Scrapbooking: Re-Grouping Just a Bit

I feel like I'm still in the recovery mode after focusing pretty intently on my family history albums for the past few months. I am really happy with the progress I've made, but I kind of need a break from it!

This week, I took a bit of time and re-organized my materials for the family history albums, splitting them into two boxes, one for each side of my family. That way when I get back to it, everything will be in some semblance of order. In doing that, I came across my 2011 box of materials, so that was a good clue as to where I left off with my chronological scrapbooking!

I've also spent a few days this week just sorting through pictures. Some of my photo boxes contain duplicates I brought home from my parents' house, many of which have already been scrapbooked. So I've been going back through older albums to confirm that and, as a result, I've been able to toss a LOT of photos that are not needed. That is a good feeling!

I also went through a box of my parents' vacation photos. I took a "first pass" through this box and got rid of a lot of the scenery photos, keeping just a few for context. These photos have been sitting since I lost my dad in 2013 and I noticed that it was thankfully much easier today to go through them than it was back then. The box is now just half full instead of overflowing, which will make it much easier later to choose just a few to keep in my family albums.

So now I'm going to jump back into my 2011 scrapbooking and see how quickly I can wrap that up. It appears that I'm about midway through the year, although that may not be accurate as not all the photos are printed. As I work on these years, I have to station myself at the computer where all the photos are stored and compare them to the scrapbooks so I can find events that haven't yet been finished. Then I upload those photos to Walgreens and print them as I accumulate a decent number.

 Have I mentioned that I keep my calendars from years past? I have pretty much all of my calendars going back as far as high school. (I know...it's super nerdy!) These calendars have been so helpful when scrapbooking those past years. As soon as I start working on a new year of scrapbooking, I grab that year's calendar which gives me a good framework for beginning.

 

After spending time in the world of heritage photos, it's back to modern day scrapbooking! I'm actually looking forward to working with brighter colors and people/events that are familiar to me. So I will set aside my family history detective cap for the time being!

Thanks for following along on this somewhat epic (at least for me) scrapbooking catch-up project! I sincerely hope you find some inspiration in these posts. With dedication and focus, it truly IS possible to finish up those incomplete albums!

jp