About Memories & More

22/30 **Bonus Day**

Page 22 of the 30/30 Project

We used the new We R Memory Keeper Hybrid Page Protectors for this 2 page layout.  They're fast...they're easy...and everyone who has tried them has love them!  You can still complete the pages without them, just mount the photos on a base cardstock.

Here's a closer view of the left page:

This protector has a 2x12 inch strip of cardstock in the side next to the holes for the album.  A little tip for using these:  Adhere the front & back piece of the 2x12 inch strip together.  Put a glue dot on each end of one side.  This will hold the strip in the protector & be mostly un-noticeable.

Here's a closer view of the right page:

This page has a 6x8 page in it.  Love it!

And here are the backs of these pages:

If you'd like to create your page exactly like mine, there are six (6) kits available today.  They include everything needed to make two pages, including the hybrid protectors.  Kits are just $5.  Get yours before they're gone!

 

All I've got to say is....print your photos.

1369...that's how many photos are right there.  That's what happens when I don't print photos often enough.  And the sad thing, this is April through Kendall's Birthday (9/7).  In my defense, there are about 300 family photos there from a photo shoot...so that knocks it down to 1069.  Still.  Good thing scrapbookpictures.com had a .10 cent sale...these photos will be going straight into photo sleeves & into my scrapbook project.  As much as I like to look at my photos in iPhoto, there is nothing that compares to holding an actual photo.  They make my heart happy. 

Print your photos.  Please. 

Back to School

 

(this is the best back to school photo I can now hope to get from an almost 15 year old...sigh.)

My daughter is back in school & I've found myself a little sad...grateful, but sad.  Where did 15 years go?  I pulled out her school photos the other day, determined to make some pages.  But like you, I struggle with those school portraits & what to do with them.  I decided that my options were 1) just slide the 8x10's into an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet protector & add them to my albums (which are 12 x 12...the difference in size doesn't matter to me a bit) or 2) I could organize them in those 8 1/2 x 11 sheet protectors & then scrapbook the ones that happened to be speaking to me at the moment...knowing that all the others were tucked away in a nice orderly fashion...which until last week, they were in a pile of "I'll get to that later" stuff in the middle of my craft room floor.

 

At first I was really sad going through all those photos...wishing I'd been a better mother...wishing lots of thing, actually.  But the more I looked at the photos the more I realized that my daughter is happy.  And that, my friends, made the whole process worthwhile.  It made it worth pulling them out of their yellowing photo packets...digging through that mess on the floor...even the tears that came with realizing your baby is growing up.  And, as a result, I created this easy page that I adore.  Kendall took one look at it & said "I don't remember that at all".  Um, how do you not remember wearing a cap & gown???  6th grade was SO long ago...

And then I made 4 cute cards out of the scraps (one is above):

 

All of the paper you need to make the layout & cards is at the counter..it all only took 7 sheets of paper...really!  We even have an apple template for you to make the cute teacher cards...or use it to make a cut out for your back to school page.  See you soon! 

What to do with a bazillion photos.

A bazillion?  Really, I'm not kidding.  I was an obsessed picture taker before digital.  Took rolls & rolls of photos.  Developed every last one...in duplicate...and kept them.  I shudder to think about all the money I spent on photo processing.  Then digital cameras came along.  And my obsession exploded!  I did a post about what I do with all my dang photos on September 11, 2008.  At that time, my iPhoto said I had 3,436 photos on my computer.  Today, July 28th, 2009 it says I have 6,210.  That is 2774 photos...in 10 months.  And that's only what I kept.  Seriously.

So as much as I'd like to tell you that I scrapbooked all 2774 photos, I didn't.  Not even a reasonable possibility for me...or anyone else.  All I have to say is thank goodness for the We R Memory Keeper 4x6 photo sleeves!  Honestly, they've saved my sanity.

You can read about my whole process & what I did with over 30 photo boxes filled to the brim with photos here. 

