I am on a quest this year to find a solution to my memoribila. I have cabinets (yes, plural!) filled w/ photos, certificates, and other keepsakes that are more “cold storage” than enjoyable. I have decided that the currently popular “scrapbooking” craze is not working for my busy lifestyle and back log of years! I am investigating several new on line/digital resources which will allow me to download my digital photos (and scan the others) to make quick and inexpensive mini albums. I can order duplicate “books” for friends and family as desired too! I just made a 45 page mini book at www.snapfish.com (approx. $12) and duplicates for about $10. I can’t wait for them to come and see the quality. Other resources you may enjoy are www.kodakgallery.com, www.smilebox.com, and http://www.creativememories.com. I am going to work on getting one mini book per month done this year. Since we have moved almost every 2 years I will do mine by cities. Other great ideas from my Creative Memories friend, Larissa Borg, was to make a mini book of previous holidays to put out during that particular holiday season each year. Wouldn’t it be fun to look back on other Christmases, Halloween costumes & parties, Birthdays thru each child’s years? I think this is a super solution for me! I hope it will be helpful to you as well!
Feb 7th P.S. My Snap Fish flip book arrived in just a few days and I was so delighted that I have now done another one which I expect to arrive tomorrow! I’d much rather have a small/quick/inexpensive memory book DONE rather than a PILE of STUFF waiting to be enjoyed!
I also have decided not to spend endless hours trying to scrapbook everything. It is more important for me to have things organized and in a safe place. I highly recommend that all your photos be scanned and saved to CDs or DVDs, then quickly make a copy of those photo CDs and DVDs to give to someone outside of your household. You will then be able to retrieve everything if there is a household fire. Another option for a backup outside of your household is to post photos on family websites, such as myfamily.com. All of this is so much more important than, say, spending an hour and a half working on a border for a scrapbook page. I speak from experience, as I was a victim of a house fire several years ago (a renter downstairs from me who was careless with candles or cigarettes). Amazingly, about the only things that survived were hard copies of my genealogy research, and my photos, although I had to do some touch-up work with photo software on danaged photos and slides.
If you suddenly had a house fire tomorrow, would you be able to retrieve your photos elsewhere? Don’t depend on getting things off the hard drive of your computer. Electronics are sensitive to smoke, and you are not likely to be able to retrieve anything from a computer after a fire.
I am scanning and organizing all the photos I have of my daughter, and she will be given a CD or DVD with the photos for one of her Christmas presents this year.
Great point Patti! My mother’s home was destroyed by a VERY unexpected FLOOD and nearly all of her photos were lost. She was out of town but her loving church family took great care to save what they could. I have very few photos of my childhood due to this loss so I am sure your daughter will appreciate having hers!