journal, a calendar, or a
blog to help you write it all down immediately so it isn't forgotten by the time you scrapbook it.
5. Photograph your world. Sometimes the perfect smiling-at-the-camera portraits aren't what become the most treasured photographs. Don't forget to take pictures of everyday activities, the house you live in, the places you go, and the people you love. No matter how blurry, how dimly lit, or how messy the background, you'll treasure the memories of those simple everyday things.
Week in the Life Album - This is one of my favorite albums, full of photos of mundane, boring, everyday tasks. But two years later, it's a great record of our everyday life. I might do this one again in a few more years.
Most of all, stay true to your reasons for scrapbooking and make it fun--for you. Don't worry about how other people do it - just do what you like and what works for you!
~ Andrea Steed,
http://www.andreasteed.com/