Scrappin' With Gamma: April 2010

Hi everyone!

No matter where you have your scrapbooking space, part of organization is giving everything its own place and making sure it returns to its home once it has been used. Picture this...you are busy working on a layout, it's coming together perfectly and all you need is one final touch. That light bulb goes off and you rush to get that perfect finishing piece. Fifteen minutes later, you are still searching, not knowing where to look or where you put that perfect piece. That's where getting everything organized will help save you time.

So, welcome to our Organizational Blog Hop. A few friends and myself thought we would share with you our ways of organizing our various scrapbooking supplies. Click on the link above and come join us in the fun.

If you get lost along the way with our Organizational Blog Hop…or want to come back and see something again, here’s the complete list of the gals who are participating in our Organizational Blog Hop.

Photograph Storage - Leanne You are Here!

Embellishment Storage - Jo

Ribbon & Fiber Storage - Shellie

Stamp Storage - Wendy K.

Ink Pad Storage - Ramona

Pen & Pencil Storage - Jeanne M.

Sticker, Die Cuts and Rub-On Storage -Amanda

Tools Storage and Paper Storage - Mary

Organizing your photographs

I am here today, to help you organize your photos. It's only been recently, the digital camera has become so popular. So what about all the photos you have that were taken with a Kodak "Brownie"? (remember that camera?) or with a 35mm camera? That is what I am here to talk about today.

Are your photographs all stored in one gigantic Rubbermaid container? Does it take forever to sift through them to find the perfect photo for that layout? Do you scrapbook in chronological order and find that you keep missing pictures? Does your assortment of pictures look like this:

Thanks to my good friend, Shellie, for sharing her stack of messy photos. She was smart enough to take before and after pictures. This is something I have yet to master! Maybe because I don't want to remember the way it was! As the Robinsons always say, "Keeping Moving Forward!" LOL

Here is how I've organized my photos: You may find a better way, or you may like what I've done, but want to tweak it a bit. By all means, find what works for you.

Step 1) Gather up all of your photos into one area. I used my dining room table for this task, but you can use whatever works for you. A banquet table, the picnic table, the kitchen counter, even the floor, provided you don't have furry roommates that enjoy running across your workarea, or lie down in the middle of all your photos and take a nap.

Since I have photos that date back as far as 1860, organizing them was a challenge in its own. So, I broke it up into 3 categories.
a.) 1860 -1900
b.) 1901 - 1950
c.) 1951 - 2000
From 2001 to the present, I have been using a digital camera and all my photos are stored on my external harddrive, with a cd copy as a back up and another one for save keeping. When working with digital images, make two copies of each disc, one to work with and another to store in a separate location. My cds are organized the same way as my photo boxes.

Step 2) I broke each group down to decades. Then I broke it down to years. After that I broke it down to events for each year. I used these tabbed index cards for each year.

I did that for all three groups. Then, I wrote down what each event was for that year. For instance, in 1993, I have pictures for Kelli's field trip to York, and Kevin's field trip to London, Michael's trip for some ROTC function. I also have pictures listed separately for their birthdays, and first day of school, etc. This can be a time consuming project but well worth it once complete. Click on the image to enlarge it, then right click it to save it.

Step 3) Then I purchased acid free storage boxes.

There are several on the market from inexpensive photo boxes to more sturdier plastic boxes. Michaels regularly has their photo boxes on sale for 40-50% off if you are looking for a bargain.

Step 4) Starting with the earliest pictures (for me it was 1860) and working my way up to the present, I started loading my boxes. Now, I might have lots of photos for one year but not so much the next. So, I just started filling the boxes, chronologically, till that box was full. Then I labeled it from the beginning year to the ending year for that box. Then I moved on to another box and did the same thing.

Now, all my photos are organized and I know exactly where to find them. It makes it so much easier to scrapbook when I know where to find those photos. Once I finished filling up all the photo boxes, I store them on top on my computer desk in the Rubber Room for easy access.