Getting Control

There is a MASSIVE project underway at our house. It involves boxes of photos, old negatives, years of unprinted digital images, and a looming deadline (high school graduation in May, 2010). Can anyone relate? Many scrapbookers find themselves in this kind of predicament. It is, quite frankly, overwhelming.

I recently decided that if I am ever going to get on top of this mountain of scrapbooking, I needed a plan. I knew the scope was "big" but that is too vague a term for me. So when I saw Becky Higgins' chart of layouts to make (see it here), I decided that some sort of chart would be one component of my plan. More on that in a bit.

The first thing I tackled was the boxes of old photos tucked away in a closet. I thought they were in fairly decent order, but when I dug into them, I realized that wasn't the case. In fact, there was an entire box of undated photos that had been pulled out and never returned to their correct spot. After years of digging through the boxes for school projects, photos were in quite a disarray. I could not possibly tell which layouts needed to be created with this kind of mess.



So I created my own version of Becky's chart and dug into the boxes. I put photos back in their correct spots, identified layouts I might want to make, and started creating lists.

As I wrote down the various events and topics represented in the photos, I could easily see which ones would be the most important to scrapbook, combine with other photos, leave in the box, or make into mini-albums. I now have a good idea of what I need to complete for each year.

I had already started a binder for old negatives, and as I went through the boxes, I added more negatives to the sleeves. I use Cropper Hopper Negative Sleeves, labeled with the month and year so I can retrieve a negative if needed. Once I'm done with this binder, I'll store it at my husband's office. It's a good idea to store negatives at another place in the event of a fire.

Of course, we're digital now, so I no longer have to deal with negatives. But I have another issue with current photos: I'm a good two years behind in printing. Now THAT is a daunting problem.

So I purchased a pre-paid 10 cent/print package on Shutterfly and started editing, uploading, and placing orders, beginning with January 2009 photos.

And as soon as I received my first order of photos, I started scrapbooking them. I've made several layouts already with just a couple more to go before I receive my next batch of photos.

I hope that this process will enable me to get on top of what was previously a looming, but undefined, challenge. I now understand how many and what kinds of layouts I need to make. Looking at the fun topics to be scrapbooked (pre-school, zoo, first steps, vacations...) actually makes me look forward to jumping into those boxes. For me, defining the problem is a critical first step in solving it.

In addition, I now have a process which will enable me to print my backlog of digital images and keep up with more current scrapbooking. I'm feeling confident now that with ongoing planning and persistence, I CAN meet this challenge ahead of the big deadline!