Working with Photos

A never-ending project ... working with photos! For as we organize photos from the past, we are constantly adding photos from the present. But I love photos, for they capture our moments, and help us hold on to memories.

In 2010 I did some major re-organizing of our many photos. I have had to keep them fairly organized over the years, especially as I made a scrapbook for each of our six children when they graduated from high school. I went back through all the years for each one, picking out negatives to make prints from, even making prints from some slides from way back. Partly for that purpose, I have had our negatives (before digital days) in order, and also have had all our prints in albums.

But last year I went a step further, as some of the older pocket albums were beginning to fall apart, and I also felt that moving them out of those albums would be better on the photos. I put these older photos in photo boxes, and then started to use the photo boxes for more current photos, as well.

I also wanted to have all our photos in one location, on one shelf unit. For this purpose, we purchased a black shelf unit that fits well on the large wooden desk that I use for scrapbooking and card-making. The result: all our photos from our marriage in 1971 to the present are all together in one place!

Besides the scrapbooks I have made for each of our six children, I have made a few for our family collection. Just here and there, a few years of scrapbooks. The first year I have scrapbooked was the year 1997, the year one of our daughters had a bone marrow transplant in treatment of leukemia. I'm so thankful to have that recorded, a record of the healing that God brought ...

I have a few more scrapbooks done for the years 2002 and 2003, including a fun trip to California, and also for the year 2006, the year we made a trip to NYC with our two sons, moving one of them there for a year at Parsons School of Design in the middle of Manhattan. So fun to have the memories of special trips recorded ...

I would love to be able to keep up with scrapbooking, but although I love to scrapbook, it does take quite a bit of time. Something we don't always have enough of ... but I did get a few more albums done for some of the months of 2008 and 2009.

My latest project this last fall was to scrapbook the time of our meeting, our engagement, and our wedding ... from the years 1970-1971! Very fun, especially to have it done for this year ... the year of our 40th anniversary!

And now, I have taken a bit of time here and there, in the last two weeks, to catch up with photo organizing ... organizing of albums in iPhoto, and also doing a bit of organization, and research, for a big change that I am considering.  That is, switching to digital scrapbooking! Something I did not think I would ever consider. But ... even though we are in our "empty nest" years, I am discovering that I do not have very much time for scrapbooking. And there is so much more history that I want to record in photo and in words. And most importantly, a history of God's care for our family in all that life has brought our way ...

Digital scrapbooking is looking like fun, once I learn the technique ...  and I can still use my papers and embellishments for card-making, which I love to do, as well. And digital scrapbooking promises to be a faster way to scrapbook. Also, I will be able to print multiple copies of what I make, and also share and store them digitally. I'm planning to order Adobe Photoshop Elements this weekend, and look forward to learning, and also downloading fun papers and embellishments from online sources. (If anyone reading this has some good advice for me, feel free to share!)

(Note added later: Sharing a few of my many posts on using digital scrapbooking as I have continued on with photo organizing and preserving memories. Click here, here, and here.)

Linked to 52 Weeks of Organizing, iHeartOrganizing, Delightful Order, A Bowl Full of Lemons