Organizing photos?

[mommy4ever]

I have yet to get going on scrapbooking. I would LOVE to. But I can't! I have supplies, more than enough. But the fact of the matter is... I have photos everywhere. 15 or so years worth.

SO. Today, with my b'day money from MIL(I have to go back and get a $20 refund with my coupon). I got a large photo organizer for family photos, and 4 small photo boxes for the kids. Since I'm cleaning out an area to create a "playroom" for dd, rather than keep moving the photos, I thought I'd organize them.

Any tips on how to do this? I plan to do scrap books at some point.... time is at a premium. I have some ideas that I want to do, but without having things where I can find them, I can't justify sitting down to scrapbook. I need them at my finger tips. There are about 10 years that aren't digital, so I want to work on organizing those. Those on the computer, I'm planning on saving to cd/dvd in some kind of order too.

Feedback appreciated

[never2late]

I thought I was the only one who got so far behind on photos! I had 15+ years! They were really messed up because the kids would need pictures for school projects and they never got put back where they came from. I finally gave up; I just wanted them in a book, didn't care about much else. I let my DD who was 16 at the time do it as a summer project for me. I told her to put them in order as best she could. I bought some photo albums and she put them in. They're really not in any great order, but it's done, and I'm grateful for that. It's just one of those things I had to let go and admit I had no control over.

[craftypam]

I have both of you beat as if this is a contest. I'm not really good at taking alot of pics, but I've been married 34 years and don't have much put together. I have a large frame hung in my hallway with strangers in the frame because I haven't dug through my pics to see what I want in them. My dh did put them all in boxes and filed them as to who was in the picture. And I do have picture frames all over my house with pics in them.

[NicJean]

It's been a long time, but this thread touches on a great beginning point for many would-be scrappers. Organization, as well as tons of, not only photos, but negatives, discs and memory cards, CD's et. al.

I've used {several} types of organizers, and fell in love with the big box from Creative Memories, that has smaller boxes inside it, with dividers inside those. I bought 3 (I had a ton of photos!!)

Step one: start on paper - figure out some broad-ish categories. (Birthdays, Mom, Sister, Vacation) In my case, I'm an Army Brat, I divided my photos kind of by year (where I was helped to determine that). I also grouped sibling Halloween shots, as there were only one or two per year, the album pages are neat, showing several years at one time.

Step two: make a pile of those categories. You'll have leftovers, its okay.

Step Three: See if you can divide your categories. (Mom in High School, Mom's wedding, Mom pregnant, or Day 1 of Vacation, Day 2)

Step Four: Use pencil to write on a divider or large index card the name of the category, the place, the date, or approximate date, the people, anything else pertinent. Put the stack with the card in a box. Move on to the next!

Step Five: The leftovers - those random photos that you have just a handful or less of photos? Take an index card, label, and stick it in the box in approximate year order, or person, or something that makes sense to you.

Step Six: Weed out. Unless you're a Nick Kelsh, or Ansel Adams, many of us hold onto unflattering shots of everyone - I'm not sure why. If you are not wanting to display some photos, toss 'em! It sounds harsh, but you really won't miss them.

I'll write more if there's any response to this very quiet forum . . .

[mauimagic]

NicJean - sounds like a solid plan to me - and I would love to hear more!! DD is turning 25 next month and I still have not finished her baby book - ugh!!

[NicJean]

Hi MM - I'd love to help encourage you, you can do this!

When I am feeling crafty and want to scrapbook, I always do two things: I write a note detailing what couple things I want to work on next, and find the appropriate box of photos, moving it onto or at least closer to my scrapping table. This way, if I "feel" crafty for ten minutes before bed, I take a look at my note, and get going! (Otherwise, I putter in my craft room for hours, not getting anything done!)

Maui, you, of course are working on DD - gather ALL the photos you have, and also, jot a note about getting those snapshots from the fridge, the framed senior shot in the living room, the favorite photo in your wallet, all copied to use, also.

