Two minute Tuesday: Scrapbook Tip #1

Organizing photographs can be a daunting task, but with a little time and a few tips you can conquer your photo piles and organize them so they are easy to share with others.

Do you have drawers, boxes, bags, or surface areas full of photographs? Scrapbooking is a fun and easy way to preserve your mementos and memories. Whether with your family, friends, neighbors or any combination of these, creating a scrapbook can be a great way to look back and say: "hey remember when...".

First, get those photos out of their nooks and crannies and out of the sun too (UV is not any better on photos than people). Find an acid-free/scrapbook-safe accordion organizer. If you are behind you might want several. The file will probably be some type of plastic -- again, just make sure it's photo-safe.

Now, for step one,....

Choose a theme

Sort your photos by date, activity, holiday, special event or "??". One way doesn't work for every person and sometimes you may even have more than one way you want to display your photos. For example, I use both date and activity. I have specific albums for certain events (they just also happen to be in chronological order too, LOL).

I label my files by year and inside I put one month for each of the 12 slots. Then, throughout the year as I go somewhere or do something that month, I place the item in the appropriate month. When I print out my pictures I also put them in the appropriate month. If I see an embellishment that goes with a specific set of pictures, I also put that with the correct month. This keeps everything together and organized so I don't feel overwhelmed or worried that I will lose something or forget where something goes if I don't get to it right away. I also make journal notations that I place with the month, that way if I don't get to the scrapbook right away, I still remember.

Some examples of my Themes and how I have my scrapbooks organized are:

Vacation

Birthday (for my daughter only)

Heritage

Christmas (all the photos I receive from friends or family in Christmas cards - in order, it's nice to look back at how they change from year to year)

House (from building to all the changes we make over the years)

General year-to-year (every day stuff, or day trips)

Skiing

That's just a few ideas, but don't forget to make it more personal. What things are special to you or your family? Save invitations, party napkins, movie ticket stubs and put them in your folder too it can be a fantastic journey full of fun memories. Good luck and see you soon for another Two minute Tuesday Tip.