Catching Up on 40 Plus years of Photos

A few days ago I spoke with some ladies who have not started to do scrapbooking because they feel overwhelmed with (1) the monumental amount of photos that they have accumulated (2) knowing where to start and (3) the cost of doing that many pages.

My advice to them was ..... Don't Even Try!  Don't try to start with picture number one and plan on progressing to picture number four thousand and ten (or more).  We can't live long enough to do that many photos!

I explained that I had the same problem until I decided to only scrap my favorite photos, and to keep the rest in a box or give them to family. 

You could see the "understanding" dawning in their expressions.  I hope that they took my advice, went home and found one or two or three favorite photos to start a scrapbook page.  Then once that they had scrapped them, that they would find the courage to dig through their hundreds of photos and chose a few more "favorites".

Two weeks ago I decided to make a little coffee table book with photos of my kids and grandkids and other family members throughout the years.  The photos span 37 years and there's still room to add more.  They are not in chronological order.  They are not sorted by person.  They are just random photos taken through the years at Halloween time.  My little grand ones will love seeing their photos in the book, and my grown children will be groaning children when they see their photos in my book.  * giggles *

Here are some photos of the book as it is today.  Someday there will be more photos as we add new years, new family members and new Halloween events to the book.  :)

Front Cover

Book measures 4 inches by 7 inches

Interior pages

The interior pages are created out of a double layer of card stock

which is left unglued at the top edge to create a pocket

for the enclosures.

Interior Pages

Interior Pages

Pull Out Mats and Tags that have photos and journaling on them.

These slide into the pockets.

.............

Now, go get that shoebox full of photos out of the china hutch or linen closet or wherever you store them and find one .... just one ... that is extra special to you.

Lay it out.

Then choose a few (maybe 3) more.

Scan them and print out copies or have some copies made.

Use those copies to create your scrapbook page or pages.

Don't stress for even a minute about it. 

If this is the only scrapbook page that you ever do ... it will be okay.

My guess is though that you will soon be doing more pages.  :)