Scrapbooking Tips for a Busy Mom

If you are like me, you take a lot of pictures. If you are like me, you use a digital camera. And if you are like me, most of the pictures are still in a file on the computer. Until one day my computer crashed and I was in danger of losing all of my pictures (luckily, I did not, but I was in fear for weeks!). That is when I found different ways to store and publish my photos so I would never have to worry about losing the family history pictures provide.

I love scrapbooking. 

My first business in direct sales was as a consultant for a scrapbook company. I even taught classes at the local scrapbook store.  I have lots of supplies and but not a lot of time. As a busy mom, I have high hopes of documenting the events and milestones of our family, but tend to put it aside for more “important” things. Through my procrastination in producing fancy scrapbooks (which resulted in not having any scrapbooks!), I have found some ways to get my pictures out of those little folders the photo store gives you and on the shelves for friends and family to admire.

First Things First

• The first step is finding the pictures on your computer. Sometimes computers have the sneaky way of moving files to unknown locations. You can try to scan the files and folders yourself, but there is an easier way. Google offers a free service called Picasa. You download the program to your computer and it will search and file every picture on your computer in one location. It is editing software as well, so you can crop, brighten and contrast your pictures to your hearts content.  Then you can share the files with your friends and family. If you want to get more technical with your photos, you can use Adobe Photoshop to make wonderful creations to upload later.

• After you have found your pictures, one important thing to do is to get them onto another storage system off your computer. Companies like Snapfish and Shutterfly offer free archival pictures storage. It is best to have a high speed connection when uploading pictures to these sites, but you can do it with dial up. When you upload your pictures, you can then print them and have them mailed to you in single prints. You can also mail in film to these companies. The cost is similar to any picture developer, but can be lowered if you prepay for prints. Both companies have great services and only vary slightly. You can also edit your pictures with these companies and set up accounts for friends and family to view and purchase the pictures. One has the option of sending the pictures to your local drugstore so you can pick them up in a few hours. 

Now to the extra step...

From this point, you can continue to make your own scrapbooks using fancy paper and ribbons using the prints you receive or use one of the online sources for printing pictures to make a book.

• Instead of printing my pictures in singles, I have created spiral bound books with captions at Snapfish. I get the same set of pictures I would have ordered, but together in a book with printed text of who, what, and when. You can even choose a theme background. I made one for my son’s 3rd birthday and one from the entire summer. My kids love to look through these, and I know I can also go back and print the entire book.
• Another is to create a bound book. The nicest book I have made was using the Picaboo software. This is free software that you can download to your computer. Then you insert your edited pictures onto your choice of layouts and your choice of backgrounds and make an entire scrapbook. When I found this site last Christmas, I spent a few days putting together a book from our entire year month by month. I uploaded the entire book to Picaboo’s site and placed my order. And I love it! In addition, I can send the book by email to my friends and family and they can order the book themselves, or just view it online. Shutterfly and Snapfish also have bound books options that are simple and easy to do, even for beginners.

While I love to scrapbook and love the end product, I also love looking and admiring the pictures from my family. These ideas are ways to get your pictures in print, stored safely, and in a book. When your kids are in college and you are an empty nester, you can go back and scrapbook with pretty pages and fancy tools. Until then, just get your pictures in your hands!

Next time, ideas for those that still scrapbook the fancy way- quick ideas and tools that will get those books done!

Rebekah has been scrapbooking since 1996.  She started back when everything was circles and fancy templates on white pages and has graduated to some of the more modern tools.  Her favorite scrapbooking ideas are decorative paper with straight-edged pictures taking less than 10 minutes to complete.  Her most recent scrapbooks are digital or mini books.  Please email with any questions or comments on scrapbooking.