Oh, baby pictures! There's nothing like them. Chubby cheeks and sleeping smiles. First steps and first foods. If there's a baby in your life, your phone is probably full of pictures of him/her.
Digital images are easy to share, from texting to social media, but if you want those precious pictures to last, they need to have more to them than a jpeg file name.
You probably already know about the risks of anything digital, such as {hard drive crashes and stolen phones}. So what is important to know about digital photos and preserving them? What's the best way to store these cherished photos for years and years to come?
Michele and Shiree from {Confessions of Parenting} asked me delve into these questions and give some advice on what to do with baby pictures to make sure they are preserved.
Here at my guest blogger post you'll find answers to those questions, solutions to photo concerns, and four fantastic ideas for making those photos last. And some encouragement for moms (of all ages), too! Click and read:
I have always been what I call a {memory-keeper}, but I wasn't a digital scrapbooker until the Perfect Storm of 2009. Here's what happened and why I'll never go back.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND and WHAT CHANGED
I've always been a picture-taker and a picture-preserver. By that I mean that I took pictures and then put them in a book (not a box) and wrote a little memory next to it. I didn't even really realize that "scrapbookING" had become a thing until long after it had. I was quite late to the {scrapbooking} party. When I learned about fancy papers and shaped scissors, I joined the bandwagon but was never one to spend hours and hours on one page. I would say my scrapbook pages were fairly cute, but they were also practical.
I'm one of those people who enjoys scrapbooking because it brings back good memories, both while I'm creating pages and when I look back at them later (especially with my kiddos or husband). I always prioritized keeping up on my scrapbooking because it's more fun to preserve photos when memories are fresh than it is when it feels like a chore. In addition, I had a good friend who was also a scrapbooker. We had kids the same age, so we would get together for Scrapbook Days. The kids would play together and we would work. It was both fun and productive.
That worked for me for about 12 years. The Perfect Storm of 2009 was three-fold. First, I moved 2,700 miles away from my scrapbooking friend. Second, I spent a lot of time that year preparing to move, moving out, house hunting, house buying, moving in, unpacking, getting kids registered for school/doctors appointments/play dates/etc. (I took a lot of pictures but didn't touch them for months, which was highly unusual for me.) Third, Heritage Makers, previously just offering high-quality hardbound books, came out with individual digital scrap pages. It was the perfect storm--a perfect time for a change.
By the way, I'll talk about individual scrapbook pages here, but all of this holds true for hardbound books as well.
We have a 2023 UPDATE before you read on:Heritage Makers and Snap2Finish became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013). YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased here is no longer available there, and they also no longer have capability to print previously-created projects like these from the old system. YPhoto is not a photo storage site like Heritage Makers was.
Best-in-the-industry quality and permanent cloud photo storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever for:
·creative digital scrapbooking applicable in a variety of photo products using Artisan software
·easy photo-memory books using free AutoPrint and Design & Print software programs
·private, permanent, secure, and guaranteed photo and video cloud storage (triple-backed-up and bank encrypted)
·white glove digitizing services for old memories like VHS tapes, slides, old scrapbooks (scanning), 8mm film, audio tapes, and much more
Learn more here to find similar products at top-quality with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Because I'd been a traditional (paper) scrapbooker for years, I had a system. I liked the loose-leaf system because I could add in my kids' schoolwork or class pictures, etc. Although I'd been using Heritage Makers personal publishing for 4 years at that point for precious things like {family cookbooks} and {vacation books to give as gifts} to family members, I continued paper scrapbooking because it fit my system.
After the Perfect Storm, though, I was so excited to have the ease of working digitally and still being able to use my loose-leaf binder system.
Digital scrapbooking with Heritage Makers has been saving my bacon ever since. It is very literally what is 100% responsible for me always being caught up on my scrapbooking. I have 3 kids, so I always made 4 copies of the same page. (Gosh, that sounds so onerous now, thinking back on making each paper page by hand, but I really did it.) With digital scrapbooking, I now just click "copy" and then make adjustments for each kid. That alone cuts my scrapbooking time--digital scrapbooking now takes me 1/4 of the time that paper scrapbooking used to take--not to mention the simplicity of just using the "copy" and "paste" functions instead of physically cutting out multiple borders and picture frames for multiple pages. That makes it tons faster, too!
HOW I KNOW HERITAGE MAKERS DOES DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING BETTER
A year ago now, the print partner Heritage Makers had been using went out of business without any warning! The home office went searching for a new print partner, but since quality is a high priority for Heritage Makers, and because they have such a wide variety of products, it took longer to find a partner than expected. During that time, I became a little impatient. I had a couple of projects I really wanted to do, and I'm the type of person who can't get something off my mind until I just do it already. So I did something I had NEVER done in 13+ years of being a Heritage Makers consultant. I looked elsewhere. (*gasp*) I just wanted to find something temporary, but I wanted it to be just as good. Quality matters!
