Ladybugs…thanks for joining me for this month’s Where Bloggers Live 05.2022: My Photo Albums. This month, the gals and I are sharing our photo albums with you. The ways we’ve organized our photos. Or haven’t. In my case, it’s a little bit of both. And organizing my photos is a work in progress.
But before we get to that, if you’ve missed any of the Where Bloggers Live posts this year, you’ve missed a treat. So far, we’ve given you a look at our ‘rides’ in January and our furry fam in February. And in March we described our dream house.
I was deep in a blue funk last month in April and overwhelmed by LIFE when the gals wrote posts about their favorite piece of furniture. Mine might be a rocking chair my grandfather made, or another rocking chair Paul gave me early in our marriage. Might be the craft table where I scrapbook and create collages. Or the leather reclining sofa we sit on every night, the king-sized knock-off Sleep Number bed we sleep in every night. Maybe someday I will write that post.
Each month our fearless leader Bettye comes up with a prompt that makes me think. And usually has me traveling down Memory Lane in the process. Today’s post is no exception. Here’s how I struggle to organize my photographs…or don’t!!
Just a reminder: Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links which are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
WHERE BLOGGERS LIVE 05.2022
I recently read a children’s book entitled The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park. It is one of the 20 books nominated for the 2022-2023 Texas Bluebonnet Award, which is how it appeared on my radar. Amazon summarizes the book this way. “If your house were on fire, what one thing would you save? Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park explores different answers to this provocative question in linked poems that capture the diverse voices of a middle school class.” [source]
I’m sure we have all pondered that question at some point in our lives. And our answers would vary in different seasons of life. For years, I probably would have answered that I would have saved my photographs. Heaven help me, though, in trying to do that under the stress of a crisis situation like a house fire. Because my photographs are scattered all over the house.
I have photos on the walls. Printed photos in Ziplock bags separated for each daughter in plastic boxes in the top of my closet. Old photos tossed in a large plastic bin with other memorabilia under our bed. I have given the girls their baby books into which I glued photos and journaled about milestones in their first year of life.
But I still have a number of those primitive ‘magnetic’ albums that rely more on contact paper than magnetism to keep photos in place. There’s that pretty little pocket album of a long-ago wedding for which the photos lasted longer than nuptials. Favorite photos carefully arranged and lovingly embellished in scrapbook albums. And oodles of gigabytes or megabytes or whatever of digital photos on my laptop and in that nubilous cloud.
How would I ever get all of those photos out of the house in an emergency?
First Would Come the Scrapbooks
Audaciously, I think the scrapbooks would be the first photos I would save. They not only represent favorite snapshots but glimpses into favorite days in my life. And glimpses of my favorite people. My scrapbooks also represent countless hours of gluing photos with acid-free adhesive onto acid-free scrapbook paper, selecting the right embellishments, stickers, die-cuts, buttons to accompany the photos. All of which costs moolah. I have certainly done my part to support the scrapbook and paper craft supply industry.
This is the 2-page spread I have most recently completed. With some of my scrapbooking supplies in the foreground. The photos were taken of the condo we rented at South Padre Island last summer.
On the pages in the album below are photos of the pre-beach adventure we had at the Harlingen airport before finally getting a rental car with 2 car seats and a trunk that would accommodate all of our luggage.
In the gallery below, there are more examples of scrapbook pages and layouts. The pages represent very special once-in-lifetime moments but also day-to-day activities.
Scrapping Buddies
Did you notice Purrsimmony and Purrsnickitty lounging about on or beside some of the scrapbooks? Whenever I scrapbook – usually while Facetiming my sister Valerie as she does the same – my kitties meander about on my craft table, often deciding to lay spread eagle across the pages on which I am working. They did the very same thing when I pulled out my albums to photograph for this post. The albums whose pages I am currently filling are in my loft. But I have moved my older scrapbooks into a dresser in the guest bedroom.
I mentioned using acid-free paper and adhesive above. Well, to be completely honest, we started out that way when Valerie and I began scrapbooking maybe 25 years ago but have become much less archival in the last year or so. During Covid, when we couldn’t easily get supplies, I turned to a bottle of trusty ole Elmer’s glue more often than not to tack down the embellishments especially. Nothing works better.
And Valerie and I laugh that no one cares about these scrapbooks now. Much less anyone in the future sometime when acid-free paper and adhesive might make the difference. When we stick a photo on crooked or make a mistake in our journaling, my sister and I are quick to remind each other that no one is ever going to look at these pages anyway.
