Last year I wrote a post What to do with all your photos – Digital photo books. I am a strong believer that your pictures SHOULD NOT live on your computer. I decided to change it up this year and try photo albums thanks to the encouragement of one of you guys. Ellie at Adventures with Ellie where she blogs about her journey completely her own family albums each year. After answering a ton of my questions (thanks Ellie) I decided to give this old school way of preserving our family memories a try. I am using the materials and supplies created by Becky Higgins for Project Life.
I decided to go with Becky Higgins Project Life photo albums
, core kit
, and page protectors
. I love the flexibility of these products. Unfortunately, they sell out quickly so I kind of went crazy and bought a ton of stuff when they were in stock. I know they are out of stock of several things now but should be back in stock by the end of April. I love the little journaling cards that come in the core kit. I love that my own handwriting is telling the story instead of fonts from the computer. Let me tell you, I have the worst handwriting. Seriously, it looks slightly like a serial killer. But it’s mine and I want the kids to have that to remember.
One of my problems with photo albums vs digital photo books is I took so many pictures. I fear I amy have 3-4 albums per year. We’ll see when I’m finished at the end of this year. I have also toyed with the idea of doing an album for each kid each year. Just putting pictures of them in them. This may help with my over abuntance of photos in each album. We will see though. It would be nice for them to have albums full of their childhood to take with them when they move out because they will not be taking the family albums. I know we raided my moms albums when we moved out so it would be good for them to have their own.
Why I love Photo Albums!
1. Less time on the computer
I spend a lot of my day on the computer editing pics, Facebook, emailing, and blogging. I love that this is something I can do at my kitchen table or on my couch away from the computer.
2. Printing my images
Printing your images is something everyone should do. Don’t rely on your computer to save them. By printing your images it is just another way to back up your images. I was putting them in a photo box so why not take a few extra minutes to display them for friends and family to flip through.
3. Instant gratification
I love seeing my hard work put into action right away. When I was doing my digital photo books I had to wait a whole year to see the final product. Yes, I could look at it on the computer but it is wonderful to have it in your hands to flip through.
4. Write down funny things
I love these small journaling cards that come in the core kit of Project Life. I keep them out so when one of the kids says something funny I can jot it down really fast.
5. Kids love to flip through
The first morning after I put the photo album together, I found the girls going through it several time. They loved looking at the pictures and pointing out who was in them and what they were doing.
6. Quality of the photos
I get my photos printed at a pro photo lab which means the quality is fantastic. I love having high quality images to pass along to my girls.
7. Save all the little things
It’s fun to save the receipts, ticket stubs, maps or brochures of our adventures. In these page protectors you can place these items in their for us to look back years from now to remember how much things cost plus all the fun Japanese writing on brochures from our time in Japan.
Items I have
Black Signature Binder
Clementine Core Kit (out of stock till late May)
Core Kit – Cobalt Edition
Photo Pocket Pages – Big Variety Pack 1 (60 Pages)
Photo Pocket Pages (big variety package 2)
Photo Pocket Pages (big pack of design a) (out of stock till late April)
Photo Pocket Pages – Design C (pack of 12) (out of stock till late April)
12 x 12 Page Protectors
Big Envelope Pages
Scrapbook Dividers
Date stamp
Black Scrapbook Pens (set of 5)
What do you do with all your photos???
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Its funny…you and I seem to have the polar opposite experiences with photography and scrap booking. My main focus for the last few years has been scrapbooks . Over the last year or two, however, I started wanting to scrap my own photos versus creating books as gifts to others. My hubby bought a digital camera for me, and I started snapping away. But I have only just started to actually learn about photography, and I feel it’s giving me more control over what goes into my scrapbook. I can look at a scene, and while I’m shooting it, in my head I am also thinking of how it would look on a scrapbook page. So most of myics, the ones that I find the most meaningful (for whatever reason) will get put into a ” year in review” album.
Question…What size are you printing your photos and where did you get your date stamp? Thanks
I print my photos as a 4×6. Thanks for reminding me to add the list of things I have. I added a list of all the items I have as well as the date stamp in the post. Hope that helps!
Thank you for being so kind to answer my question!
Boxes of photos stacked in closets, negatives from a decade-old soccer games–old photos seem to lurk in the background, remembered occasionally in to-do lists and ambitious passing thoughts..