I knew of several "digital photo book" companies that I did NOT want to use. I've heard enough stories from my Heritage Makers clients about poor quality and {photo privacy issues} with certain popular digital photo book companies they used to use that I knew where not to look. I wondered, though, if there was anything even similar to Heritage Makers out there. I just wanted to print a few things until Heritage Makers got up and running again. (It was only a matter of weeks, but I'll say again: I was impatient.) So I went looking.
In all my looking, I could not find anything as good as Heritage Makers. Here's what I was used to in Heritage Makers that I didn't want to give up and couldn't find anywhere else.
Quality. I know I already mentioned that, but it's a big deal. If I'm going to spend my precious time and my precious money on something, I want it to last. I don't want something as important as my photos and my memories to fall apart a few years from now. I couldn't find a lot of information on other websites about quality, but I knew there are a lot of bargain-bin type companies out there, so I was wary. Both Heritage Makers and Forever offer heirloom-quality books with top-of-the-line book bindings and photo-safe pages and covers.
Flexibility. The templates I saw out there were not change-able. I would be stuck with whatever pre-designed items that company offered. I am so used to being able to create EXACTLY what I want to create in a book or scrap page that I just couldn't handle the idea of not doing that. There's a build-pages-from-scratch option with Heritage Makers, but even templates are completely edit-able! If you want full creativity and flexibility, Heritage Makers' Studio program was and Forever's Artisan program is amazing. I have learned, though, that some people find all that flexibility a little overwhelming and like the ability to just follow a template. Forever's Design & Print has beautiful templates where you can choose pre-designed pages one by one from a variety of options, then personalize with your photos and text. Forever's AutoPrint is even quicker--push a button to auto-fill your photos into a book, then adjust photos as needed and add captions. Videos showing all of these options are shown here.
Private photo storage. The majority of cloud photo storage companies these days don't offer private photo storage. (I find that ludicrous. The fine print is downright scary.) Some don't save your photos in full resolution (so they aren't truly photo storage because if you ever need to download them back, they're now low-res images, meaning lower quality/fuzzy). And some even make you pay to download your own photos back in full resolution. (Ludicrous.) Heritage Makers allows me to store every photo that I've published in a Heritage Makers book (or other project) FOR FREE in my account, and I can download them in full resolution for free. Forever offers 2 GB free photo storage and allows you to purchase additional amounts. In my haste to assume that free is better and preferred by everyone, I neglected to see that you really get what you pay for. Anything free has some sort of cost--for example some companies like Google reserve rights to data mining (selling your data and/or photos). Forever Storage is private (guaranteed!) and your storage can include photos, videos, audio files, and PDFS; it is triple-backed-up; is guaranteed for your lifetime + 100 years; and is purchased (meaning you OWN it, with no maintenance fees). You can even assign an administrator to your account upon your passing and can share photo folders with family and friends if desired.
Heirloom Assurance. I couldn't find another company that offers Heirloom Assurance like Heritage Makers does. In fairness, Heirloom Assurance is not posted on the Heritage Makers website, so maybe it's not posted on other companies' websites, either. Heirloom Assurance is the capability to order a replacement of my project at half price if those precious projects are ever damaged (fire, water, dog, toddler, etc.). In a Forever account, completed photo-storybooks, digital scrapbooks, and any photo gift projects, are saved for future reordering.
Digital art. I didn't realize how accustomed I was to (okay, spoiled by) the Heritage Makers digital art collection. It is to die for. There are over 200,000 pieces of digital art available in Heritage Makers creation program, Studio. Many collections are free for everyone to use, and the Premier collections are free to everyone with a (free) Club account. Forever's digital scrapbooking software, Artisan, includes some free digital art, plus you can use digital art you've purchased elsewhere (Creative Memories digital art is popular to use with Artisan), and Forever has many art designers, too. You can purchase Forever digital art (which is often on sale), and there are freebie collections as well. The art collections available at YPhoto (formerly Heritage Makers, with new software) have been drastically decreased. Ability to layer papers and such is no longer as they only use templates. I have personally been thrilled to find Artisan!
If you'd like to learn more about digital scrapbooking, you can always host a class. The way this is outlined, you also end up with a Tribe--a group of people to do your digital scrapbooking with.
