A baby scrapbook is a great way to preserve the fleeting memories of a newborn in your life. Whether it's your own child, a grandchild, or the new baby of a good friend, a baby scrapbook will help moms track baby's firsts and keep baby's photos organized.

There are so many different ways to track baby memories, and many different ways to create a baby scrapbook. A full-sized scrapbook can contain each and every detail about baby growing up, and a mini-album can provide portable snapshots of events in baby's life.

Baby scrapbooks make great gifts for new or expectant moms who may not have the time to create their own scrapbook for their baby. Kids love to look back at their baby scrapbooks as they grow up, to see what they were like when they were small.

Read on to get some ideas on how to make a baby scrapbook for a baby in your life.

There are many options available for selecting a scrapbook size. A full sized scrapbook will allow you to create many pages, and additional pages can be added later as baby grows. A mini-album is a condensed version of a full baby scrapbook, and is often less intimidating to create. Mini-albums make great gifts, and can be small enough to be portable, so a new mom can show off her baby scrapbook.

Choosing a theme for a baby scrapbook has two different facets: the decorative theme and the content theme.

The decorative theme has to do with the colors that you'd like to use in the scrapbook and the decorative elements. You may want to use the color scheme or decorative elements that the mother has chosen for the baby's nursery, or include character themes such as Winnie the Pooh, Noah's Ark, ABCs, or teddy bears.

The content theme is how you want to organize the baby scrapbook. For full-sized scrapbooks, you may want to plan out chronological sections, such as "at the hospital", "baby's firsts", "doctor visits", and so on. A full size scrapbook has the space to include many pages for a variety of events.

For smaller scrapbooks and mini-albums, choose a content theme that allows you to focus the baby scrapbook. Some mini album themes are "welcome to the world", where you focus on newborn pictures; "week by week" or "month by month", where you have one spread per week or month, and focus on how baby grows; or "baby's firsts", where you have one spread per first, such as "first bath", "first tooth, and so on.

Once you've chosen a scrapbook size and selected your theme, you can get started on making your baby scrapbook. Create individual pages to follow your theme, and use coordinated embellishments to tie the theme into the pages.

When planning for photos, create photo mats to hold 4" x 6" photos in both vertical and horizontal orientations. This is the standard size photo created by photo developers, so moms can quickly add their photos into the baby scrapbook without having to trim them. You can use photo mounts to make it even easier for moms to slip the photos into the page.

Don't forget to decorate the outside of the baby scrapbook too. Add the baby's name or a sentiment to the cover. Tie coordinating ribbons to the connecting rings or around the spine.