The Print-It-Yourself downloadable eBook version of the Scrapbooker’s All-In-One Memory Logbook is a great format for those who like to tweak things around to fit their lifestyle. There are several ways you can customize your book. Here are a few tips & suggestions to get you started…

Printing Your Book

The downloadable Memory Logbook is intended for printing, as the file is not easily editable using your average software. However, if you have access to software that allows you to edit PDF files, you could fairly easily add family dates and other notes to your Logbook pages prior to printing.

There are basically two options for printing your book:

1.     Print it at home using your own inkjet or laser printer. If you have a printer that does double-sided pages, this will be a snap. If not, it may take a little experimentation to get it all printed correctly. Generally, you’ll want to print all of the odd pages first, then flip over the stack and put it back in the printer. Take care to ensure you have it positioned correctly so your next printout will be correctly oriented and on the right side. Next print the even pages, but set your printer to do this in the reverse order. Check to be sure everything is matching up before allowing the entire 388-page document to go through the printer!

2.     Burn the downloaded file onto a CD-ROM or DVD and take it to your local printer. Friendly Reminder: This is a copyrighted item and it is illegal to make copies of the disc or of the document for anyone other than yourself and your household.

Suggested Materials

• 3-ring binder – At least 2 inches wide, larger if you plan to add a lot of extra “stuff” to your book. The kind with a transparent outside sleeve will allow you to customize the outside of your book.
• 3-hole punch
• 12 untabbed double-pocket dividers, such as the type shown in the above photo
• Label-maker & label tape (or simply write the labels on the folders directly with a permanent fine-tip pen)
• 3 sheets of white or lightly colored cardstock (8.5×11-inch)
• 2-3 sheets of black cardstock (8.5×11-inch)
• Rotary paper cutter
• Anything else you’d like to add, such as transparent page sleeves, photo pocket pages, manila envelopes for holding memorabilia or other documents, 3-hole punched pencil bag for holding supplies, etc.

Assembling Your Logbook

1.     Carefully punch holes through all pages of the book using the 3-hole punch.

2.     If you are using a label maker, create a label for each of the 12 months of the year.

3.     Affix the labels to the lower right-hand corner of each of the 12 pocket folders.

4.     Insert the 12 pocket folders between each of the 12 months in the Logbook. The easiest place to do this is to insert the pocket page between the Monthly Check-up page and the Holiday Worksheet, as shown above. For example, place the January pocket page between pages 18 and 19; February’s pocket page between pages 46 and 47; and so on.

By placing the pocket pages in this manner, you will be able to identify each month’s label on the side, then flip it open and have that month’s at-a-glance pages displayed  immediately prior to the pocket page, as shown above. However, if another method works better for you, than by all means … do it! Make this work for YOU!

5.    Create your outside cover using the white cardstock or other materials of your choice. You could create something from scratch (scrapbook-style, perhaps?) or if you prefer, download this freebie and print out the front and back cover sheets, as well as the spine insert, on the white cardstock.

7.     Place a sheet of black cardstock behind your finished cover sheet, adjusting it so that the two sheets combined are wide enough to almost completely fill the width of the transparent front sleeve of the binder. Slip the pages into the sleeve. Repeat for the back of the binder.

8.     Using the paper cutter, cut a piece of black cardstock vertically so that it is about 1/2-inch narrower than the spine of your binder and 11 inches long. Trim the printed spine insert so that it is about 1/2-inch narrower than the black spine piece. Layer the two pieces together so there is a black border on each side of the printed spine insert and slip into the binder (see above). If this is difficult to do, it sometimes helps to open the binder up extra wide to allow the plastic sleeve to buckle a bit and make it easier to slide in the cardstock.

9.     Add whatever other goodies you’d like to the binder … and you’re done. Now you’re all set to put your Memory Logbook to good use!

Have other great ideas on how to customize the Print-It-Yourself version of the Memory Logbook? We’d love to hear them! Please share through a comment below…

Click HERE to download this Tip Sheet in PDF format.

You can purchase your downloadable Memory Logbook from our Lulu.com Bookstore here:

Or… if you prefer to buy the download directly from the Log Your Memory Web site, you can do so HERE.

I am very excited to introduce the core product at Log Your Memory – the Scrapbooker’s All-In-One Memory Logbook. This book is my answer to a problem common among busy scrapbookers … too many memories & not enough time to scrap them.

Picture this scenario: Your daughter says the cutest thing. You manage to write it on a scrap of paper and tuck it in your purse. Later in the day, you catch your hubby doing that thing he always does and think to yourself, “I oughta scrap that.”

The next afternoon, you take some great shots of your son and his game-winning play, proud as punch when you overhear the other parents comment on what a great sport he is. You manage to scribble a couple notes on the calendar fridge about it when you get home. You list the great birthday gifts you received on the desk calendar in your office.

Later in the week, you see a layout idea in your favorite magazine that triggers an idea for that album you’ve been meaning to start. You grab a notebook to sketch it out, but then get sidetracked and start your grocery list on the next page.

By the time the weekend comes, it’s time for laundry and cleaning and … you haven’t had a moment to yourself, even less time to scrapbook. That scrap of paper in your purse? Crumpled & buried with all of the other stuff you pack around all day long. And all of those great ideas and wonderful memories – some that you managed to write down, others that didn’t quite make it that far – are threatening to slip away before you have time to find them all again, let alone do anything with them.

Here is how the Memory Logbook can help.

