How to Organize Your Scrapbook Photos
You should
place these photos and negatives individually in plastic sleeves made out of polyethylene or polyester. Never use PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or acetate sleeves
since these contain materials which are chemically unstable and can cause damage to the photos, and negatives. This step seems very daunting. I looked at 13
years (the length of time I'd been married) of photographs tucked in drawers, plactic bins and in magnetic albums. How in the world am I going to get a handle on
this mess!? One step at a time. I bought the photo safe boxes and started sorting.
Start thinking about how you would like to organize your books, first of all. Do you want a holiday or event specific books or would you rather have books organized by year? You also have the option of just keeping your old photos in a safe environment and starting to scrapbook your current photos. That is what I chose to do.
Sometimes I'll see stickers or something that makes me think of an event in years past and I'll pull those photos and scrap those, too. But I decided not to put the pressure on myself to scrapbook every single photo I have from the past 13 years. It's just too overwhelming. I scrapbook what I want, and safely store the rest.
This was also a great time to label the photos that I neglected to put the date on. My husband is always after me to date the photos as soon as they are developed, and sadly I didn't always do that. Now I'm relegated to trying to figure out how long my daughters hair was or what house we lived in to try and determine what year it was. Listen to my husband and date your photos after they are developed.
Luckily the photo developing system we now use imprints the date on the back of each photo automatically. I'm even able to have a 2 line message on each photo describing the event, if I choose to do so.
When you date each photo, don't use a permanant marker, ball point pen or sticky note. These aren't safe options. Instead use a photo safe pencil or pen, available where scrapbooking supplies are sold. If there are a number of people in the photo, you may also chose to write names, dates and locations. This is a good idea while the knowledge is still there and you don't get around to scrapping this particular event.
Have you ever gone thru your Grandma's photos and don't know half of the people pictured or what event it was? It's frustrating, so do it while you have the chance. Your grandkids will thank you for it.
When you handle your photos, common sense tells you not to finger the front and leave smudges and fingerprints. So it's a good idea to wash your hands before handling your photographs. You can also wear white gloves while sorting and handling your pictures. There are soft, non-abrasive microfiber cleaning clothes sold in photo shops or scrapbooking stores to clean your photo of smudges and fingerprints if little admirers have already smudged the goods.
Scrapbooking is such a great way to share your memories with your kids in a way you never probably would if all of your photos were just stored away in shoeboxes in the closet. My two year old looks at my scrapbooks on a daily basis, pointing out all of her favorite things. I don't mind at all because they are all safely put away in sturdy books with poly covers on the pages and she really can't do any damage to them. We live 12 hours away from family, so it's a good way to feel connected and remind her of the family that's not near to us geographically, but close to our hearts.