When is someday? - Tuesday Tips
My face must just remind people about scrapbooking. Sometimes they see me and say, "Oh, I want to start scrapbooking again. Someday!" and they laugh. I know what the laugh means — they don't really believe that someday will ever come.
Let me ask you, are you a can't, a should, a want to, or a don't?
Don'ts: "I'm not into scrapbooking," they say with sort of a snarl. That's fine! But when asked, they admit they have boxes or drawers or tubs full of pictures. If people like their pictures enough to not throw them out, my suggestion would be to do the absolute minimum: Set a timer for 15 minutes at a time, take a pen and go through and label all those developer envelopes with the location or event and the year. "Billy's first birthday, our old house in Greensboro." "Thanksgiving at Momma's, about 1971." For the slightly more motivated, get a photo labeling pencil (no ink pens, please) and label the back of each picture.
And please, please, pull those boxes out of the basement, the attic or the "no heat" extra bedroom. Put them in a closet or somewhere where temperature and moisture are normal, so they won't get brittle and fade.
If you don't label your pictures, they'll won't have any meaning for future generations who don't know who those people are. Someone will probably have to go through the pain of throwing them out. But if you do label them, they'll become treasures.
Shoulds: They want to preserve their family's stories, make an album for each of their children, etc., etc. but they never do it. They have a closet full of scrapbooking supplies that never get used. They feel like they have to drag it out, clean out a room, things they don't feel like doing. And they feel guilt, guilt, guilt.
First off, if you got this guilt from a CM consultant, I apologize! These days we realize that everybody is unique.
If you like scrapbooking, have a consultant or a friend help you get organized, and pare down, so that you can grab a few things and go to a workshop or do a page on the kitchen table (see the Want tos). Ask for some speed tips, like Power Layouts or the pre-made albums (Quick kits) where you just stick the pictures on the page.
But if you really never enjoyed scrapbooking, grab a bunch of those old pictures and slide them into a PicFolio - I call it my "emergency" album. Fast and done.
Want tos: These folks love to scrapbook: reliving the events in their pictures, spending time with their friends, and getting to be creative. But they're so busy, they put everybody else first and never have any "me" time, so they never get around to their albums. In other words, they really love scrapbooking, so they feel guilty for doing it!
First off, you know your family loves to look at your albums, and they want you to be happy, so why the guilt? After I showed my 2009 album to 2-yr-old great-nephew, with several pictures of him in it, he kept asking to see "his" album!
I know of only two ways you can "find" the time.
1. Schedule it. Either go to a workshop or have your own crop with a few of your friends (how long has it been?). Just like exercise - when you schedule with friends, you're more likely to do it, and it's more fun!
2. Have a real deadline. Self-made deadlines don't work well for me (like, I'll do this by December), but deadlines that revolve around other people work great. I finally finished a heritage Storybook, which everybody loves to look at, because I wanted to give a copy to my aunt for her 80th birthday. I helped a friend make one for his parents' 50th anniversary. And this year's goal for me is to make another Storybook for my uncles' 80th in the fall (shhh! it's a surprise!). I can procrastinate with the best of 'em, but deadlines really get me in gear.
Can'ts: I haven't met many of these, but the can'ts have absolutely no time. Last summer, a lady hired me to scan pictures for her. I told her the hourly rate and she set a cap on how much she wanted to spend. She also told me a little about her three children so I could at least name the pictures. I think she was pleasantly surprised that I got through two crates full of photos within her budget.
I recommend that the "can'ts" at least label their envelopes of pictures as they come in.
And when all else fails, ask for help.
Let me ask you, are you a can't, a should, a want to, or a don't?
Don'ts: "I'm not into scrapbooking," they say with sort of a snarl. That's fine! But when asked, they admit they have boxes or drawers or tubs full of pictures. If people like their pictures enough to not throw them out, my suggestion would be to do the absolute minimum: Set a timer for 15 minutes at a time, take a pen and go through and label all those developer envelopes with the location or event and the year. "Billy's first birthday, our old house in Greensboro." "Thanksgiving at Momma's, about 1971." For the slightly more motivated, get a photo labeling pencil (no ink pens, please) and label the back of each picture.
And please, please, pull those boxes out of the basement, the attic or the "no heat" extra bedroom. Put them in a closet or somewhere where temperature and moisture are normal, so they won't get brittle and fade.
If you don't label your pictures, they'll won't have any meaning for future generations who don't know who those people are. Someone will probably have to go through the pain of throwing them out. But if you do label them, they'll become treasures.
Shoulds: They want to preserve their family's stories, make an album for each of their children, etc., etc. but they never do it. They have a closet full of scrapbooking supplies that never get used. They feel like they have to drag it out, clean out a room, things they don't feel like doing. And they feel guilt, guilt, guilt.
First off, if you got this guilt from a CM consultant, I apologize! These days we realize that everybody is unique.
If you like scrapbooking, have a consultant or a friend help you get organized, and pare down, so that you can grab a few things and go to a workshop or do a page on the kitchen table (see the Want tos). Ask for some speed tips, like Power Layouts or the pre-made albums (Quick kits) where you just stick the pictures on the page.
But if you really never enjoyed scrapbooking, grab a bunch of those old pictures and slide them into a PicFolio - I call it my "emergency" album. Fast and done.
Want tos: These folks love to scrapbook: reliving the events in their pictures, spending time with their friends, and getting to be creative. But they're so busy, they put everybody else first and never have any "me" time, so they never get around to their albums. In other words, they really love scrapbooking, so they feel guilty for doing it!
First off, you know your family loves to look at your albums, and they want you to be happy, so why the guilt? After I showed my 2009 album to 2-yr-old great-nephew, with several pictures of him in it, he kept asking to see "his" album!
I know of only two ways you can "find" the time.
1. Schedule it. Either go to a workshop or have your own crop with a few of your friends (how long has it been?). Just like exercise - when you schedule with friends, you're more likely to do it, and it's more fun!
2. Have a real deadline. Self-made deadlines don't work well for me (like, I'll do this by December), but deadlines that revolve around other people work great. I finally finished a heritage Storybook, which everybody loves to look at, because I wanted to give a copy to my aunt for her 80th birthday. I helped a friend make one for his parents' 50th anniversary. And this year's goal for me is to make another Storybook for my uncles' 80th in the fall (shhh! it's a surprise!). I can procrastinate with the best of 'em, but deadlines really get me in gear.
Can'ts: I haven't met many of these, but the can'ts have absolutely no time. Last summer, a lady hired me to scan pictures for her. I told her the hourly rate and she set a cap on how much she wanted to spend. She also told me a little about her three children so I could at least name the pictures. I think she was pleasantly surprised that I got through two crates full of photos within her budget.
I recommend that the "can'ts" at least label their envelopes of pictures as they come in.
And when all else fails, ask for help.
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