In this guest post, Shawna at Shawna Scraps and Creative Team Member extrodinaire, shares her digital photo organization system.

If you don’t know Shawna, let me tell you that she takes a LOT of photos! She loves to use My Memories Suite to create her digital pages and is on 6 (I know, SIX!) Creative Teams: Jumpstart Designs, Lindsay Jane, Pickleberrypop, Scraps-N-Pieces, SugarBeans Designs and Wendy Tunison Designs.

“How do I organize my digital photos? I get asked this question all the time. As a mother of 4 kids I take a LOT of photos. I will admit that I am never caught up on having my photos printed and for this reason it is important for me to store my photos safely and in an organized fashion. There are many ways to organize your digital photos and not every method works for every person, this is just what works best for me.
First I organize my photos by year. Here you can see the main folders categorized by year.

Inside the main *year* folder, I have sub-folders with each month separate. Here inside the 2011 folder you can see that I have each month in its own folder.

Now peeking inside the February Folder you will see that I have each day and/or event separated into yet another sub-folder.

This not only lets me find my pictures fast and easy, but also helps me keep track of which pictures I have printed, and which ones are next on the list. For example, it is easy for me to look inside my family album and see that I have printed the pictures from the February 5th album, but have not printed any since then. I now know that my next set of prints should be from the February 10th album! Easy Peasy!

To keep my memories safe I store all of my photos on not one, but TWO external hard drives in addition to on my computer. No matter how it is you organize YOUR photos, the most important thing is that it works for YOU.”

You can read more about what Shawna is up to and find links to all of her CT Galleries at her blog Shawna Scraps.  Be sure to check out her galleries because she makes some amazing pages that you will definitely want to “scrap lift”.  Thanks Shawna!

{We’d love to hear how YOU organize your digital images.  Email us at info@thememoryboutique.net to be featured on our Blog!}

Think a gal can pull this off without “male electrical” assistance?  I’m going to try this in July…I’ll let you know if I can do it or if I have to call my dad (a.k.a. “electrician extraordinaire”!) AND I’ll post some pics of the outcome.  Remember, “Photographs aren’t photographs if they’re sitting in a drawer.”  ~ National Geographic.

Have fun displaying your wonderful memories!  ~ Jackie

Is that awesome?  Can you see these in your scrapbooks as front covers for special albums like family vacations, reunions or whatever? And how about journals? Title a journal entry and think of words for that topic. Simply type in all the words you can think of, press create and see the word cloud it creates for you in less than a second.

Select “Open in Window” and this is where you’ll have the option to change the font, layout, choose different color themes, etc.  Just play around with it to get the cloud you like!  I created another word cloud for our family trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.  I had my kids sit down and tell me all the words they could think of from looking through the album’s pages and this is what they came up with:

Once your word cloud is complete, copy the image and save as a JPEG (I only use Macs so if you’re a Mac user, use the Grab tool to capture the image; PCs?  Sorry – I imagine you can right-click on the image and save it or even print screen, pull it in your preferred program for cropping and save there). When you’re creating albums in MMS, simply navigate to where you have the word cloud images saved and pull it in.  Easy peasy and fun (and a lot less work than trying to create a gazillion text boxes to create one of these babies on your own)! Be sure to check out Wordle and have fun with all the new “word clouds”!

Interested in purchasing MMS?  Click here and be sure to use the code STMMMS35304 to receive a $10 discount for the software and $10 discount for the MMS Design Shoppe!

~ Jackie

I love the black and white pics (because we can easily turn our digital images from colored to black and white with the click of a button!), but I also like the ideas for “no nails used” decorating, too.

Be sure to get your family pictures printed, framed and displayed because, “Photographs aren’t photographs if they’re sitting in a drawer.”  ~ National Geographic.

Enjoy those family pictures!

~ Jackie

I was thinking of a topic to write and it kind of hit me. I’m assuming everyone either HAS MyMemories Suite Software or knows all about it.  But DOES everyone?  Here’s a bit of information about MyMemories Suite and all it can do!  Interested in purchasing MMS?  Click here and be sure to use the code STMMMS35304 to receive a $10 discount for the software and $10 discount for the MMS Design Shoppe!  Do you have MMS V2 already?  Click above and hit the link for “upgrading”.  And now, here’s the info about MMS:

Okay, those dudes over at Story Rock are amazing for thinking of this one and I can’t wait to see what they add to the shop for more imprints (I’ll be buying them up!). In the meantime, have fun with the imprints included with V3!

What do I like so much about the imprints?  There’s a collection of shapes and decorative items that can be recolored to match your page.  YEA!  How fun is that?  Because you could use embellishments up the yang yang and you aren’t able to recolor them to match your page.  See how exciting these imprints are? And look at all the options that are offered:

From circles, flourishes, flowers, hearts and more, you’ll be able to add these hot little numbers to your pages, size accordingly and color to match your page. I used little circles on the Lucky Lottery Valentine post dated January 24th (see the cute little circles on the sides?).  Easy to use, FUN and they look great.  Have fun imprinting! ~ Jackie

Wait…  why should I organize, you might ask, it’s time consuming and a lot of work. We take pictures to document our lives and to tell our stories.  It’s a struggle to share those stories if they can’t be easily and quickly accessed and we want them to live forever.

