This is the last page of my Family Vacation 2024 album, now out for printing, the first of the four I will eventually need for Christmas gifting. It's a test run, on a 50% discount. It took about two months to get to this point. Forty-two pages with full journaling and no meltdowns. Not too shabby.

On reflection, I'd definitely use the batching process again when constructing a large album on a deadline. Having the freedom to throw photos at pages without ditzing around with visual details allowed me to stay focused on the story and the chronology and kept me from becoming bored or bogged down. I also found that when I went back to construct the visual details, it was more of a treat than an obligation, because I knew I was making progress overall even if I was dithering over a cluster or texture. And sticking to the combo of two template albums—FotoInspired and the Scenic Template albums—made the spreads speed along without having to worry about transitions among pages, although I had to tweak just about every template to suit my photos.

The downside? Of course there is one. I am temporarily burned out from moving at such a fast pace, and, physically, my eyes have been complaining (I work on a 17-inch laptop). But I'm happy to pay this price for a gift that I know will be treasured by my family members forever. Would I do it again just this way? You betcha!