Make a Resolution to Organize Your Photos

How do you store your photos? Are they in boxes and drawers through out your house? Are they stuck in magnetic photo albums, turning yellow and faded? This year, make a resolution to get your photos organized. Whether it's a scrapbook with lots of fancy embellishments or a photo album with plastic sleeves, you will enjoy the results of organizing your photos, as will your family members.

A photo album is a great way to store and organize your photos, but it just shows your photos while a scrapbook tells a story. Scrapbooks don't need to be fancy to be meaningful. While some people love to spend time creating detailed pages for their photos, others create very nice pages with just a few supplies and a little time.

Here are a few steps to organizing your photos in a scrapbook.

Sort and Organize Your Photos
Gather all the photos you've got stashed in boxes and drawers and other places in your house. Even if you aren't going use them all right away, having all your photos will ensure you get things sorted into the right categories. You can organize your photos chronologically, but it might be easier to sort them into themes like vacations, Christmases, sports, school, birthdays or reunions.

Label manila envelopes with each category and use them to store your photos. This will make it easy to keep all your photos organized while you are working on your scrapbook.

Choose an Album
When selecting an album for your scrapbook, you will have plenty of choices. Albums can be found at craft stores or specialty scrapbook stores. You can also find albums through independent scrapbook consultants with companies like Creative Memories. The most important thing to look for is an archival quality scrapbook made with materials that are acid and lingin free. This will ensure your photos and memorabilia will last many, many years.

Another feature to look for when purchasing an album is the ability to add and remove pages. This will allow you to expand your album by adding pages, rather than having to purchase a whole new album. Also, if new pictures surface that you would like to add to your scrapbook chronologically, you can do so easily by adding a page to the middle of your book.

Finally, consider size. Many scrapbook papers are either 81/2 by 11 inches, or 12x12 inches. If you are going to be using your computer to add titles and journaling, you might want an 81/2 x 11 inch scrapbook. On the other hand, a 12 x 12 inch scrapbook will be able to fit more pictures per page.

Crop Your Photos
You will be able to fit more pictures on a page if you crop them. This simply means cutting away any "extra" part of the picture that may take away from the main focus. Sometimes, background will be important and the photo should not be cropped. For example, if the old family home is in the background of a photo of your grandfather as a child, don't cut it out. But, if you snap a picture of your daughter at the zoo holding a colorful lorikeet, and there are several strangers in the background, you may want to cut the picture down so the main focus is your daughter and the bird.

There are many tools you can use to crop your photos, but the most basic one is a personal sized paper cutter. This allows you to have straight edges and 90 degree angles on the corners of your pictures. Other tools might include templates for cutting circles, ovals or other shapes.

Add Detail
You can choose to mount your pictures onto a piece of colored paper help the picture stand out more, or you can simply place your photo directly onto your scrapbook page. There are many variations to this idea, and some stunning examples can be seen in popular scrapbook magazines such as "Creating Keepsakes". Basically, a strip of colored or patterned paper for a border, a few stickers or other elements and your photos are all you need to set up a basic scrapbook page.

Arrange your pictures on your page. Be sure and leave space for journaling later. If you have a lot of information to include, leave more space for it. If you don't have very much information to include, add more pictures to fill up your space.

Adhering Photos
A double sided tape in a applicator works great for scrapbooking. Make sure that whatever tape you use is specifically for use with scrapbooks. Other tapes not for use with scrapbooks and photos may hasten the deterioration of your photos. Scrapbooking tape is sold in craft and scrapbook stores, as well as through independent distributors.

Journaling
To make your scrapbook tell a story, you need to include details. Find a good scrapbooking pen and write the names, dates and events to go with your photos. You may think you will never forget the time you swung on the tire swing out into the Lake on Memorial Day in 1986, and you may be right. But others looking at your photo album will treasure the details you added. If you can remember anything else about the photo and want to include it, more details make for a better story. If you find yourself with a little writers block, just remember the 4 W's, who, what, when, and where. List it in bullet points or in a short sentence.

There are many different ways to complete a scrapbook, but these basic steps will help you on your way to organizing your photos and memories, to be preserved for generations.