Then and Now

Here is an exhibit of how my mom made our photo albums personalized. Talk about doing everything from acratch.

The first few photos below show that my album's pages were made of cartolina cut into size bigger than a legal sized bond paper. Our (my siblings and I) albums are color coded, mine is yellow.

 The cover was made of illustration board covered with orange felt paper and plastic which by now is screaming for an upgrade (note to self: give that album a face lift please!). 

Most special about this album is that Mama handwritten dates and notes on each photo. Talk about personalization. 

Look closely at the left photo and you will see how much it cost to give birth to a child in the '70's. 

This album (along with my siblings') have become conversation pieces in my parents' home until I got married and Mom handed mine to me as keepsake. 

Thanks Mom, this is amazing although it's really embarrassing sometimes to show to friends. When they see my photos as a toddler, they would turn to me and back at the photos several times with that seemingly confused expression. Okay, I get it, I look prettier now. hehe. 

From my sagalas to my mountaineering photos, they're all here, documented. Note that the sheets have turned to white, I guess the bookstore ran out of that dark yellow cartolina

My college (and post college) extra curricular activities: theater and dancing which tie at no. 2 on my list of fave hobbies. I still continue to dance until now and choreograph every now and then. Looking at these photos takes me back to those times of endless rehearsals, tiring but fun.

Now that I'm a mom, I do the same for my kids. Before we used to call it photo album, now we have a more crafty call for it - scrapbook. The modern times also gave us more options to create artistic work, embellishment is all abound in bookstores. Imagination is the limit.

Here is Sophie's scrapbook and I decided it should be handwritten as well. It just looks more personal that way. 

Sonogram collection and her first photos with Mom and Dad. 

These 3 pouches contain her navel, very first cut nails and her first hair cut. 

If you are like hubby and I, you also have these - celebration of your kids' monthsaries

This post is more like a reminder that I'm way behind updating their scrapbooks. For Sam, I've only gone as far as his baptismal. I really need to make time for this.