Scraptacular

I think I mentioned before that I hadn't printed photos for three years.  I made a big order that included only my photos from 2010, which were taken after I got a new computer and camera for Christmas in 2009.  They arrived recently and I realized today what a huge F-ing mess my photos really are.  Holy crap.  I looked at the last physical photo album I filled and it leaves off in the early months of 2008.  I also have a big envelope of photos that would be next in the 2008 chronology but something is missing .  I wanted to wait for photos of some other event before I finished putting the pictures in albums but I have no idea what it was or where these mysterious pictures might be.  Yikes.  I think I am just going to forget about whatever it was and move ahead with this project. 

My newest order has approximately 800 photos in it so I had to get some new albums.  I found these three coordinating ones at my favorite place for cheap but unique (I try not to buy everything from Target although it is hard sometimes!) items.  That place is TJ Maxx.  It rarely fails me.  They only hold 200 pictures each so I will need more. 

Yes, that is only one year and two months of photos.  I still have to order pictures from 2009 and the summer and fall of 2008.  I have to get my sister's wedding picture disk and print some of those as well.  SIGH.  I have been wondering what the point of this is.  Who is going to look at these photos anyway?  Before digital photography replaced film a picture was so much more meaningful.  Double prints were important and it was always a special event to bestow some doubles on a friend or relative.  The massive quantity of photos out there now is kind of overwhelming.  I see albums on Facebook with over 100 photos of people's vacations or newborn babies in the hospital.  When we used to go on trips I usually had one roll of film which had 25 shots on it!  Oh well, I would never want to go back to those days.  I love the instant gratification and ease of distribution of digital photos.  The challenge is controlling the quantities! 

While shopping for photo albums I decided to tackle another photo related project.  My sister recently made a "Creative Memories" type scrapbook with the Christmas cards they had recieved the last two Christmases (starting after they got married.)  I have wanted to do that too so I bought a big, cheap scrapbook album (about 1/5 the price of Creative Memories albums!) that has 100 pages, some new paper, letter and number sticker sheets, and adhesive.  I already have an assortment of scrapbooking supplies although I haven't done it since 2008 when I last developed photos.  I looked at that last book today and I must say that it is pretty cute! 

I got through 2007 and 2008 this evening.  Hopefully I will get this done tomorrow and can move on the other projects. 

The creative scrapbooking industry is something I wish I had come up with.  In high school I taped newspaper clippings, band and choir concert programs, notes from friends, and other souvenirs into the old fashioned kind of scrapbook similar to the ones my grandparents had.  No one cared about acid free paper, special adhesives, or archival quality anything.  Now the scrapbook industry is huge.  There are huge sections of craft stores with whole aisles for stickers, an aisle just for individual sheets of paper, and even special storage equipment and carrying cases.  Some can be very expesnive (such as the original Creative Memories) but you can also buy similar products at Wal-mart.  There are even pre-made scrapbooks with pre-printed and decorated pages where you just slide the pictures in.  About that I wonder...what is the point?  The fun is the creativity part.  If you aren't interested in designing pages just use a regular photo album! 

Wish me luck...and avoid my house this weekend unless you want to wade through piles of Shutterfly envelopes, scraps of paper, decorative scissors, and stacks of photos that may or may not be organized.  I'm kind of scared myself.  At least our picture frames will get an update.  We have been looking at the same pictures for way too long!