In a nutshell, what I do is print all of my photos.  Yep, all of them.  (I use scrapbookpictures.com because I love their customer service, the quality of their prints, that you have online storage for your photos...really, everything about them).  Unfortunately, I seem to only be organized enough to do it about every six months or so...which is why I print them all.  I don't want to sit there & look at every photo & try to determine if I really want to print it or not.  It would take hours that I don't have. 

Then I put all of my photos into the We R Memory Keeper 4x6 photo sleeves (one pack has 25 pages & holds 300 photos).  And then I put them in my favorite album, which is a We R Memory Keepers Silverstone Linen 12x12 Ring Binder.  At this point, I feel caught up.  Sometimes I'll leave a blank photo slot to put a 4x6 journaling block or mini scrapbook page.  Other times, I'll go back & scrapbook 2 or 3 of my favorite photos from an event & journal.  That page goes right next to the photo sleeves in my album.  That's why I use the ring binders.  It's super easy to move your pages all around.  And one album holds up to 50 photo pages.  When you start adding bulky items to your pages that number goes down, but that's still an impressive amount of photos.  And here's the deal, when your photos are in albums, you are caught up.  Read that sentence again:  when your photos are in albums, you are caught up.  And feeling caught up is 99% of the battle of scrapbooking. 

I'd like to challenge you to print your photos & put them into albums.  I promise you, it'll feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders.  Once they're in albums, you'll want to scrapbook again.  Knowing that you don't have to scrapbook everything is so...refreshing! 

One last thing, the reason I use the We R Memory Keepers albums & protectors is because I feel that they are the best on the market.  Plain & simple.  They've been making albums for 80 years.  I think they have it down by now.  But just because that's what I use doesn't mean you have to use them.  What you have to do is get those photos off your computer....before you can't get them off your computer.  Know what I mean?

****just noticed on the scrapbookpictures.com website that 4x6 prints are just .12 cents each until July 31st...all of their photos are on sale...I'll be uploading tonight!****  (I'm not affiliated with them in any way, shape or form...just someone who loves the product they deliver)

Practicing what I preach

From Friday night until Sunday morning, I took 356 photos.  Not including the ones I deleted immediately.  Yep, 356...it's not a typo.  I just checked my iPhoto & I have 3,436 photos on my computer.  That I got in January.  Again, just the ones I kept.  So, what's a girl to do when she has a ridiculous amount of photos? 

This is from 1991 to April, 2008.  23 books.  I just finished filling my 2nd book for 2008 (just didn't make it to the shelf yet).  So in all, I have 24 books for 17 years.  Now what this doesn't include, is the 10 or so scrapbooks I've already done.  My plan is to add those pages to these albums, but first, I think I have to buy another shelving unit, don't you think?

I've talked a lot about simplifying your scrapbooking.  Getting photos in albums.  Getting, dare I say, caught up.  You can read all about it here, or by clicking on the scrapbook project category on the right, at the bottom. 

Here's my problem in a nutshell.  I'm a perfectionist.  I had one entire set of photos in regular photo albums...and one entire set of duplicates plus any enlargements I thought I might need in photo boxes.  With memorabilia...and tons of dust bunnies & a few stray spiders.  I am also a chronological scrapbooker...comes with the whole perfectionist thing...and I took one look at my 30 or so boxes of photos & thought, "I am never going to get caught up.  I have got to do something else."  So I ordered a bazillion 12x12 photo sleeves for the We R Memory Keeper albums & a bazillion 12x12 We R Memory Keepers post bound albums & started putting everything in them in chronological order.  I even mixed in my scrapbook pages with them.  Because lets face it folks, there is no way I could ever scrapbook every photo I take...remember the 3,436 photos...just since January? 

Along the way I hit a few bumps:  if your photos aren't 4x6 you'll have to add a piece of cardstock to keep them from flying out....post is not so easy when you screw up & get the photos out of order, so I switched them all to ring (I have the ring albums for the bottom 3 that you see that are post, just haven't switched them yet)...you're bookshelf needs to be able to handle a lot of weight (the one I picked won't last long). 

