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New Year’s resolution #2.5 – Back up those photos!

January 4, 2011 by Meg | 7 comments

Whoa!  We’re posting twice in a day!  That never happens!

But…we think it’s super super important to back up your photos!  Here’s my “picture backing up horror story” of the day…

My sister and I were hanging out at home during the summer of 2007.  I was a camp counselor that summer and I was home for a couple of days before heading off to the National Youth Gathering in Orlando, Florida with my church.  Andrea and I were decorating our t-shirts for the trip and listening to my iTunes and realized we needed to run out and get more supplies for our shirts and random other things for the trip to Florida.  I turned off my laptop and we ran our errands.  We came home and I turned my computer on so we could listen to some music whilst decorating our shirts…and my screen was black with a funky technical error message.  No need to panic yet right?  Just use my “fool proof” method of turning it off and then back on…

Wrong.  The same error message popped up.

Holy buckets what was I supposed to do!  I was leaving the next day for a trip to Florida for a week and then was back at camp for the rest of the summer…I didn’t have time to deal with this!  My dad took my computer to a place that had “saved” hard drives before, hoping to save my thousands and thousands of photos from a summer and a half at camp, two and a half years of college, and everything else thrown in the mix.

I got back three folders of pictures, some Word documents and that was it.  Awesome.

So lesson learned BIG TIME after this one.  Once I had my new hard drive and started taking pictures again, I made sure I backed up pictures on cds right after I took them, and definitely before I deleted them off my memory cards.  I studied abroad in Germany spring semester of my junior year of college, and I made sure I saved copies of those pictures right away! (I guess if I lost them though, I’d just have to go back to Germany, huh? ;) )

But then I learned about this great little gadget called the Picture Keeper.  Holy buckets is this a great little deal.  You pop it into your computer, click one thing, and it finds ALL of your images!  Then every time you pop the Picture Keeper into your computer after that, it just finds the new images!  So cool!  It comes in FOUR different sizes – 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and the GIANT Picture Keeper Pro which can hold up to 250,000 photos (depending on the size of your images).

Don’t let what happened to Abby and me happed to you!  It’s the WORST feeling in the whole world!

SAVE THOSE PHOTOS!!

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New Year’s resolution #2: Back up my photos!

January 4, 2011 by Abby | No comments

Yesterday, I told you about my resolution to take more photos in 2011. Another resolution that goes hand-in-hand with that is to back all of those photos up on a regular basis!

A few months ago, I hopped on our home computer to download the newest batch of photos from my camera. My personal method for photo organization is to create a folder for each month of the year, all within my “photos” folder. Once I have a few months built up, I back them up on a CD and then move them elsewhere. On this particular day, I opened up my “photos” folder, only to find about 9 or 10 of my monthly folders from 2009-2010 were GONE. These folders contained the photos from my New York City trip, my Las Vegas trip, and a lot of other events–my two trips alone accounted for almost 2,000 photos! I had been really busy and had not burned CDs of my photos in a really long time, so those files were the ONLY copy I had (aside from the small percentage of photos I printed). And, they were gone.

I think in that moment my heart stopped beating for a second! This really could not be happening.

Luckily, my computer genius boyfriend came to my rescue. He spent an hour doing his computer magic and located my photos. They weren’t gone completely, but somehow (and to this day, we have no idea how) those folders were moved to some obscure folder buried deep inside other folders on our computer. I breathed a sigh of relief–I got lucky. But, I know lots of people who haven’t been as lucky as I was.

That afternoon, I spent several hours backing up every single photo onto a disk. I ran out the very next day to Archiver’s and bought this Pioneer CD binder to store my disks in. I like it because all of my labeled disks are in one place where I can easily find them. I also have a second copy to keep inside our fire-proof safe as well, just in case.

The lesson to be learned–back up your photos and then print hard copies! I work at Archiver’s, where I’m surrounded by photos every day; I spend my days writing about the importance of photos and memories; and yet I was naive to think that losing photos wouldn’t happen to me. It CAN–it can happen to anyone. Your hard drive can crash; you can be hit by a computer virus or a lightning strike; or another disaster can occur that’s out of your control. It really doesn’t take much at all to lose your precious photos and memories!

