Melissa here with a question for you. What is the most disliked part of scrapbooking? Can you guess? I bet if I surveyed 100 people about 90 would say: "Organizing those photos!!" Did you know that's also the answer to the question - where do we begin with scrapbooking? Perhaps you are like me and have a large bin of photos that have been sitting around forever.
You've been glancing at it every once in awhile and say to yourself, "I'll get to that next week when my schedule isn't so crazy."
Next week rolls around and what do we do?
"Oooh.. but I have more important things to do right now like reorganize my stickers.."
The stickers get organized in five minutes because you've been organizing them a lot already. So you look at that pile again.
"It's not that big of a deal."
Why do we put off this most important task?? For many, it's because we have no idea where to begin. How in the world do we even start to organize a humongous pile of photos! Well I'm here to tell you it's quite simple.
Stop rolling your eyes. It's true.
What you don't know about that drawer of photos of mine is that they are all organized. All those little albums have photos that I know about already. They're all organized how I want them and either ready for a page or just hanging out until I finally let go.
Your first step to organizing your photos is to get them all in one place. Dig in your closet, get them out of your desk drawers and hallway storage closet. Get them all into a place where you can sit and begin to sift through them. Put them in a place where you spend a lot of time - like the living room. You can organize while you're watching TV. And what you're going to begin doing is organizing them how you want. It can either be by event, travels, people, places, family, chronological, etc. However you desire. And yes, it's really up to you!
After you get them into their piles or groups, begin to label the back. As you have begun to organize, I'm sure memories have flooded your mind. You probably will begin to have a great time looking through photos because they will trigger memories you're fond of. Sometimes, this can help kick in that MOJO that you were lacking before.
When you label, make sure you use a pen like a Zig Memory System pen. I love my ball, 5mm pen. These are archival, pigment ink, photo safe, acid free and waterproof. The ink dries fast and won't bleed. This is important for preserving your photos. I also use labels if I don't want to write directly on the photo.
Record the five W's - who, what, when, where, why. It can just be a little jot of notes. Enough that will trigger your memory when you come back to the photo in order to scrap it.
Store your photos in a photo box or other container that is acid free and archival. This will ensure the longevity of your photos so they don't fade or yellow.
There is no doubt that this will be a HUGE task for some. Take your time and enjoy the process. You will be so happy and have that "cleansed" feeling when you're done organizing!! Then, you can scrap them and submit to our current calls! Yay!
hugs,
Melissa
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