Early Scrapbook Pages
The photos below are of a magnetic album and some of my earliest memory book efforts. My sister and I laugh that we scrapbook very differently than one another and differently from what our personalities might indicate. Valerie’s pages are more minimalist, and her photos are usually lined up very carefully on the page. My pages are cluttered, and my pictures haphazardly arranged.
I created the page below with some photos of my nephew Andrew about 10 years after he died.
Next Would Be the Pictures on the Walls
If my arms aren’t completely full of the scrapbooks I am rescuing from the fire, I would try to grab some of the photographs we have on the walls. According to one of my son-in-laws, people don’t have family pictures on the walls and out on the tables and dressers anymore. But I do.
Maybe PC could grab these?
I have photos in every room, though!! It would have to be a s-l-o-w burning fire to allow us time to collect all of the framed photos scattered about.
Last But Not Least, Loose Photos
The last group of pictures falls under the category of ‘loose photos’. Those stored here, there and everywhere. At the top of my bedroom closet in Ziplock bags for the girls. Need to give them to Lauren and Brennyn so I don’t ever have to worry about rescuing them from the flames.
Old photos of family I can’t, for the most part, identify. All presently tossed in a plastic bin under our bed. Organizing them has been on my seasonal goals list since fall.
Just can’t decide if keeping photos of folks I don’t recognize and can’t name makes sense. Will anyone who comes after me be able to identify them or even care who they are?
Thinking I should label the photos of the family I know and get them into albums. Then toss the rest. What do you do with similar photographs, old report cards, birthday cards? Afraid these might go up in flames and not be rescued at all. And yet, looking back at this photo of those photos – ha – I recognize everyone in every picture!! Need to figure out what to do with these and do it.
Your Turn
How do you store your photos? Would they be among the first things you would grab if you had to – God forbid – evacuate your home quickly? Or are your photographs neatly organized for you somewhere in that mysterious ‘cloud’ in the ‘sky’?
This article offers 6 preferred ways to store photographs in 2022. I am going to read it carefully to figure out what I am doing right or wrong. Then adjust accordingly. In all my free time!! And try to get something done with the photos in that bin under the bed.
Now, join me, won’t you, in visiting the blogs of my Where Bloggers Live pals, so we can check out their photo albums and organization.
Bettye at Fashion Schlub
Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own
I know I have just kind of resurfaced with this blog post after a month or more away from blogging. Not sure where I am going from here. Didn’t write my sentences for Sentence a Day in April or so far this month of May. But will put together an update of my life in the next day or two to share with you. And will try to get by to visit those of you who blog.
Wishing you a peaceful weekend.
Hugs and kisses,
I am awful about photos! I have them in bags here and there around the house! I was never into scrapbooking because I knew I’d never be able to narrow down the photos and arrange them artistically on one page! I often worry my kids don’t have enough photographic evidence of their childhoods and then remember I don’t have a lot of mine but remember it just fine! What would I grab in case of a fire? Nigel and Jack! And, my glasses because I wouldn’t be able to see without them!
Hi Leslie – All my photos are in albums (I’m a pretty organized person) and I used to think that my photo albums would be a major thing to save if there was a fire. But now I think I have enough saved on my hard drive to get me through and I’ve seen that both my children are fairly uninterested in looking back at days gone by, so if the photos were lost, I think I’d be okay with it now. You’ve certainly put a lot into your scrapbooking over the years and I can understand why they’d be a priority for you. Nice to see you back on the blogosphere – I’ve missed seeing you in my inbox over the last few weeks.
My goodness you are going to need a suitcase handy to put all those albums and pictures into when you make your hasty escape! How lovely to have so many lovely memories to look back on.
I have a box of photos from my parents’ house and there are a lot of pictures of people whose identity completely escapes me. Is it worth keeping them? Probably not as if I don’t know who they are, my kids certainly won’t! Will I get rid of them? Probably not – I’m too sentimental!
Isn’t it difficult to part with mementos and sentimental items? I am going to get the photos of the folks I recognize labeled this summer and do something more permanent with them. Then I will decide what to do with the rest. Wonder if I took them to mom on my next trip, she might be able to help me figure out who some of the people are? Worth a try, I guess. Although, she didn’t label the photos when she had them!!
I too have tons of photos scattered everywhere! My scrapbook albums are all in our dining/living room on an overflowing bookshelf. I have loose photos in the storage room; sorted by person and then by year. I also have wall photos and family photos scattered all around the house.
Wow, what fabulous scrapbooks you have made! Lots of lovely memories to revisit and so much creativity. Glad to see you back and hope May is a good month for you.
Thank you, my sweet friend. I want to come back to blogging slowly. But will share my wellness post in June. Provided the bottom doesn’t fall out again over here. I love to scrapbook but I am terribly slow at creating pages.
