playful.productive.present

She So Gets It!!! (and finally, a Q&A)

You have GOT to read this post by Michelle, who so totally understands the "big picture" behind the Library of Memories (LOM) system.
Thank YOU Michelle for sharing your post with me!

and now, finally ... an answer to a really good question.
Q: I'm behind the times and just got a copy of Photo Freedom. I love it like I knew I would. I'm so ready to dive in. One easy question, I noticed in the book that you have albums in iPhoto w/ your 4 main categories. How exactly does that work? Do you organize pictures there directly after uploading them? Or are they triaged similar to the way you triage physical photos?

A: First of all, there is no such thing as "behind the times." I'm tickled you have a copy of Photo Freedom and that you are interested in my system. Here's how I use my photo software to support my Library of Memories storage binders (chronological storage) and category drawers (triaged photos) ...

Since I use and love all things Apple, my computer is a Mac and my photo software is iphoto, which is very user friendly and customizable. Regardless of which photo organizing software you use, you'll want to set up the following albums or folders so that you can tag or copy images from your main dumping ground (I'm mean uploaded collection) into more manageable groups:

1. Seasonal highlight folders. At the end of each season or quarter I set aside some time to review and copy/move my most scrappable images into pared down seasonal folders. As I noted in the book, I might have 700 to 1000 (or more) images from July/August/September (summer) and will end up moving half or less to a highlight folder, that I label 2008 Summer I can always go back to my BIG collection and search by date and see everything I decided not to delete, but for me it's critical to pare this collection down to just those images that I will upload and archive at Shutterfly for potential printing. I generally end up with somewhere between 300 and 700 photos in each seasonal highlight folder.

NOTE: I upload photos to my computer often (once or twice a week, or more.) After images are uploaded, I quickly review and delete the obviously BAD ones. At this point, I pretty much ignore them until it's time to create a seasonal highlight folder. I do occasionally print (at home) a pic here or there before printing an entire folder, but for the most part, when it's time to scrapbook, I go to my collection of printed photos. In other words, I do NOT spend time looking for images on my computer.

2. Triage folders. Once I have seasonal highlight folders created, I generally view them if I need to find a particular image. As I spend time with images in these folders, I may do some virtual triaging into my four main categories of All About Us (folders for each person in my family), People We Love, Places We Go, and Things We Do. I do NOT spend time duplicating my physical triage sub-categories on my computer, because I have found that I do NOT generally reference them. The only triaging I do consistantly is into the All About Us folders that I have for each person in my family. I DO use these folders, as I often want to reprint an image for a layout or a school project, etc.. For example: Just this morning Taft needed a photo of himself for school. I wanted a very current photo so I went to my Taft album inside my All About Us folder in iphoto to find a photo taken on the first day of school. These pictures are NOT yet printed, so this particular photo would not yet be filed in a storage binder or triaged from there into the All About Us category drawer.

As for the other three main categories, I don't really have many sub-albums on my computer. If I triage an image, it just goes into the main category. I do create a separate sub-album for all of my travel locations and I also have sub-albums for Everyday Life and Color in my iphoto Things We Do folder -- again, because I find I need and use them the most.

I hope this helps. Sometimes I write these answers and wonder if I've confused more than clarified.

BIG Tip: Keep in mind that if you are doing more digital scrapbooking these days, you will WANT to spend more time than I do setting up triage sub-albums on your computer. Your use of computer software to organize photos should reflect your approach to scrapbooking. Be careful NOT to invest time in processes that won't pay you back in increased efficiency. You will find the right balance between computer and  physical files as you start scrapbooking with your Library of Memories system. So PLEASE, PLEASE do allow yourself to start using your system before it is entirely "set up." (which, btw ... takes a long, long time to set up and fine tune and learn to use and love, and the longer you allow it to take, the better it will "stick" or work for you. Remember this OK?)

33 minutes. what could you do?

Have been wanting to add a cute yellow H2O label to my laundry-room water bottle for at least 9 months. took 3 minutes.

Dealing with an adorable 2 1/2 year old that has wreaked havoc on my bathroom drawers. this was a serious mess. took me 30 minutes to purge, clean and organize.

hard to express the sense of accomplishment that these 33 minutes have brought me.
what could you do in 3 minutes? or 30?

NOTE: If you are registered for LOM 2009. You will need a Scrapblog account, as I will be giving you some Scrapblog assignments. I'm working on updating our syllabus to reflect this!

I'm home ...

and so very happy about it.

Yesterday I did anything and everything I could to immerse myself in motherhood ie: made a good breakfast, supervised chores, took Chase to an appt, shopped at Costco, drove the soccer carpool, which takes three hours (!), played at the park with Addie, and made dinner. I doled out the goodies that I brought the kids from Valley Forge and we all played a card game about the Revolutionary War (sadly we know very little, so it didn't last very long) I brought a small shoo fly pie home from Lancaster County and we sampled that before I fell into bed exhausted -- I also had to run to the airport to pick up my luggage that didn't make it home with me.

This morning I'm unpacking and enjoying the hum of laundry. The motor on my washing machine decided to go out the day before I left and was finally replaced yesterday. I can honestly say I have NOT, in eighteen years of marriage seen laundry piles like today! I got up early and started processing! I'm also enjoy the chance to step outside and breathe fresh air -- after staying in a hotel room, where you can't really do that, it is such a treat. I've watered my flowers and will head out on a jog soon.

Geof has this afternoon off, so we are taking the kids to Silverwood theme park for an evening of FUN. This morning -- YIKES! I've got some serious catching up to do. Tomorrow will be a WORK day and I'm looking so forward to it.

Trey will be ten in September, so I thought I'd get his 3rd birthday layout done!

Library of Memories TIP: Quite often when it's time to recycle a storage binder I find unscrapped pictures that I still want to scrap. When this happens, I have the advantage of lapsed time to help me edit and pare down and I then place enough "event" pictures together in a my category drawers, that I can create an "event page," like this one. When I cleaned out the Fall 2000 storage binder, there were likely MORE birthday pictures. I probably tossed a few and triaged a few more. I love that my system allows me a place to keep track of a variety of pictures long term. It is critical however NOT to put too many event pictures in your category drawers. For the most part they are designed to hold and age photos that are more about highlights, everyday life and rituals, relationships and personalities. So I guess I'm saying be careful using your drawers as a holding place for event pages -- there's a delicate balance between enough and too many-- hopefully that makes sense!

Reality Check: Please don't feel bad when you cannot remember all the details of an event that happened 5, 6 or in my case 7 years ago. Admit this freely in your journaling and record what you do remember. My journaling reads: I don't remember the details, but I do remember your enthusiasm and I know the pure joy of watching you grow -- you are a delight my son! Let go of unrealistic expectations this week, pull out some OLD pictures and get them on a page with a touch of current insight.

Someone asked me question about theme papers and accents while at the event this past weekend ...

Q: What do you do when you can't find product you like for a theme page?
A: You don't need race car paper and embellishments to scrapbook a race car birthday. Look to your photos for color and pattern to repeat with your stash of cardstock and other basics, like ribbon. I made the two flags from toothpicks, black scraps and a white gel pen. Sometimes we get so spoiled by the variety of product available that we hesitate to consult our inner designer and apply core principles of repetition.