If it's just a baby book (up to year one or so) this'll be easy! If it's a DD book, or books, it'll take a bit more time, but it is doable!

Back to Organizing:
After I've got my smaller boxes of photos in a broad category, I'll then go back and determine how I want items to appear in my scrapbook, and pre-stack, usually using more index cards with details (wedding: ceremony, reception decor, cutting cake, family pictures, first dance).

Up until now I've been organizing photos into a box, next steps are actually beginning to form an album. . .

I have handy 12x12 plastic divider guides from Creative Memories, but you can use your size album pages (blank pages, or manila folders, or even just scrapbooking paper) for this next step.

I take a page-size guide, together with a handful of sub-divided photos, (for example, just the wedding ceremony photos) and start tossing photos onto each guide, which is representing a completed page. I don't worry about colors, what paper I'm going to use, what stickers I want. I am most concerned with natural flow of photos. I may want to write a sticky note, that explains something for journaling later, and add that to the page.

I usually leave the first album page as a Title page, so my photos start on the backside of that first page. I will set up a huge line of two blank "pages" together (groups of two pages, in one long line) so I can see I have 9 photos on this page, but only 2 here - it let's me readjust easily.

From here, I need a large, flat box to take my "first" page of loose photos, stack on top of all the others, and set the pile in the box. The photos will not move, or at least won't fall out of your order.

The next time this box sees daylight, you need your cropping tools. I would suggest cropping out anything ugly or distracting in your photos. HOWEVER, I would also caution you to crop into squares and rectangles mostly, with just a few photos in odd shapes: circles, ovals, hexagons, etc. To soften those rigid shapes, use a corner rounding tool. (I want to complete albums, not drown in the process, even though I love it!!) When the photos go back onto the dividers, I'll play with how they are positioned, if I really like an arrangement, I'll use tiny pieces of tape to guarantee they stay in place.

I have decorated pages two ways. 1) I have matched pretty paper and stickers, and made doo dads for each page, matching colors in the photos to colors of my embellishments. I love doing this, as I love crafting for hours on end.

My albums used to have a disjointed feel to them, everything taken by itself was pretty, but a little overwhelming when viewed all together. (Red valentine's Day next to Orange birthday party next to Pale Blue birth).

2) Something I've started doing is going with a color scheme, or kit. I chose colors for my wedding photos to mimic the wedding colors I used in flowers, decorations, invitation, etc. There was a cohesiveness in the overall album, and it was economical, too. I knew each page would have a shade of purple and/or a shade of peach on it. The photos did dictate whether the lighter or darker of the colors.

I use sticky notes to mark great layouts in idea magazines. After I've Stickied a bunch of layouts, I'll make them in my color scheme first, THEN decide in what order I'll use them. This saves me time, as I don't need my "pages" of loose photos out, just paper, my Stickied book, and tools. I may need to count to see how many borders or accents I need, but this can be written on a sticky note on top page of stack. (Yes, my home is covered with Sticky notes. . . "hello, my name is Nic, I'm addicted to Stickies")

Next - grab your box of photos, and your accents and borders, as well as journaling boxes (those little papers with lines on 'em). Don't worry about stickers yet. Don't forget to remember thy cricut machine, when thy runneth out of accent ideas, or titles.

I'd set out your guides in a huge line again. Now, I'd add accents, borders, as well as journaling boxes to your mock-pages. When this step is done, all you really need to do is stick your layouts to your real pages (leave room for a Title page), WRITE your memories, or steal others' quotes, add some stickers (if you like), and for Pete's sake, use page protectors!

I've been scrapping since I was in Up With People, in 1998 - a different country, host family, and community service every two or three days, I didn't want to forget anything. I now have 20+ scrapbooks, all different, but all fun. I've made small, pocket sized ones, and a bulletin board style one, one "School" album that has my two nephews and niece in it (all different ages, I just put all three "first grade" pictures on the same page.) Works for me!