How to Make a Baby’s First Year Scrapbook

The first 12 months of a baby’s life are filled with precious moments that need to be photographed and saved. You may have noticed the wonderful photo trend that’s encouraging moms and dads to document a baby’s first 12 months in creative ways.

I’m going to share with you how you can create a baby’s first year album as a gift for a friend or family member. As an avid scrapbooker, I absolutely love sharing my completed albums with those I love. Not everyone in my life shares my passion for paper-crafting, but they all see the value in having memories preserved. Plus, they love spending time looking through the photos and reading the journaling. As you can imagine, when a completed album is gifted to them the response of appreciation is overwhelming!

How to Create a Unique Baby Album Cover

For this particular project, I chose to create a 12 month album for baby Henry with one of the 8X8″ Bookcloth Album Covers. The 8×8″ size feels precious in your hands and was a great size for a baby book. These 8×8″ albums are available in six colours (Orange, Teal, Eggplant, Cream Mica, Ebony, and Chocolate), providing the versatility to create any kind of album.

Please note! The 8×8″ albums are only available through Monday, October 17th, 2016.

You may have noticed in this photo of the album cover that I decorated the album cover itself. Here’s a list of the scrapbook materials that I used:

• Hello Baby Patterned Paper Pack
• Hello Baby Boy Embellishments
• A border from the Hello Baby Boy Stickers
• Beige 12×12″ Solid Cardstock
• Henry’s initials using the Mint ABC/123 Stickers (can we please pause for a moment and applaud the couple who gave their son the initials H.O.T. – how perfect is the hot air balloon embellishment?!)

While I think it’s super fun to decorate the album cover, there is actually another purpose! I cut a strip of Hello Baby Boy Patterned Paper to 4 X 12″ and a piece of Beige 12X12″ Solid Cardstock to 4 X 8″. I wrapped the ends of the pattern paper over the top and bottom of the album cover and covered the ends with the Beige 12X12″ Solid Cardstock. The cardstock is where I wrote a little message to Henry’s mama!

How to Create your Baby Scrapbook Album Pages

I created Henry’s baby album pages using the Hello Baby collection. Each two page spread displays one month’s photo. As you flip through the album, you get to see a photo and some journalling that takes you through Henry’s first year.

For the introduction page, I used the Mint ABC/123 Stickers to create a title along with the Hello Baby Embellishments and the Hello Baby Boy Paper Pack.

Then, I used one photo of Henry from each month. I created my labels with Beige Solid 12X12 Cardstock and the Circle CCS Patterns to create 1″ circles and adhered the number using the Mint ABC/123 Stickers.

3 Baby Scrapbook Layout Ideas

When you’re making a first year baby album for a friend, you may or may not have the baby’s photos – do not worry! Either way, I have a few layout ideas for your baby gift.

1. Have the photos? Surprise your friend!

If you have access to a photo of their little one from each month you could surprise them! Simply print off a photo of each month and incorporate it into each of your layouts. Keep a journalling space available for them to fill out on their own. You can leave them just a small amount of space to write the date and maybe just a few words or you can leave a larger space where they could write more detail about that month and what life was like. Here are some samples:

2. No Photos? Give them a Blank Album with a Note.

You can always wrap up a blank album with a little note that says you would really love to create a month by month album for them. All they have to provide are pictures from each month along with a memory they would like document with each month. Once they’ve given you those items you can create the album from start to finish for them. Here is what that might look like:

3. No Journaling? Create an Album with Sayings.

Perhaps you find yourself in a situation where you have the photos but journaling isn’t your favorite thing to do. Another option is to choose a few favorite stickers and embellishments to describe the changes you’ve seen in each month. Here’s a layout that shows how I used hello baby embellishments to add personality to the page:

I hope this post has inspired you to share your creativity with those you love. A gift like this is absolutely priceless and will be cherished for many many years. The 8X8″ Brookcloth Album Covers can be used for so many occasions – a Daily December album, an anniversary album, even a keepsake from a bridal shower or baby shower! Like I said, the possibilities are endless!