Day 74 - Scrap That

Are you a scrapbooking person? If so, then no need to read further, go do your thang. I went through a phase of scrapbooking, where I dutifully pasted my photos into lovely albums, glued little stickers and cardboard doohickeys all over them, drenched them in glitter gel, and captioned with an assortment of gel pens. I think I managed to slog through two albums and about $150 before I realized (and accepted) that perhaps scrapbooking is not for me. Now, I know for many of you it's an awesome creative outlet, and I'm surely not trying to change your mind. In fact, I wish it was something I really enjoyed - I've seen some INCREDIBLE albums which will no doubt be handed down for generations to come. BUT, meh. I would let photos lounge in their packets for years months, until I'd forgotten all the really good stuff and had to come up with captions like "What a blast!" and "Too much fun!". Gack.  Recording family memories is important, so find a way of doing it that works for you. It doesn't have to be elaborate or fancy or especially time consuming, but so much is lost if it's never done. So, here's what works for me now, and what I hope to get done over the next year or so:

1. Each Monday, I upload the photos on my camera to http://www.snapfish.com/ (and also to FaceBook, just for fun & so folks can keep up with His Majesty). There are a number of sites that do this, but I can paste them into a virtual album, add captions, even choose a background & photo layout. I love it because it's reasonably quick, there's no clutter or equipment to buy, and the website has great deals throughout the year. When you're finished with that particular album, wait for a sale and PRESTO!!! Lovely, colorful, skinny little album (which also makes a great gift - capitalize on this). Added benefit? If there were ever a flood, fire, Apocalypse, whatever, I could order another copy. You can also order hard prints, 8x10's, etc. if you have some photos that you'd like to pass down.

2. For items like your show program from "The Thunder from Down Under", drawings, cards, or other special memorabilia (your signed bra from The Thunder), they still mostly go into a traditional scrapbook with a date and brief caption.

3. If I'm saving maps, itineraries, etc from a trip, I put them all in a manila envelope and keep it at the back of the Snapfish album.

4. Next, bit by bit, I'll be taking the shoeboxes of photos and pictures crammed into random albums, scanning them, & doing the snapfish thing. It's going to be a looooooooooooooooong process, but I'll get through it photo by photo.

Saving family memories is really important, so it doesn't so much matter HOW you do it, just that you do. Or hire someone to do it for you (and then come take me shopping - you clearly have more money than you know what to do with). It would be SUCH a shame to lose some of those awesome pictures from, say, 1989. How DID you get your hair so high? (half a can of Rave) How long did it take you? (half an hour with a blow dryer and crimper) How awesome were you?! Very. Yeah, we rocked it.