It is such a treasure that you scrapbook like that Leslie. And I think your kids and grandkids will look through them. I truly think most people love looking through old photos.
So glad you joined along with this one and I laughed at how the kitties needed to be in on the action too.
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
I used to scrapbook and have albums. Now I mainly just keep my photos on my blog!
Yes, blogging is a great way to share favorite photos. And I have heard making digital scrapbooks is great fun. But there is something about holding the scrapbook, the photos in your hand and creating real pages. I have always wanted to write a post about scrapbooking. Would you want to join me?
I would also try to save my scrapbooks in an emergency but in reality, it probably wouldn’t be feasible to save them all.
Oh goodness, I thought I had a lot of photos. You’ve passed me hands down, and I love the way you put them in scrapbooks. I tried working on some of mine – but didn’t have the patience to re-book them. Most of mine are in the old ‘magnetic’ albums like you mention. And, photos on the walls. Not only are they on the walls at my house, but about every available surface has at least one or two. Enjoyed taking the journey through yours. Hope you’re feeling better now.
Iris
I’m so behind with scrapbooking, but I know I’ll get caught up one day! Yours look amazing! I love all of the bright color! You can feel the fun jumping off of the page. I love your photo collages on the walls as well. They are beautiful!
Leslie, so GOOD to see you in Blog World again! I’ve been wondering about you! I don’t post as much as I should, but I at least try to get my monthly favorites post up. You bring up a very good point about pictures being everywhere throughout the house. I’m the same way! The pics I know I would be able to save easily are the ones on my blog and the ones on my phone. I also have a lot on my computer, so I would definitely grab that! But all the prints from years ago that are in cardboard boxes would pose some difficulty. I love your gallery wall! And yes, people DO still put those on their walls, if you ask me. Also, you’ve done such a better job than I have with scrapbooking! I love the final result, but it’s a painstaking, time-consuming process for me. Because of that, my pictures I’ve scrapbooked are minimal, but I love them. Great post!
You have some great-looking scrapbooks! It’s interesting that you and your sister have styles that differ from your personalities. As for family photos on the wall, yep, I do have one of those frames that holds a bunch of small to medium photos hanging in my hallway!
High five…glad I am not the only one who displays family photos!!
Leslie – you just don’t know how tickled I was to see your comment – and a visit to my blog – last night!! Goodness, but I have missed you. I hope that you are doing well…letting some of that Texas sun warm your soul! We did make our trip to Texas. It was everything we imagined – plus 100!! We just had the best time! And the weather was lovely (unseasonably so, I have been told) and we were just soaking it all in. So many good restaurants…and not enough time. I think the one thing we were all most impressed with – the people! Everyone was so nice. Helpful and friendly. Quite a contrast to where we live (sigh). It was a great visit…and we will have to go back!
I enjoyed looking at your scrapbooks. So many hours of work….would definitely have to grab those on my way out of a housefire…lol!! I used to create scrapbooks “back in the day” – but you’ve got me to thinking, I need to get those supplies out of the closet again!!
Huge hugs…..and so glad to see you again:)
Aww, you brought such a smile to my face. Thank you for this sweet message. So glad to hear your trip was a big success and that you were warmly welcomed to the Lone Star State by the folks living here. Hope you will come back again!!
Where are your scrapbooks? Do you have them tucked away or out where folks can enjoy them? I think it might be time for me to move some of mine out where the occasional visitor can peek at them if they care to. Doesn’t make much sense to put all that work into albums that never see the light of day. Would love to do a blog post about scrapbooking. Would you be interested in breaking out your supplies and writing about our shared hobby?
Thank you again for the warm welcome back. Big hugs to you, my sweet friend.
I would probably have so much trouble deciding what one thing I could save, that the house would burn down before I’d selected it! Lol! I can be so indecisive! It would def. be something meaningful, though. Maybe the ring my aunt Caroline gave me that has an initial ‘C’ on it that she handed down to me before she passed. It is nice to see you back on here!! Photos would def. be something good to grab!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I remember that ring. Precious indeed. Hope you could slip it on your finger and then grab some photos, too.
Thank you for welcoming me back. I need to pace myself. Don’t want blogging to become stressful again. Hope you guys are
enjoying a great spring. Sure enjoy pics of the kids on FB.
Hi Leslie:
Thanks so much for your lovely comment on my blog and I so enjoyed reading this post of yours! I understand how it can be to have a bad month and just need to take a break from blogging for awhile. I have done it myself more than once! What would I take out of the house in a house fire? Well, after my husband and two cats were safely out I think I would grab my musical instruments. My flute and violin are precious to me so I would def want to get them to safety! Lovely to hear from you and read your writing!