Don't miss the free online scrapbooking work times (digi-crops) I host, too! Find more information here. Forever also has their own digital scrapbooking groups (online) called Pixels2Pages run by Artisan experts called Pixies.
Who do you know who would love digital scrapbooking? Share this post with her/him!
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Pictures have been shown to {actually make us happier AND help us relax.} In fact, if you read the article in that last link, you can see the studies that show this. Viewing your photographs has been shown to lift mood and increase relaxation by 22%--which, incidentally, beats out other go-tos for relaxing like chocolate and wine.
So why aren't we seeing and loving our pictures more than we are? Bad habits is all. People often just take photos and then send them to the cloud, never to be seen again.
Unfortunately, I think the cloud is quickly becoming the Junk Drawer of photos.
One way I love to help people out of Photo Overwhelm and help them actually ENJOY their photos instead of just dumping them is something I like to call Solve Your Photo Problems Once and For All. Here's how it works.
STEP 1
The first step actually has two parts: choose a class and choose some friends. Choose a class you're interested in, such as "How to Catch Up on Your Photos," "How to Stop Being Overwhelmed by Your Photos using Yearbooks," or "How to Transition from Paper Scrapbooking to Digital Scrapbooking."
And guess what. If you have an idea for a different spin on those main topics, I can actually create a class specifically for you and what you'd like to learn. I'm cool like that.
Once you have decided the class you'd like to take, choose a group of friends who would like to learn about it, too. I always suggest choosing about 20 because about 1/4 respond, and you'd ideally like to have a group of at least 4-6.
The class is free! Online classes are great because you can invite anyone you know.
2021 UPDATE: The best high-quality memory-keeping solution we recommend is called Forever, and Forever currently offers a $20 coupon to each person who opens a new account (which is free). Each person with an account has their own referral link, and anyone who opens their accounts using the referral link gets that $20 coupon and so does the referrer. What that means is that during your class, your friends can use your referral link and you could get some Forever products or services for free--$80 from 4 friends or $120 from 6 friends, etc.
STEP 2
After having learned strategies for conquering your mountains of photos (or whatever class you choose) and the highest quality ways to preserve your photos, step 2 is to just spend some quality time with friends working on photos and your individual projects.
I will have given suggestions for high-quality memory-keeping methods during the class, so after the class we'll spend time actually making it happen! We can start opening accounts, sorting pictures, uploading pictures (for digital methods), etc. Let me know ahead of time if you'd like to talk about digital methods only at the class or digital and paper memory-keeping methods, too, because that will influence how we spend our work time.
These two steps--taking a free memory-keeping class with friends and getting started actually putting that knowledge to work--give you something WONDERFUL: a tribe. Yes, you get tips, directions, strategies, high-quality products, and solutions to make your goals reality. But you also get a group of people you already know and love working towards the same goal.
STEP 3
Now that you've got your tribe of friends with similar memory-keeping goals, you can set up regular times (I suggest monthly) to get together as friends so you continue to catch up and stay caught up preserving your photos and memories.
If you'd really like to Solve Your Photo Problems Once and For All, give me a shout! {contact me}
Looking forward to hearing from you soon so we can start solving your photo problems once and for all.
xo-
Jennifer
This is something just about everybody I know needs, so be sure to share this post via email or social media!
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Are you planning a move? Do you know someone who is? While it can be daunting enough to pack up pans and side tables and board games, it can be downright scary to consider moving the most precious thing you own: your photos.
Amy from {Needed in the Home} has moved many times! I consider her somewhat of an expert. She always has lots of great moving tips on her website. As it turns out, she considers me somewhat of an expert when it comes to photos, so I was thrilled when she asked me to write a guest post for her blog. Amy wanted some pointers on moving your photos. With so many options and opinions out there, photos these days can come in many forms, so my article addresses all of them. I'm so excited to share it with you--and there are some helpful ideas for storing and loving photos even if you're not moving, too!
2021 UPDATE: Since writing this original post, I have learned about a secure, private, permanent photo storage option called Forever. Most cloud photo storage reserves rights to your photos (to use or sell) and has fine print that gives them the right to discontinue their services. Forever guarantees your private, permanent photo storage for your lifetime + 100 years. With Forever, you purchase the storage so you OWN it, and there are no maintenance fees. You can store not only photo files but also video files, audio files, and PDF documents, too. Click here to learn more about Forever Storage.
It used to be that when you saw a friend and asked, "How are you doing?" the reply would be "Fine." Maybe "Great." Things are different now. A more common response to "How are you doing?" these days is: "Busy."
I'm interested in this because one of the most common {memory-keeping myths} I find myself having to bust is: "I don't have time for my pictures and my memories. I'm too busy."
