pictures pictures everywhere

I've had a camera since I was 12 or 13. I've always taken pictures on vacations and of friends and family. Back when it was still all on film I would take the rolls of film to Meijers or mail them in and get prints back. Sometimes they would be good pictures and other times they would be blurry blobs that I had no choice to pay for. My first digital camera was in college I think. I still ordered a lot of prints, but I could weed out the bad ones and only order prints of what I wanted.

For a long time I have been putting the extra prints, and negatives in a box. A small box at first, and then eventually a big plastic tote. I started scrapbooking in 10th grade and some of those pictures filled albums instead of adding to the box. Scrapbooking... oh how I love it and hate it! If you want to do it right (read: cute) you have to have a ton of supplies on hand, and lots and lots of tools. It can be a great hobby. I loved it for a long time, but at some point it started to become more of a chore. So I stopped.


The box holding extra prints just sat in a closet. Digital pictures sat in online storage and on my computer's hard drive. Facebook pictures were tagged and commented on, but I didn't have hard copies of most of my memories anymore.

Fast forward to this month when I started a major de-cluttering project. I found the box in my closet sitting on top of not one, but two boxes of scrapbooking supplies. I decided that I wasn't going to move those boxes anymore! (I've moved 5 times since 2007) I had to do something different. I made a plan:

Step one: sort pictures by date, toss unflattering and blurry pictures, toss or re-locate duplicates, toss pictures that are already scrapbooked. 


Step two: Put pictures that need to be added to scrapbooks with the books they belong in, and finish those books!


Step three: scrapbook pictures from 2007-2009 (hopefully quickly and simply, without too much "fancy" stuff)


Step four: scrapbook DIGITALLY from now on, and only order prints for frames and special occasions. 

I dove into my pictures last weekend.

I'm on a roll, my friends. I made a huge mess (sorry roomie!) but I got a ton accomplished. I'm replacing a big box of pictures and two boxes of supplies with a shoebox of negatives and two scrapbooks. I might keep a small stash of paper and other scrapbook supplies, but they will fit into my current craft storage boxes.

My goal is to have all of this done soon...like in the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it goes!