I love this idea! I actually saw these photo albums on pinterest and have been thinking about doing it. I would love to scrapbook but don’t have the time or the passion for it. This is perfect!
I LOVE this idea. Great post! I use Shutterfly to create photo books for every season (although I’m like 3 seasons behind!!!) then I make separate photo books through them for each kids birthday and vacations (also behind on that!) My goals are lofty!!! I want to try this. Love the idea of actual prints and handwritten notes! Thank for the inspiration!!!!
OH so happy to see this awesome post! I look forward to seeing peeks of your weeks. I love that my kids & even hubby bring me things because they feel as this is our project not another of Mama’s scrapbook adventures ha. Like this week I went to the museum and my son took over 100 pictures on his DSi and said Mama you have to download these & put it into project Life.. hmmm Collages it is. For me doing this is just so amazing as I really don’t have any pictures from childhood to be able to “freeze” my kids so they will be able to relive it in the futures is beyond amazing for me. BIIIIGGG HUGS darling!!! :) YAY For Project Life!
Well, you taught me how easy it was! THANK YOU!!
What do you make collages with? I’ve always loved this idea, but I’m with Courtney with the TONS of pictures and just don’t know what I’d leave out or how to even begin to choose what pics to add. But I so make collages for instagram so I could potentially do that and add a lot more pictures in, but it would have to be something fast… with 4 kids 8 and under and we homeschool, there just isn’t time for much more (not even that but it has to be a priority.) Thanks!
I love old school photo albums. My kids love looking through photos of themselves. I love being able to suit with them and look together, not sitting in front of a computer.
I’m loving the white border around all your photos, it’s like a step back in time a little bit :) Where exactly do you have them printed??
Thanks! I get them printed at Color Inc Lab and choose the option of a white border. I like how it kind of makes them stand out.
I think one album per kid is great. My Mother did for us and we treasure all of them!
You may have pushed me over the edge to get my tail in gear to done one for each kid :O)
You’ve got an amazing idea. I love your concept in making photo album more memorable and precious.
Hi Corutney, I am ashamed to say I missed most of my son’s life because of a lack of camera. But I won’t be making that mistake when I get grand children.
Thank you for the reccommendaitons on the albums and the other materials.
Your post was infrormative and yes it does make since to have a physical book with picutres you can see, feel and lift off the page.
Thanks for the post.
I’m glad you did a post on this! I’m in procrastination mode, as usual!
You can do it! Do I need to start nagging you??
Love these albums! I’m working on my New Year’s resolution of catching up on my photo printing since my last one was born two and a half years ago. I have so many “baby” albums and none of them are the same size or match. I’d really like something cohesive for all three kids – these are perfect! Thanks for sharing – I’m off to order!
Ok Courtney you got me again – I now have a fresh stack of prints from Smug Mug [ YES I did it, I printed!! ] from my favorite photos of 2011. I’m going to try this out. Just one book, small start, I like the idea that its not all the scrap booky artsy clipping gluing and all out needing an entire work room to get it going. I have a desk upstairs crying for a purpose. ;)
Look at you printing! I’m like a proud mama :O) Yes, start small!! Love no gluing and all the mess scrapbooking calls for!!
I use Heritage Makers. It’s digital scrapbooking. I quite like it because then I can create books or canvases online with my digital photos and then have them made and sent to me. They have tons of graphics to choose from to embellish like traditional scrapbooking. When I get something like a ticket or piece of memorabilia that I want incorporated, I just scan it and make it into a jpeg. You might really enjoy using it. http://www.heritagemakers.com
I used Heritage Makers for my first digital book I made for 2007. It is a fantastic program but I need a book with more pages…they only allowed me 100 pages. (Isn’t that bad, I need more than 100 pages…I have a problem) I do love how simple the site is to use. Thanks for sharing it!!
Girl, I just don’t know how you do it. You are so good about printing and organizing and editing photos. I wish you lived nearby, so I could simply learn from your ability to get so much done with 2 kids.
I do really love the Project Life idea and have been considering it for a while.
Don’t worry I’m behind on editing right now if that makes you feel better :O) You should totally give it a try. I love it more than I thought I would!
What a great idea! I need to get moving on my son’s baby book (he’s now 14 months), and it sounds like project life would make the process a little more manageable :)
Question: what do you use the date stamp for?