This book is intended to take the place of all of those scraps of paper and multiple calendars and half-filled notebooks. It will provide you with one consistent place to write down your family’s schedule, jot down those special moments you want to remember, sketch out those layout ideas, even write out your shopping list if you’d like.

But it goes beyond that. Through a series of weekly challenge questions and a variety of questionnaires and worksheets, the Memory Logbook will get you thinking about the parts of your life you might be overlooking in your regular scrapbooking, particularly if you’re struggling just to keep up with your life.

Your daily routines. Your strange habits. The ways you are like your siblings or parents. The things your kids do that remind you of your own childhood. The stuff that makes up your “real” life … and the memories that will most likely prove to be quite revealing when you look back a few years down the road. Spend a few minutes at the end of each day jotting down a few notes in your Logbook and when you do finally find some time to scrapbook, you’ll know exactly where to start.

The Memory Logbook includes …

• Monthly calendars for at-a-glance planning & documentation.

• Daily calendars where you can jot down your schedule or make notes about things that happened that day.

• Space at the bottom of the daily calendar pages to document your memories, jot down ideas, create a gratitude list or whatever suits your purpose.

• Your own personal “Story List”… a checklist where you can list all of those pages and stories you know you want to share but haven’t had a chance to complete yet. Write them down so you don’t forget and when you have some time to scrap, you’ll know right where to start.

• A page every week where you can sketch your ideas for scrapbook layouts you’d like to do.

• Weekly challenge questions to get your creative juices flowing and help you tell the “real” story of your life.

• Examples of “real life” scrapbook layouts that go along with several of the weekly challenge topics for added inspiration.

• A questionnaire repeated every month to help you track how life changes over the course of the year.

• An annual questionnaire and price sheet to help set the stage for where you are in your life right now and the world you live in. Take a few minutes to fill this one in and it will provide a fun look back at “the good old days” many years from now.

• Monthly worksheets for documenting family holidays, plus extra pages at the back of the book for birthdays and other celebrations that you may or may not get around to scrapping but you still want to remember.

• A handy list of 2011 holidays on the last page, plus a place to jot down birthdays and other important family dates.

The 2010 edition of the Scrapbooker’s All-In-One Memory Logbook is available in three formats – coil-bound (also known as spiral-bound), perfect-bound (like your typical softcover book), or as an eBook that you download and can then print yourself or take to your local print shop. (If the print-it-yourself version interests you, be on the lookout next week for tips on how to customize the book with a few simple additions.)

As an added benefit, owners of the Memory Logbook are eligible to join the Log Your Memory Book Club and enjoy special privileges on this site. Click HERE for details.

Click HERE to read an excerpt from the Scrapbooker’s All-In-One Memory Logbook introductory pages.

The Print-It-Yourself downloadable version of the Memory Logbook is available for purchase directly from the Log Your Memory Web site HERE.

You can also purchase the print versions of the Memory Logbook, as well as the downloadable eBook, through our Lulu.com Bookstore by clicking on the following buttons:

You may be here because you know me from my favorite scrapbooking haunts and were curious about what I’m doing now.

You may be here because I’ve been teasing & taunting you for the past couple weeks on Facebook.

You may be here because a friend of a friend of a friend pointed you this way.

You may have Googled “scrapbook” or  “2010 calendar” and landed here.

Whatever got you here, I am so glad you came!

For those of you who do not know me, I am a …

• Work-at-home mother to four crazy kids ranging in age from 1 to 14 years;

• Wife to an avid outdoorsman who also happens to be the publisher of the local newspaper where we met back when we were both reporters;

• Native Montanan with a not-so-secret desire to live somewhere a little less “rural;”

• Digi-scrapping addict who favors documenting the everyday much more than the big events.

You can find out even more about me by taking a peek at the layout I created for our first official Challenge at Log Your Memory, which brings me to my next announcement…

Today is the official start to the Log Your Memory Grand Opening Kickoff Contest! One lucky winner will receive a FREE copy of my new book – the Scrapbooker’s All-In-One Memory Logbook 2010 in your choice of spiral-bound, coil-bound or downloadable eBook format. To enter, check out the contest guidelines HERE. The deadline to enter is October 31^st at 12:00 noon, Mountain Time, which also happens to be the culmination of the Log Your Memory SPOOK-tacular Grand Opening weekend! More about that in the next week or two…

So just what is this new book I keep referring to? It’s really my answer to a problem I’ve been having for some time now … too many things to remember, tons of ideas & inspiration, stacks and stacks of photos (both print & digital) … and not enough time to get it all scrapbooked before I forget what I wanted to do with it all.

Sound familiar? If so, you are in the right place & you are going to want to get my book. I will go into much greater detail about the book tomorrow, but you can check it out HERE while you are waiting.

Once my idea for the Logbook started to take shape, it quickly evolved into what you see today … a full-fledged online community including a community forum, layout gallery, chat room, bookstore, gift shop, and so much more. My goal is to create a supportive, inspiring & fun-filled community that will start to feel like home and family for all of us and let us connect with lots of wonderful folks with common interests. I hope you will join me in this adventure and invite your friends to do the same!

In the next week or so, I’ll be sharing more detailed information about what is available on this site and what’s on the calendar for the coming weeks. For now, I hope you’ll take a minute to register as a member and then wander around the site to get a taste of all there is to do and see.

Want to be sure you don’t miss anything? Sign up HERE to get an update by email every time there is a new post.

Thanks again for stopping by … and please make yourself at home! {Psstt… you can start by leaving me a note below (after you register) to let me know you were here!!!}