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After Christmas I was sweeping the floor in our guest room, opened the closet door to continue sweeping, when I noticed it was in serious need of some organizational attention. Front and center, taking up a large amount of space were photos and scrapbooking paraphernalia. Perhaps it was due to the impending new year, but I had an overwhelming need to take care of it immediately!
Scrapbooking Revisited
I have been a scrapbooker for a long time – almost 20 years. That is a lot of hours spent and a lot of photos preserved. Â I got started with Creative Memories and was a loyal user for most of my scrapbook journey. While I enjoy scrapbooking it hasn’t exactly been top priority the last several years. Homeschooling and just life in general has a way of taking over and not leaving much room in the margins.
I pulled out a few things to assess the situation and realized what I needed first was to get my scrapbook supplies and photos organized. Creative Memories has gone through many design changes while I was a customer. I had different sized pages, different colors, different sized page protectors. Ugh, no wonder I wasn’t very organized!
Scrapbooking Simplified
I quickly came to the realization that I needed to find a way to simplify otherwise I was going to be staring at boxes of photos and just face the fact that it was time to get rid of my scrapbooking supplies. When you have a big family space is always at a premium and I couldn’t justify having a bunch of items sitting around that weren’t being used.
My solution? Enter Project Life by Becky Higgins. Simple is the name of the game.
1. Pick Your Album
2. Choose a Page Protector
3. Insert Photos
4. Add Journal Boxes and Paper from a Core Kit – there are so many to choose from! I picked one up at a store that was on clearance and just decided to stick with that until I used it up. Feel free to mix and match, I will do that in the future.
Viola!
Pictures in albums. Did you catch that??
Pictures in albums!!
No, I’m not going to win any scrapbook awards for my fabulous layouts. My pages are very simple, but I’m making steady and sure progress to getting my photos where they belong. In albums so my family can enjoy them for many years to come.
I know when I look at my pages I see the flaws, I don’t like my handwriting, boring layout, not the best photos. But you know what? That isn’t the way my family sees things.
They see the adventures we have taken, the funny moments, and they love seeing photos of themselves. That is the whole point. Preserving memories for my children.
One of my goals for 2015 is to make it a priority to continue working on albums. Right now I’m finishing up with 2o11 so I have my work cut out for me!
Quick Tips for Getting Started and Organized
1. Pull everything out – there really isn’t a quick or easy way to do this step, it’s just going to get a bit messy!
2. See what pictures have been printed and which ones are still sitting on the computer or phone. Monthly I’m going to order new prints so I don’t try and do it all at once.
3. Sort which pictures will go in the family album and which pictures will go in individual albums. We have six kids so a majority of the photos go in the family album.
4. I’m keeping most things within eye sight by my desk so I can get started when I have the time and the inclination.
How are you getting your photos in albums?
I have been interested in Project Life products for a very long time. I am a long lost Creative Memories scrapbooker and I struggle with one issue-how do you use the page protectors when your photos are not the exact number of horizontal etc? I will never have the exact number to match the protector and will then have to leave photos out or use a ridiculous number of pages…I would love to hear how you handle that issue. Thanks so much, I always enjoy your posts!
There are several different styles of page protectors – they have different layouts. You can choose which is best for whatever pictures you are using. I still cut photos to make them smaller etc. Then I use the paper to fill in spots that I don’t have pictures for! Hope that helps.
Jen recently posted…How to Organize Your Photos into Albums
This is me- exactly! I get so turned around.
Heather Woodie recently posted…Finishing Strong- Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years Week 47
I truly wish I lived closer to my mom so I could help her with her photos.
I’ve been meaning to ask you about your Project Life, so thank you! I’m a scrapbooker but I’ve lost some interest in the last year or so. I really downsized by stuff too. I’m only a year behind in pictures as it seems I have 1-2 days a year that I can scrapbook for 12 hours and get almost caught up or at least within 6 months of real time. I’m looking for something different though and was interested in Project Life. I will have to look into it more.
Cassie recently posted…Too complicated!
I know that’s how I always was for the last several years. That’s why I’m so enamored with PL, I have done more this year than I have in the last several years! It’s just easy to do and I’m keeping things very simple.