I have seen a big culture shift in the 14 years I've been a memory-keeping consultant. Most people I meet seem to be busy and overwhelmed, and--oddly--they seem to hold onto it for dear life, as if being in high demand (or busy) makes them important.
Sadly, over the past 14 years, I have seen an increase in general busyness, a change in priorities and attitudes, and a decrease in connections with loved ones and actually being in touch with our own hearts.
As I started looking into busyness, time management, productivity (and whatever other catch phrase you know of that fits) as a way to help my clients and potential clients out of the "I don't have time" hole, I came across a lot of insightful and helpful articles and ideas.
I began collecting them, so to speak--and you can find them at the {"don't have time?" tab} at the top of this blog.
"BUSY IS THE NEW STUPID"
One of the first articles I came across was on LinkedIn, and it's called {"Busy is the New Stupid"}. I was taken aback by the title, so of course I had to read it. The author, Ed Baldwin, says that as a society we have come to glorify busyness, as if that makes us more valuable or important. He proposes that most of us waste a lot of time, aren't engaged in anything fully because we try to multi-task, and have become more short-sighted. Baldwin states that busyness increases careless mistakes and results in more missed opportunities. He says we treat busy as if it's cool, but busy is actually stupid. Then he shares a quote that hits most of us close to home:
"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable." -Sydney J. Harris
Baldwin recommends that instead of saying, "I'm too busy for ________," we change our verbiage to, "________ is not a priority for me." That can apply to everything from "My pictures and memories are not a priority for me," to "I meant to call you, but it wasn't a priority for me." Anything we're "too busy" for is really not a priority. When it comes down to it, we make time for things that are important to us. "Busy" parents at Christmastime find time to go shopping; they make it happen. It's not REALLY about being busy--it's about what is or isn't a priority to us.
"THE BADGE OF BUSYNESS"
One of the more recent fabulous articles I read about busyness is from Bree Weber where she actually conducted an experiment about busyness! I'll tell you about it, but I also recommend the whole article to you: {The Badge of Busyness}. She talks about how acceptable "busy" is and how easy it is to use it as an excuse to not even exchange pleasantries in passing or to avoid going to an event you don't want to go to. Saying we're busy is easier than saying, "I'd rather not go."
We draw more and more inward when we can present as our face to the world a badge of busyness. As an {introvert}, I'm totally cool with drawing inward, to be honest, but I also know it's not always good for me (or any of us).
From not sharing our gifts with the world to spending too much time with Netflix or Facebook (which has been shown to {increase depression}), looking outward and making good use of our lives is vital to our well-being.
Bree's busyness experiment was two-fold. The first part was to try different responses when asked "How are you doing?" by both colleagues and strangers during business and professional phone calls. She would respond with either:
"My week has been so great! I went hiking with a friend on Saturday and had lunch with my mom yesterday. I'm going out of town next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it."
"Oh, my week has been so crazy. I have deadlines approaching and have been working nights. I am so busy, and I have so much to get done."
Interestingly, both responses yielded almost the same result. The first response yielded silence or else a quick return to a business topic that would lead to comments on being so busy. The second response, Bree found, always yielded the same thing: a one-upping statement about who was busier.
I was amazed at how little patience there was for any personal communication, how little time was allowed to actually listen to another person.
The second part of Bree's experiment was even sadder, I thought. When people would reply with something busyness-related, Bree would respond with something like, "Wow, it sounds like you're so overwhelmed. I'd love to help you. I bet there are at least 3 things on your to-do list today that you could drop. Tell me about what your to-do list is today."
Bree found that every single person she talked to was very protective of their to-do list. They wanted to keep all their action items (and in some cases became rather defensive of them) to prove how important they are to their work and all the things that make them busy. Some, she said, used the fact that they were too busy to trim down their action items as proof that they are indeed crazy busy. And, therefore, important.
TOO BUSY TO BE PRODUCTIVE
Something that both of these articles have in common is that they found that many people are too busy to be productive. How is that possible? Doesn't busy mean we are doing things? Well, not necessarily. Yes, doing things. Not always useful, helpful, meaningful things. Not always things that matter.
WHY WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE TOO BUSY FOR OUR PHOTOS AND MEMORIES
I've talked to a couple of people lately about photos and memories who say, "Oh, I really need to get some memory-keeping done--my kids keep asking me for it."
Memories and photos matter a great deal to kids.
It helps them feel loved, and it gives them something happy to remember and look to when life is hard. Kids need to know they are a priority. They need to know that their life's experiences count for something. Kids love looking at pictures of vacations and birthday parties and first days of school. They enjoy reminiscing. It helps them know they belong. It validates them and makes their little hearts happy.