Aw, I love your scrapbooks. I’ve made a couple for my sister and one for my aunt/nephew. I’ve made a couple for myself too but I’m like YEARS behind now as I haven’t really focused on it in awhile. I need to get back into it, because I love how they all look in the end.
I had no idea you were such an amazing scrapbooking. Your pages are incredible.
I’m happy to see you back, Leslie. This post got me thinking that I haven’t printed a photo in quite a long time, except some we had printed on canvas to hang on the walls. I have shelves of photo albums in my basement, but the most recent is at least five years old, probably older. My photos are all electronic now, which would make them much easier to save in a fire, but also means we don’t pass them around like we used to with the old photo albums. It does make them easier to share with people far away. Now, I’m wondering what I will do with all those physical photo albums when I start decluttering/downsizing. It’s a lot!
My daughters have pretty much taken all of their albums from childhood. And their baby books. But now I have all of these scrapbooks that no one looks at – partially because they are tucked away out of sight. One of the Where Bloggers Live gals says she keeps a couple of albums on the coffee table. I think that is a brilliant idea. Need to pull a couple of mine out and do that.
What a great post! I have not worked on my photo albums since I started our blog back in 2013! I admire your ability to scrapbook. I tried it and it took me forever so I gave up…lol. I too worry about what to do with pictures of people I don’t really know or who are no longer in my life ( like old classmates from grade school), but I always feel bad throwing away a photo of someone…lol
Thank you for coming by!! Oh, believe me, it takes forever, FOREVER for me to finish a scrapbook page. My sister and I facetime and scrapbook together. She can slap some things on a page with a few photos and have the cutest results. I worry that my photos aren’t straight. That the blue of my paper isn’t exactly the right shade. That I used this same arrangement of pictures on the last 10 pages I have created. Ha!!
Hi Leslie – I was so sure I’d commented on this post (maybe I just read it and forgot??? I think I’m getting old!) Anyway, it was lovely to see all your scrapbooking and photo collages. I don’t take many photos – the ones from the good old days are in albums and the rest are saved on my laptop. My kids don’t seem particularly interested in them, so I think the legacy of their parents and grandparents will be in the bin with the rest of the stuff they don’t want when we pass on. I’m not much of a sentimentalist so I guess I can’t really blame them…..
Thank you, Leeanne. My girls seem to be very interested in photographs right now. And I need to label the old photos in the bin under the bed and toss out the others because if I don’t know the people in them, my daughters sure won’t know!! I am too sentimental for my own good. Leads to keeping a lot of little notes and bits of things.
Scrapbooks would be on the top of my list as well to rescue in case of fire or other emergency. And I wish I could say that I didn’t have oodles of photos still in boxes and bins, in more than one room, but I do. I have found that when we inherited old family photos on which there were no names or dates, I was able to just let them go. I really think the next generation will want much less than ours, and I already have 6 scrapbooks each to pass onto my kids, that is enough (until grandkids come along). Your post has prompted me to get more photos back into frames. A few years back I minimized what was sitting out in frames or on the walls, but I think it may be time to display a few more. Now I am off to read that article on photo organization, as I don’t even use the cloud yet, as I have never taken the time to figure out the best one to use.
Oh I would love to meet you! We could talk for hours about our photos! 🙂 I’m exactly like you in this area, photos in albums, in baggies in the desk, in scrapbooks and photo boxes, and my walls are covered with photos of family! I don’t care if others decorate with fancy art, I want to see my family.
I suggest you hang on to those photos of people you don’t recognize. A few years ago I got an email on ancestry,com about a photo on my tree. Turns out it was from my second cousin, whom I had never met. We didn’t even know each other existed! We’ve been emailing about various family connections and I recently got one from her about her aunt and my grandpa (who were cousins) going on a cross country road trip. She had all the letters that the aunt’s mom had written to her daughter while they were on the trip. I was stunned because I have all the photos! I knew it was my grandpa but I didn’t know who he was with or where the photos were taken. I’ve sent her copies and now she’s adding them to a book to donate to two historical societies in her area and I’m writing an article for a magazine about this historic road trip. Put the photos into a cute photo box because you never know! 🙂
OH MY GOSH!! I will keep these photos for sure now. (Not like I’ve been chomping at the bit to do anything with them anyway!!). What a story. That is amazing that you guys connected and were able to put the letters with the photographs to complete the story. I love that so much.
Totally agree about having pictures out of the family. I don’t have a single fancy thing in this house. And certainly not expensive art. But we do have priceless photos of those we love most.