So, for 2011 and going forward, I’m going to make the effort to back up my photos on a regular basis, no matter what. It may not be the most fun task to do, but trust me, it’s far better than the alternative. I hope you’ll do the same!

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New Year’s resolution #1: Take more photos!

January 3, 2011 by Abby | 6 comments

Happy New Year everyone! In honor of the brand-new year, we’ll be sharing our New Year’s resolutions here on the blog this week.

One of my personal resolutions for 2011 is to take more photos and improve my photography skills. I tend to take a lot of photos when I go on a trip or attend a special event, but I’m noticing that I take very few photos of my everyday life. In fact, there are a few months in 2010 where I didn’t pick up my camera at all! (Terrible, I know…)

I intend to change that this year. There are plenty of everyday moments and memories that I want to remember and capture in photos, like the funny things my puppy does, get-togethers with friends, the places we go (near or far), and other interesting things that happen. Sure, I have some photos of these things, but as I look back on 2010, there are a lot of moments I missed, too. This year, I don’t want to miss anything!

Who’s with me? One cool idea to achieve this goal is to take a snapshot every day, whether it’s something exciting you did or just a glimpse into your everyday life. At the end of the year, you’ll have 365 photos and an entire year of your life recorded. I don’t have kids, but I can see this as a fun way to document how they change and grow throughout the year, too.

It only takes a few seconds to snap a photo, but the memory will be documented for years to come. It’s worth it, if you ask me!

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Scrap-Lift Monday: Crop it!

May 17, 2010 by Molly | 2 comments

 

When I first saw this layout in a magazine, the cropping of the photos caught my eye.  I love trying new and different ways to crop.  Sometimes it’s out of necessity (I captured something in the background I don’t like….for instance, a garbage can or the dog’s rear end) and sometimes I just like to bring the subject in really close.  Digital photos make cropping a snap.  You can make photos any size and shape you want to and if you don’t like your crop, change it! You don’t have to print until you have a crop you like.  Most photos look completely different when cropped.  Play around….you might be surprised what you come up with. 

I also like how the title was worked into this layout. It kind of takes the place of one of the photos. You could also use four photos in this layout by replacing the strip of patterned paper.   Remember to look beyond the theme and colors of a layout when looking for ideas.  Instead, try to visualize the layout as a sketch. I usually search for layouts based on the number of photos I want to use.

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Imperfect photos from a perfect day

March 29, 2010 by Abby | 9 comments

My grandfather and I were very close, and anyone who knew him knew he was a HUGE sports fan. He attended all the local high school football, hockey, and baseball games, and watched sports all the time on tv–especially the Minnesota Twins. In talking one day, I was surprised to learn he had NEVER been to a Twins game in all of his 85 years! My grandpa was born, raised, and lived in northern Minnesota and rarely made the 3+ hour drive to Minneapolis (where the Twins play), so the opportunity had never presented itself. I decided right then and there that that had to change!

We got tickets for us and two friends for a game in June, 2001. He was excited, and even went out and bought a new Twins hat especially for the occasion (he always wore a baseball hat and had lots of them). During the long car ride, the four of us chatted about everything under the sun. It was so nice having all that time alone with him. As we approached Minneapolis and my grandpa got a glimpse of the Metrodome, I could feel his anticipation building. We went inside and I will never forget the look on his face and how his eyes lit up when he saw the field for the first time from the concourse–he said something like, “It’s so much more green than on tv!” The entire game he sat glued to the action. We had great seats–second row, just beyond third base–that made it easy for him to see what was happening and to follow along, play-by-play. We enjoyed snacks and drinks, cheered lots (and loud!), and of course, being a scrapbooker, I insisted on taking photos. He had an absolute blast, and to top it off, the Twins even won the game! It was a day that I will never, ever forget.

Afterward, he talked about the game for weeks to everyone he ran into. You could tell that he really enjoyed himself, and I was so happy that we made the time to do it (and kicking myself that we didn’t do it sooner!).

Sadly, that would be our one and only Twins game together, as he passed away the following summer.

Although this photo from that day isn’t great and my eyes are closed, it is one of my favorite and most cherished photos. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded of the memories of that day–truly one of the best days of my life–and it makes me smile!