But I've found some solutions, too:  you don't have to keep everything (that one was HARD)...it's ok to mix page protector sizes (when I switched my books from post to ring, there was no way I was switching out the photo sleeves, too...no way!) 8 1/2 x11 sleeves work great for certificates & school photos & don't look at all out of place in your 12x12....it's better (for me) to have the photos & the scrapbook pages together, in the same album.  And I like the look of the albums being the same, but it looks equally as cool to have them all different.

Why did I pick the We R Memory Keepers albums & photo sleeves?  Well, first of all, We R Memory Keepers has been around for 80 or so years (I think they used to be Hiller).  Their albums are well made.  Durable.  Nice to look at.  And I LOVE the Silverstone Linen.  They were the first ones to come out with photo sleeves for your scrapbooks and of all the ones I've tried, they're the best quality.  So of all the choices I have for albums, I feel like the We R Memory Keepers ones are right for me.  I know that Ali Edwards loves American Crafts albums, and they're nice, too.  You just have to find what you love.

And here's the thing:  I have every photo in an album now (up to the County Fair last week).  I get to scrapbook the photos I love.  I took 356 photos from my daughters birthday this weekend.  I'll scrapbook maybe 6.  But all the rest of the photos will be in the album...it's important to me for them to be there....I'm not good at deleting.  But now I look forward to scrapbooking.  It's not the daunting chore I once thought it to be.  It's fun! 

Here are some samples of how I incorporate photo sleeves with the scrapbook pages:

These happen to be double page layouts that I did, but I tend to just do a single 12x12 layout now.  

Up next on the agenda:  What do you do with all those photos???  Check back soon for my solution.

What do I do with all the photos I take?

Digital is just amazing!  Before you know it, you can take 500 photos & still have room for more on your SD card.  Just the other day, 4GB card exceeded 1000 photos.  yep.  1000.  I took some super cute photos of my nephews...76 at Sean's first football game, to be exact.


#22, that's my nephew Sean...

And the same day I took 62 at Audra's Ice Cream Social

And when I went to Lake Powell with my brother & his family, I kept 269 of the photos I took.

I have come to the realization that I cannot afford to house nor pay for all of those photos to be printed.  And while I completely adore my nephews & Audra for that matter, I do not need to have a bazillion photos from their events in my albums.  That's what their albums are for.  So I'm taking a tough stance with myself...only print the ones I love.  Keep all the rest, but only print those that I love (unless it's Kendall's birthday & then I'll keep all 356).

So what's an obsessed shutterbug to do?  Well, this weekend, for instance, every day I uploaded my photos into iPhoto (I use Picasa on my laptop, which is free from Google).  I delete the super hidious photos...edit out a few zits...and then save them to a folder on my computer called "photos to upload to scrapbookpictures.com".  (I'm not big on editing my photos...mostly because I don't know how to).  I created folders for my niece Becky & Audra & burned the photos I took at their "events" onto cd's for them.  I'm still keeping the photos...just don't need to print them all (this is my mantra...have to remind myself of it repeatedly).  Then this morning, I uploaded my photos to scrapbookpictures.com so I can get them printed.  It is so much nicer to do it from the comfort of my living room than the kiosk at Sam's Club.  And lately, I've been printing the photos that I want for my photo album (most of them, truth be told) & then going back & ordering different size prints for my scrapbook pages.