Yes, I still need to work on my 2nd’s first year (she’s 3…don’t feel bad) he he I date the day the event/photos were taken. Especially if you are doing a baby’s first, it’s fun to know exactly when it happened.
Thanks for this idea! I’m horrible at getting the pictures off my computer. I was thinking about ordering some photo books but that can get pricey. I really love this idea and am bumming because all the core kits are sold out until June I think – only a few days away but I’m one of those “need to buy it RIGHT NOW” people. :) Can’t wait to get started with this. Thanks again!
Bummer the core kits are sold out! I know what you mean about the “need it right now”. I’m that way too!! Keep an eye on Becky Higgins LLC’s Facebook page and blog as she normally lets you know a few days in advance when they will be coming back in stock.
I just purchased all the Project Life goodies X 3. (Except the core kit & I hope that’ll be in stock soon!) I’m finally getting my resolution finished of printing my backlog of kids’ snapshots from the past 2 years. Can’t wait for the package!! This will be our summer project to get all the photos in albums. Thanks for sharing the info on Project Life – it’s the perfect non-scrapbookers scrapbook!
I hope they are in stock again soon too!! I can’t wait for you to get started and realize how easy it is! I agree, perfect for the non-scrapbookers :O) Enjoy!
I love this Idea! I was just curious as to about how many photos fit in a book?
That is a great question. I have no idea :) It probably depends on the page layouts you use. I also double up some of my images if they are very similar.
Love your ideas, so inspiring!! Thank you. Feel free to pop by my blog and check out my photography projects.
Thanks!
Love this post! Just yesterday I got my core kit for project life in the mail! Can’t wait to get started! I used to be a HUGE scrapbooker…all 3 of my girls have their own books for each year, then I moved onto Shutterfly and Mypublisher…but miss the ability to put say concert ticket stubs in with the pictures. A picture of the tickets are just not the same! I just have to decide now if I am going to continue to do a book for each of the girls, or just one main family book. I like the one for each idea, but not sure how the “time” will go for that! Thanks for all your helpful advise! This year my goal is to get onto the manual setting on my camera and figure out my Lightroom program I got for Christmas! I have found so much good stuff on your blog :)
Awesome! It is a fun project to do. I too used to love scrapbooking but just don’t have the time or space for it anymore. This is a fun alternative. Enjoy!
I have photos printed when I can catch the ‘Free 101 Prints” sales online. I glue the photos to the front of inexpensive white cards that I buy in bulk at the craft store. I use these for any type of greeting card, birthday card, thank you card, etc, that I send. I see my cards proudly displayed at the houses of my family and friends. I make my Christmas cards this way, too. I can preprint a message or appropriate quote on the inside if I find one I like.
That’s a great idea!
I just bought a whole bunch of PL when they were on sale everywhere over a month ago. I went back and forth between digital and paper. I chose paper for the same reason! I love this system!! Where did you get the little card holder?
The card holder is their older card box version. They changed it to be the larger flatter box now :)
I didn’t know you did this too! I started to create books online and realized it just wasn’t working for me. I spent too much time on the computer and decided to go this way. I use the same products and love them! I’m just now getting all caught up with 2013, but hey… they are getting done! One thing I like is creating a 4×6 document on pse and pasting two images there. When I print them from the lab, I cut them in half and they are the perfect size for the 3×4 openings. ;)
I do a mix of both. I love having 4×6 prints but I haven’t printed in a while and I’m working on a digital book for this year as well :) Love that idea of cutting them for the 3×4.
I thought it a neat idea to give a child’s album, done from very young with special moments, cute, fun, and silly to their spouse ass a wedding or engagement gift!
That is a great idea!
First thing, I loved your scrapbook Idea. Simple yet so attractive. Glad that you haven’t put too many embellishments on it.
Second, Thanks you so much for these organization tips. Taking pictures was not difficult for me. However, organizing photo prints was a task, but not anymore.
Yes, organizing the photos can seem daunting. Glad you found the tips useful!
I was just wondering where you get your photos printed. I have been looking for a place that does a better job than the drug store on the corner. Thanks!
For this post I printed to Color Inc Lab. I have also heard great things about Mpix :)
I am trying to come up with a way to save all my photos and to get them off my computer. So far I can either photo journal, old school photo album or project life. Still trying to figure out which one would work best.
Yes, it is hard to figure out what system works best for you and your family. Best of luck!