• When a special anticipated event is drawing near, use your scrapbooking skills to capture the excitement and activities. Countdowns can be created in a single page layout, several page spreads or an entire book. No matter what the occasion, you can show how eagerly you looked forward to it with a countdown.
  
  

Calendar Countdown

• Create a calendar spread to count the days to a favorite holiday, prom, vacation, special visit or departure to college. Use a calendar page with a box for each day of the month. In some boxes, add small photos. In others, journal about some preparations made. Other boxes you might wish to simply embellish with a sticker or other decoration. This way you won't remember the occasion only, but all of the things that you did leading up to it.
  
  

Holiday Advent Calendar

• If your family loves Christmas and all of the hustle and bustle that leads up to it, create an advent calendar page. Advent calendars traditionally count down the days until Christmas, but this one will feature your own photos of your family's favorite traditions, such as baking cookies or trimming the tree. For this design, you need small photos and a piece of cardstock to lay over your page. Cut square windows in the cardstock, but only on three sides, so you leave one side "hinged." Be sure to arrange the photos underneath so you can see them when you open the windows.
  
  

New Year's Countdown

• Create an hour-by-hour countdown on your scrapbook page to show off your big New Year's Eve bash. Use a circular template for all of your photos and line them up vertically so they are going down the pages to suggest the dropping of the famous Times Square ball. At the top of the page you may begin with arrivals, then move on to dinner, dancing and other party activities. The final ball on the bottom of the page should feature the guests cheering at midnight. Classy colors, such as black and silver, will add style and glitz to a New Year's Eve countdown layout.
  
  

Wedding Preparations

• Every couple wants a big, beautiful album to show off their wedding photos, but consider the flurry of activity in the weeks leading up to the big wedding. A special scrapbook can chronicle the countdown to the wedding. Start the first pages with the engagement and introducing the happy couple, and add pages of any events pertinent to the wedding, such as shopping for cakes, the gown fitting, the bachelor party or the bride's facial the night before. Instead of a date, label each page with how many days until the wedding. This type of scrapbook makes a beautiful gift to present to a couple.
  
  

Pregnancy Countdown

• Create an entire scrapbook to count down your pregnancy. For each month, create a several-page spread to capture the anticipation of the baby's arrival. Each month of pregnancy can feature doctor check-ups, nursery decorating, parties, mom's growing belly and lots of journaling so that parents can remember all of their feelings and thoughts at the time. Include special pages featuring grandparents, godparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and other family members who are excited about the birth and getting ready for the event.