Watch this old Kodak commercial which is a beautiful reminder of why we take the images we do and why they need to be protected…

Keep me, protect me, share me and I’ll live forever. I LOVE that.  A curator at a Historical Photograph Society commented “This commercial reminds us that even the most seemingly mundane image of daily life becomes a historical document 20 or 50 or 100 years later.  This is exactly what we try to help and encourage people to do with their photograph collections: “Keep them, Protect them, Share them…So they will live forever.”

“People are used to the idea of having old family pictures from 50 or 100 years ago or more. There will be VERY FEW surviving family pictures from this decade or 1990′s in the year 2100. Many more pictures will survive from 1920 than from 1980.” ~Christopher G. Mullin, Special Collections, Mansfield Library, The University of Montana

Wouldn’t it feel great knowing that our photos (our memories and stories) are safe and accessible?  Not only for ourselves, but for future generations? We look forward to talking about implementing and maintaining a digital photo organization plan, including:

1. Setting Goals. If you have existing digital photos, sorting through them doesn’t have to be a chore.  It may take a while, initially, to sort through images and set up a system. However, the process isn’t difficult and you’ll be glad you spent the time and effort.

1. Implementing your file handling system. We’ll teach you how to organize your photos for maximum efficiency.

2. Establishing a workflow. Yes, it is possible to set up an efficient workflow.

3. Tagging & Keywords. The use of tagging, keywords, ratings and other groupings is a huge time saver down the road.

4. Backup. We’ll look at hardware and online storage options.

We also have a Forum where you can  join photo organization discussions.

Note: Keep in mind that in order to effectively carry out your digital photo organization plan you need to be familiar with the operation of your digital camera and downloading your photos. You also should know how to back up your images to an external hard drive.  If you are having difficulty with this contact us and we can help you.

If (or should I say “when”) you create a plan and stick with it you’ll end up with a well-organized collection of digital memories that will be easy to access and enjoy for years.  Please (yes, I’m begging!) make the effort to implement a sound digital photo organization system.  If you get frustrated, keep the end result in mind.  Once your plan is in place and your workflow is established you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your memories will live forever!

See you next week.

~Mary

Parents can make the cards or….kids, and yes I’m saying the KIDS, can make their very own Valentine cards using My Memories Suite V3!  You may have to give a little advice and instruction, but they will soon be creating scores of amazing albums and cards before you know it.  If you haven’t upgraded to My Memories V3 Digital Scrapbooking software yet, click here now and be sure to use the code STMMMS35304 to receive a $10 discount for the software and $10 discount for the MMS Design Shoppe!

If you have an ultra creative kiddo filled with their own ideas, let them loose!  If they need a little help with an idea, Google it or go to FamilyFun.com for some creative ideas.  If you look closely at the images, you’ll see most, if not all, can easily be re-created in MMS.  Here’s an example of a Family Fun card idea my daughter and I recreated – Lucky Lottery Valentines.  Using a portrait size page, I created a rectangle, resized to the desired shape, colored it yellow and added a super large pink mat.  (I could’ve added another rectangle behind the yellow and added a mat and shadow just to the yellow to make it stand out a bit more, but we like the looks of this one.  =)  Create a second page with a “To and From” section for your child to address to their friends and sign their name simply by duplicating Page One, delete all the text and shapes inside the yellow and add a text box with “To:” and  ”From:”.  Align the boxes and you’re ready to print!

Cute, no?  And by creating the Valentine this way, we no longer have to cut, cut and paste  30+ Valentines because we eliminated some of those steps of cutting and pasting!  Now all we have to do is use some metallic acrylic paint and dish soap mixture to paint some hearts on clear contact paper (a template below [sized down so it's not to scale here] which I created in MMS and will print onto the non-sticky side of the contact paper so my daughter has a clear outline and shape for the heart), cut them out and paste them over the heart/sentiment section of the Valentine.  That makes the “scratch” part of the lottery ticket! How adorable is that?

Words of advice:  create one original to your liking, lock all the elements and copy and paste.  You can then place as many as will fit on the page saving you money on printing.  Once the page is completed, you can either print it yourself on cardstock (I would do this only if you have access to a laser printer because ink-jet print pages tend to run, bleed and smear if they get wet thus turning the once very cool Valentine into a yucky mess!) or have the file printed on cardstock at your preferred local printer.  I would recommend The Memory Boutique for printing, but we have a minimum 15 page limit for printing on cardstock and unless your child is passing out 45+ or more Valentines, you’ll end up with more Valentines than you’ll need. We prefer to use the honesty card with our clients!  =)

Here’s to homemade creativeness…enjoy and have a Happy Valentines Day!

~ Jackie

Over the last year our business has taken a significant turn towards photo organization.   Digital + physical photos. We’ve had the privilege of teaching digital photo organization to groups and individuals plus organizing physical photos and memorabilia for clients. We love this!