Sometimes, I think we scrapbookers get hung up on getting the “perfect” photo. But you know what? Sometimes those imperfect photos are the ones that matter most. This photo of my grandpa and me is worth much more to me than a million more “perfect” photos.

If there’s a story behind a photo that you want to remember, it deserves to go into your scrapbook, whether it’s “perfect” or not!

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Tell Your Story

March 9, 2010 by Jennifer | 8 comments

This is one of my favorite pictures.  The quality isn’t that great – you can’t even see the faces of the subjects, but the memory attached to it is priceless to me.  My grandpa was an avid golfer.  He spent literally half of his life on the golf course.  This was taken the last time Grandpa was able to go out to a course.  He was dying of leukemia that summer and got this one last chance to go out while my mom, aunts and uncles (who played in this golf  tournament with him every year) were playing.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Scrap-Lift Monday: Cropping Photos

March 8, 2010 by Angie | 16 comments

I’m all about cropping the stuff you don’t need out of photos.  In with the good, out with the bad.  This is a page idea I stole from a CK magazine years and years ago.  Its simplicity keeps it trendy…I love that!  I loved the idea of focusing on a small element of the big picture.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Scrap-Lift Monday: The very idea of it!

February 15, 2010 by Molly | 1 comment

My scraplifting usually consists of duplicating an element or the look of a title. When I saw this page in Scrapbooks etc. I had to “borrow” the whole package! I knew I had a similar inspirational photo of my son and I loved the bold title and overall idea. I expanded and added a second page. It’s a very simple layout but one of my favorites.

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Make the time & enjoy the ride

February 1, 2010 by Jennifer | 6 comments

I have always enjoyed crafting.  My mom painted, quilted, sewed…you name it.  So, my sister and I grew up collecting pamphlets and postcards when we were on vacation and cutting and rubber cementing them into spiral bound albums to make our first scrapbooks.

While times have changed, I still look back on those albums and love to go through them.  Sometimes I laugh (New Kids on the Block fanatic in Jr. High), sometimes I get misty (trips with Grandparents not here anymore) but I love to look at them.  I mention this because essentially, it is why I make time to scrapbook now.  I want my kids and grandchildren to look back someday and remember loved ones, fun times and know a little more about their lives.  It would be easy for me to say that I don’t have time (because with two little ones, I don’t) but I really feel that there are few things more important for me to do for them…and me….so I make the time.

Mainly I try to go to mania with friends every now and then or go to an overnight scrapbook weekend to keep up.  Since my “creative sessions” are few and far between I keep organized in a few simple ways that I can keep up with – and am ready to rock when I can.

  1. Keep notes– I would say journal, but that seems to be a dirty word most of the time and difficult to keep up with.  Kids say the darndest things and I keep notes on the funniest or sweetest little things they say – then later, I pick a favorite photo and add the story to the page.  Write them in a notebook by your bed, on a calendar or on Post It notes by the phone.  I actually enjoy reading the stories that I have forgotten from when they were young more than the photos.  It is easy to forget the stories behind life’s little moments.  These notes are among my most precious belongings now.
  2. Print Photos – You can’t scrapbook what you don’t have.  Develop a system you can follow to download your photos and get them printed, so they are waiting for you when you can carve out some time, not the other way around.
  3. Focus on the Memories – It is overwhelming (even in the age of “delete the digital photos that don’t look good”) to scrapbook everything.  However, I find I can’t throw photos of my kids no matter how poor they are.  Thinking about the memory, rather than the photo helps me prioritize what I am trying to put on a page.  Do I want all 12 photos I took at soccer – or just the one of him scoring the goal and the big smile when he looked over at the sidelines?  That is the story I want to remember.
  4. Enjoy the Process –I am a taskmaster – so sometimes I forget to sit back and enjoy being creative.  I am so focused on the end product that I don’t make time to enjoy my social time with girlfriends (or still with my mom and my sister).  I also have to remind myself that I am not getting a grade on my scrapbooks.  They will be treasures to my kids regardless of my creative ability.  Just like life, scrapbooking is about enjoying the ride as much as getting to the end….make sure you make time to do this, and that you are enjoying the ride in the process.

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