Why do I like www.scrapbookpictures.com?  Well, they're fast.  The photo quality is AMAZING.  You can order your photos in any size you want.  2x2, 3x3, 8x10, 12x12...the list is endless...and yes, 4x6 is there, too.  They store your photos on their site, which is an additional back up for FREE.  You just have to order prints once a year.  They only charge $2 shipping.  When you stand in line at Sam's to upload a couple of photos off a card that has over 1000 photos it takes FOREVER.  The kiosk slows down to a snails pace & if you dare to try to edit a photo you might as well plan on another hour (this is for cards that have a TON of photos...it's pretty fast for cards with say, 100)  Don't have that problem at home.  I can upload in my jammies.  Or hit upload & go cook breakfast...do the laundry...pet the dog.  Oh, & Karen Russell told me to :)  And I've never been happier.  To get 15 free prints & try them out, either enter their site from the flashing icon to the right of the screen or enter code GFU153 at checkout.  You won't be disappointed!

Now, lots of people print their photos at home.  I choose to use a photo lab, such as scrapbookpictures.com or Sam's Club.  I have an Epson 1400 that prints pretty spectacular photos, but I only use it for class projects & random projects.  They aren't what I put in my photo albums...sometimes those class projects end up in my scrapbooks, so they are in my scrapbook.  I just prefer that my photos go through a photo lab emullsion process.  I think it makes a better, longer lasting print.  And when they get wet, they don't bleed (they just stick to whatever surface they were near & tear to shreds when you try to peel it away...that's all).  And the ink doesn't scratch off of them with the blade from your paper trimmer.  But that's my personal preference.  It's also my personal preference to have photos printed...not left on a computer which will likely crash & eat them all & then I'd be left totally upset because I lost all my photos.  Would rather have a print any day.

Photo Projects

By now you all know how passionate I am about getting my photos out of boxes & into albums.  You can read a previous post here.  Well, apparantly, I've inspired lots of people to get their photos into albums and I can't tell you how FANTASTIC that makes me feel!  I would love to see photos of your completed (or mostly completed) projects...and photos of the before would be great, too!  Just send them to me with a blurb about your project & I'll post them here.  I can't wait to share feedback with you!  What people are telling me in the store is that they feel liberated.  Out from a pile that had been holding them back.  Caught up.  Yep, caught up.  When have you ever uttered those words?  And you know, this project even inspired one of my reps to get her photos in order.  She reps somewhere around 20 manufacturers and she chose to use the same We R Memory Keepers albums & pages that I used.  They're that awesome.  Here's a link to Kristan's post about her project.  Truly, this makes scrapbooking do-able.  Not overwhelming.  And most of all, it makes it fun again!

We R Memory Keepers Project Update

(click here to read the original post about this) Finally, my photo project is getting closer & closer to completion.  Pictured are 20 of my albums.  From 1994 to present.  I have three more at the store so 23 in all.  Mind you, this is just photos.  I haven't integrated my 10 scrapbooks into them yet.  So the project grows....I'll probably have 40 albums when I'm done.  But that's ok.  They look FANTASTIC.  They're easy to get things in & out of.  I even found the missing 1/2 of 2005.  Whoo hoo!  Here are the boxes I have left to go through:

Believe me.  This is NOTHING.  One whole box is negatives & I'm out of sleeves.  Will have to buy another 100 at Photographic Works.  One box is a few of our wedding things...like our typewritten vows, which, unfortunately, are covered in dried mold.  Yuck, I know.  That's what happens when you put things in unsealed baggies & you husband sprays the garage down with a hose & doesn't know he's saturated a huge box of memoribila.  And the overflowing box?  Well, that's school photos & miscellaneous stuff...not many photos.  That rolled up batch of photos?  My husband's high school football posters (with his HUGE afro).  Anyone have any ideas of what I should do with them??  Post a comment & let me know.

These page protectors saved my butt...

And I LOVE my We R Memory linen albums...I started out with post albums & switched to ring albums.  I like that I can change the pages around....add & remove things easily.  And since I'm not quite done, ease of use was a factor. 

Thinking about starting a project like this?  I'm happy to talk to you about it...help you decide between post & ring based on your needs...and I'll even give you a discount to help you get started!  So between today & February 15th, if you order 4 or more We R Memory Keeper albums & 4 or more packs of photo sleeves I'll give you 25% off all of them.  (You get the deal if we have them in stock, too.) 

