As winter turns to spring each year,
many of us turn our thoughts to spring cleaning. Our lists of
projects typically include mundane tasks such as sweeping the
garage, cleaning the gutters and washing the windows. So why not
add a little pizzazz to your spring cleaning this year by tackling
a fun project like organizing your scrapbook photos? “Fun?”
you say. Well yes, organizing your photos can be fun if you have
some tips on how to do it. Read on to learn how to gather, sort,
label and store your photos so that they’re ready for your
scrapbook albums.
Gather your photos
Throughout the years your photos may have ended
up in various places - the attic, the garage, closets, desk drawers,
etc. It's also likely that you have some in old photo albums and
on your computer. The best way to get started is to bring all
of your photos and photo albums to a workspace where you can spread
them out (e.g., a large table) so that you can inventory what
you have. It's up to you whether or not you want to take your
photos out of your old photo albums at this point or just put
a sticky note on each album to indicate what's in it. (Note: Many
old photo albums are not photo-safe; the quicker you get your
photos out of them, the better it is for your photos.) If you
do have photos on your hard drive or online that haven't been
printed yet, you can spend a few minutes at your computer jotting
down some notes about those photos (e.g., which years they're
from, what events they cover) and bring these notes to your workspace.
Even if you don't intend on putting all of your photos into scrapbook
albums, having them all organized will help you plan your scrapbook
projects.
Sort your photos
While there are lots of different ways to sort
your photos, many people find it useful to sort them chronologically
and by event. If you have photos going back many years, you may
want to sort them by decade or groups of years (e.g., early 90s,
mid 90s, late 90s). Once you have them in a rough chronological
order, you can then divide them by event and/or theme. Ideas for
events/themes include vacations, holidays, birthdays, weddings,
baby's first year, school, sports, clubs, military, legacy/heritage,
family/general, etc. Keep in mind that there's no right or wrong
way to sort them; everyone's photos are unique, so create categories
that make sense for you. For example, some people have vacation
scrapbook albums, and they keep all of their vacation photos together
in those particular albums. Other people prefer to keep the photos
from their vacations in a general scrapbook album that covers
one or more calendar years. Either way is fine. The point of sorting
your photos is to take an inventory of what you have and decide
how you'd like to group them.
Label your photos
After your photos are sorted, it's a good idea
to label some of them. To do this, you should use a photo labeling
pen that is designed specifically for writing on the backs of
photos. (Note: Regular pens and pencils should not be used because
the ink and lead can damage your photos.) There's no need to label
all of your photos; just label one or two of each group of photos
so that you know what they are. For instance, if you've found
some old birthday party photos you can just jot down whose birthday
it was, the year, and how old he/she was. Or if you've found some
old wedding photos you can jot down whose wedding it was, the
year and where the wedding was held. The goal here is to make
a few notes so that it's easier to remember what the photos are
about when you're ready to put them into an album.
Store your photos
Once your photos are sorted and labeled, it's
time to store them in a photo-safe manner until you're ready to
work with them. To keep your photos safe, there are three elements
you need to protect them from: heat, humidity and light. These
elements contribute to the deterioration and fading of photographs.
So photos should not be stored in attics, garages or unfinished
basements, and they should not be left in the sunlight. You'll
also want to be sure that any container you store your photos
in is acid-free and lignin-free. Acid and lignin are substances
found in paper (e.g., in some envelopes, accordion files, etc.),
and these substances can harm your photos. A great way to store
your photos in a safe and organized fashion is to use a photo
case. Many scrapbook retailers carry them, and the cases come
in a variety of sizes and colors. To view photo cases as well
as other scrapbook supplies, visit http://www.scrapbooktown.com.
And that’s all there is to it. So make this
spring cleaning a “scrapbook spring cleaning” by getting
your photos organized.
About The Author
Lisa Fleming is an avid scrapbooker and the owner
of Scrapbook Town. Scrapbook Town is a scrapbooking website that
has scrapbook supplies, ideas and information. You can visit Scrapbook
Town at http://www.scrapbooktown.com.
scrapbooktown@earthlink.net
