A few days ago I was working at the computer and I kept hearing giggling in the other room. I finally went to check out what was happening (if you are a parent you know that too much giggling makes you wonder what trouble is going on) and found my daughter sitting on the couch surrounded by a stack of scrapbooks. She happened to be looking at one my mom made with my childhood pictures. (She was probably giggling at my big poufy prom dress and 80’s hair. Yikes!)
I have talked about scrapbooking and preserving memories before. I LOVE scrapbooking…in fact in a few minutes I’m off to my weekly scrapbooking day! 🙂 As a former Creative Memories consultant I’ve heard so many excuses for not scrapbooking…no time, don’t know where to start, it’s too expensive, I’m not creative…and the list goes on. Let me tell you that anyone can do this! And what is more important than preserving your family’s memories?
Several few years ago, we had a fire start in our garage. We were all home at the time. Once the kids were safe, my next thought was to grab as many scrapbooks as I could. All the other things could be replaced…but not those memories. We were blessed that the fire was small and my husband was able to put most of it out before the fire department arrived. But I think about what if I had lost those pictures and memories. 🙁
Even in this digital age, I think it is so important to get pictures printed and preserve them in albums! That’s why in my photography business I still don’t sell digital files. I want my clients to have beautiful prints framed on their walls and tabletops. Not stuck on a DVD or computer.
Have you wanted to start scrapbooking but don’t know where to start? Here are a few tips adapted from Ann, my friend and Creative Memories Consultant. If you are interested in Creative Memories products you can visit Ann’s website for more info.
- First step…get your pictures off the memory card and PRINT THEM! So many people these days only have digital images the computer. Or worse never take them off the memory card! Hopefully you back up everything but what if you don’t and your computer crashes? You could lose all those pictures. 🙁 Once your pictures are printed and stored in an archival album they will be there for many, many years.
- Clean out the photo clutter and get organized! Think of it like cleaning out a closet. You need to get rid of the “junk” (blurry photos, duplicates, etc…) to make room for organizing the photos you really want. Move your box, drawer, bag, or wherever you have been shoving pictures for all these years somewhere handy for times when you have a few minutes of down time like watching TV. As you watch TV sort out your photos. Before you know it you’ll be cleaned out and organized! (I love, love, love the Power Sort Box from Creative Memories for this!)
- Start with one project. It could be starting a family album with pictures from this year, a holiday album, a sports album, or a vacation album. When I started, I began with the current year and then worked my way back. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you think about all the pictures from past years. Even if you never get to those, you will at least have albums from today going forward. If you get caught up, you can start working backwards to previous years.
- Find a friend or group of friends who wants to work their photos as well. Schedule a weekly or monthly time to work together on photos. It’s much more fun this way!
- Keep it simple. Years from now your kids aren’t really going to care what color paper or what kind of stickers you used. They will care about the pictures and the memories. I love Ann’s motto, “Done is better that perfect!”