Come & see for yourself why this is such a cool system.      

Making time to organinze my photos

I have a confession to make....I am much more organized in my head than I am in real life.  Over my many, many years of scrapbooking, I have created a multitude of "perfect" ways to store my photos.  I won't bore you with the gory details...just know, I've tried them all with little success.

A while ago I had an "ah-ha" moment and decide that I would transfer all of my photos from regular albums into these awesome linen albums that we sell by WeR Memory Keepers.  They have a two inch post to fit lots of pages and WeR also makes 12x12 sized photo sleeve pages that I could slide my photos right into.  And then I could just scrapbook the moments that I wanted to....not every single photo.  (I chose 12x12 postbound Silverstone Linen albums...very neutral, which I love.)  I think I have finally hit the Holy Grail of scrapbooking!  This system is so gonna work for me!  I wish I would have thought of it sooner!  Unfortunately, I had, oh, I don't know, 30-40 photo albums to yank the photos out of.  It has taken me forever, but today, I finished pulling out the last photo...from 18 years worth of photos.  I wanted to do a dance I was sooooo happy!  Yeah me!  It may have taken me forever, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It probably took me longer than it would take you....after working more hours than I care to admit, I was just too tired (read: lazy) to tackle it.  You see, when I start a project, I become obsessed with it.  So, yeah me that the photos are out of the old yucky albums and are in really cool new sleeves....and oh, no, I still have at least 20 photo boxes to go through...in all their stages of my previous organization attempts.  BUT there is now a light at the end of the tunnel! 

I'd like to share a few things I've learned during this project:

It's ok to only have one set of photos printed.  Duplicates are not necessary!  You can reprint the ones you want to scrapbook, and save yourself some serious cash!  I cannot tell you how many photos I threw, yes, threw away!  What a waste of money!

Put your photos in a photo album for your family to enjoy.  Don't rely on your computer to be your album.  I cannot tell you how many people who have come in that had a hard drive crash & they lost them all.  If they're in a photo album, your family can enjoy them anytime they want!

You don't have to use separate albums for your photos and your scrapbooks.  I chose the WeR albums because they were 12x12, they held photo pages AND scrapbook pages.   And you can even use odd size protectors, like an 8 1/2 x11 protector to hold art work, report cards or other miscellaneous memorablia that go with the photos. 

You don't have to scrapbook everything.  That mentality will just hold you back from scrapbooking the moments that you really want to scrapbook. 

Don't forget to journal.  You can slide a 4x6 piece of cardstock in the photo sleeve to leave your thoughts of those particular moments.  It's really important.  If you wait until you have time to scrapbook a whole layout you may forget the very essence you were trying to convey.

Here's just a fraction of my mess....keep in mind I've been working on this for months!  And this is nothing compared to what it was!

Ok, now this is just embarassing!  Piles & piles of stuff EVERYWHERE! Most of the stuff out of the photo boxes is memoribila...I keep too much stuff!

I had a lot of negatives to deal with that were pre-digital scrapbooking.  I just couldn't throw them away.  I purchased Print File Archival Preservers negative sleeves locally from Photographic Works...I got 100 for around $22...I slid each negative into the sleeve & marked what the negatives were on the top of the sheet (there's a white strip) & then punched holes in the index print and put them all in a 3 ring binder. Yes, I know I shouldn't have a great big glass of tea next to my photos...big no-no!

These are the albums I'm using.  I take enough photos that I get about 1/2 a year in one book.  The stack you see next to the albums are protectors I still have to put into albums....I'm going to merge completed scrapbook pages with these from my other albums.  I'm hoping to have all my albums be the same...and when that's done, I'm running to IKEA to get my idea of the perfect storage center for them!  Or maybe Bob-o will build it for me!  I've told myself I have to wait for my project to be 100% done before I can even think of buying the unit I want...well, that & win the lottery, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.