Naturally, we thought it would be a great fit for us to join The Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO).  APPO is a growing and thriving network of professionals dedicated to photo organization and helping clients’ to share their stories easily and effectively. We are trained in the latest techniques for sorting, storing and sharing photos and provide the best practices available in the industry. Through images, words, creatively designed photo books, scrapbooks, custom photo gifts and more, Photo Organizers are bringing cherished memories back into clients’ lives. Be sure to check us out on the APPO site.

I don’t know about you, but we think this is pretty exciting.  We get to do something we love while helping others with something they love!  We hope that you’ll start following our blog which will include weekly photo organization tips starting next week.

A New Forum!

We thought it would be nice to create a place where we could all meet up to discuss our photo organization questions, concerns, thoughts, ideas, suggestions, triumphs etc.  So we have a new FORUM!  We hope that this will be a great place of inspiration and encouragement.  This is new to us, so please be patient as we get it all ironed out.  Feel free to email us comments and suggestions at info@thememoryboutique.net.  You’re feedback is important to us.

We know, we know… another “place” to have to keep up with online.  Believe us, we felt the same way until we realized that there really isn’t one place dedicated to the topic of photo organization.  If there is such a place, we certainly haven’t found it (hard to believe!) and we would love for you to let us know about it. Stop by the Forum and let’s get this discussion going!

2012 Changes

Because photo organization is taking us in a bit of a different direction, we have some changes to announce for 2012:

1. We will no longer be selling We R Memory Keepers albums and page protectors on our website.  We recommend purchasing from Amazon here as they have the best pricing we have seen.

2. We WILL be selling We R Memory Keepers albums and page protectors at Photo Organization Home Parties. (more about Home Parties coming in a few weeks)

3. We will be speaking to local groups about photo organization and can be booked for an event here.

4. Until we get all of these new changes in place we will be holding Digital Scrapbooking and Photoshop workshops by request only.

“The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same”

Our main goal has always been to educate and teach in the area of memory preservation.  We will continue to offer one-on-one training for photo organization, Digital Scrapbooking and Photoshop. You can schedule an appointment by contacting us here.

Several changes will be made to the website over the next few weeks in order to implement all things mentioned above. We will be down completely Monday evening for several hours. Please be patient!

~Mary & Jackie

I’d like to show you how quick and easy it is to create and print your own cards simply using My Memories Suite (MMS) Digital Scrapbooking Software V3.  (If you’re new to MMS or if you haven’t upgraded to V3 yet, click here for the upgrade.  Use code STMMMS35304 to receive a $10 discount for the software and $10 discount for the MMS Design Shoppe! ).

First, open My Memories Suite and select Design Your Own option.  When the screen of album shapes/sizes appear, select the Portrait album OR Landscape album and the size you prefer:  either 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ or 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″ keeping in mind this is strictly personal preference.

Once the screen is up, select Background Papers and either choose Paper or Purchased all depending on the paper you would like to use.  I’m using “Purchased” because the Valentine pack “Cross My Heart” by StoryRock is saved there (otherwise you could use a red paper and add pretty flourishes, hearts and/or flower embellishments to decorate).  Navigate to where the paper YOU will be using is and select that option.

First thing I do before I begin creating ANY page is to turn on the guides.  In the menu bar at the top, select View, Guides, Trim Area large photo album (or small depending on the size of your album).  This will place a gray border around the edges to remind you that any pictures or wording that falls in the gray area could potentially NOT be printed.  Lesson?  If you want to be 100% sure that it’ll be printed, may sure you stay inside the gray edges!

Now that you have your background selected, add a box to the middle by selecting Shapes, Add, Originals, Square/Rectangle, Apply, Close.  Resize the rectangle to the size you wish and change the color to any you choose by selecting a color option while the box is still selected.  The color picker allows you to pick a color off the page or you can go to the color palette and select one from there.  While you’re at it, add a mat to the shape too.  It’ll make the card look nicer!

Next step, add a text box, resize to the desired size and add your text.  You can choose any font of your choice depending on the sentiment.  There’s a TON of free fonts online that you can download if you feel you are lacking in the “font area”.  One I go to when I’m searching for a new font is Dafont.com.  You can find some pretty fun fonts here for free if used for personal use.

The card is finished!  Look it over and make sure the spelling is correct (believe me, even names you type over and over throughout your life can accidentally be misspelled due to your fingers and keyboard acting up!).  If you’ll be spending money to print these cards, you want it perfect.

Save your card and export it into a JPEG for printing.  Not sure how to do this?  Refer back to our blog post from November 7, 2011:  Printing:  My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software.  This will walk you through the steps!  Once you’re finished, you can print your cards through The Memory Boutique here or from your preferred printer.

NOTE:  If you want to create a folded card, make page 1 of your card the front of the card and add a page 2 for the inside of the card.  Save the album as a JPEG and upload to your printer.

Have fun creating cards that truly hold meaning!

~Jackie

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