And guess what. It's not any different for adults.
Looking back at your life's experiences makes you the owner of them. Reminiscing increases happiness! It increases a sense of purpose and belonging. Memory-keeping even reduces stress, so if you're "busy" and need something to relieve stress, look no further than your own camera.
Yes, a massage or an hour of Netflix may cut down on stress, but why not do something that will be as meaningful to you next month and next year and ten years from now as it is today?
Why not do something your kids or siblings or nieces and nephews will appreciate for years to come? Why not do something stress-relieving that actually lasts?
DON'T MAKE IT HARDER THAN IT REALLY IS
Many people get tripped up on the idea that memory-keeping (preserving photos and memories in a tactile way) means scrapbooking--sitting down for hours and hours with stickers and scissors and paper and pens and pictures spread across three tables.
For some people, this creative outlet is fun and meaningful, so it's their preferred memory-keeping method. And it works! But if that's not you, there are other options! Don't make memory-keeping harder than it really is. It doesn't have to be complicated, and it doesn't have to take a lot of time.
Quality is my number one recommendation, though, so make sure your memory-keeping method isn't something that will fall apart 5 years from now. I love recommending a variety of options so you can choose whatever method will work best for you! You can {see my excellent recommendations at this link.}
Here's one of my favorite ways to not make memory-keeping harder than it is. In fact, this 5-minute video can change everything for you!
THE TWO-PART "BUSY" CHALLENGE
Did these perspectives on "busy" make you think of things a different way? They did for me! So I have a two-part challenge for you going forward:
Stop saying "Busy" as a response to "How are you?" Look for positive things you're doing or looking forward to that you can say in your reply. Make your responses upbeat instead of beaten down. I've been doing this for several months, ever since I read Bree's article. I think it makes me feel more positive and less overwhelmed.
Stop thinking you're too busy for your photos and memories and start making time for them. You'll find yourself with a little more peace and a little less stress. And you'll also have something tangible that will be meaningful to you and your family for years and years and years. I'm a regular memory-keeper, so I actually enjoy all those benefits I listed above about why memory-keeping is good for adults, too. It's REALLY good for me--I can tell. If you need some help setting aside time to prioritize your pictures, join me for my online work sessions. They're free!
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After implementing each of the two parts of the challenge, come back and let me know how things changed for you! (by commenting below)
I know you won't be too busy.
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I just made the most adorable, memorable graduation items that I'm SO excited to show you today! There's nothing like taking a creative, fun idea and then being able to just push a button to make it reality.
I love how you can make a special event even more special using Heritage Makers personal publishing.
Let me show you the 6 gorgeous, coordinating items this lucky grad will be using for announcing and celebrating her graduation. (I am blocking out the name and school and other details for privacy.)
It's like getting Pinterest-worthy creations without the work. This is where you'll get started.
1. SENIOR PHOTOS KEEPSAKE BOOK and/or SIGN-IN/AUTOGRAPH BOOK
Here's the design of the guest sign-in or autograph book. Photos are on the left pages, and spaces for friends or party guests to write are on the right.
Don't mind the privacy-related coverups there. Your book won't come with that. ;)
The keepsake senior photos book with quotes is the same as the book shown above with a few variations.
with quotes instead of lines for writing
2. CHOCOLATE WRAPS (labels)
A fun idea--create address labels to wrap around Hershey Nuggets!
The red privacy cover will be where the student's name is.
2023 UPDATE:Heritage Makers
became YPhoto under Youngevity (which purchased Heritage Makers in 2013).
YPhoto uses only templates, so the creativity showcased here is no longer
available there. Best-in-the-industry quality and permanent cloud photo
storage with guaranteed privacy are required for anything recommended here by
Photo & Story Treasures, so we highly recommend Forever.
4. MATCHING RETURN ADDRESS LABELS (for the announcement envelopes)
I love the matchy-matchy! I think it gives both a personal and professional look to the graduation announcements!
5. "CONGRATULATIONS" GRADUATION BANNER
Darling on a mantle, wall, or long table, this banner is made on four 12x12 scrap pages. 2023 Update: Scrap pages are available with Artisan software.
6. WATER BOTTLE LABELS
One of my personal favorites for absolute adorableness, these water bottle labels come in a set of 12. They are made from large address labels. This project requires some DIY--after receiving the labels, you will need to cut each label in half then wrap them around your own water bottles. Wrap first and chill later to help the sticky-backed label stick. It is suggested you wrap the water bottle with plain white paper about 3.5" high (taped on with double-sided tape, then place these labels on top.
Photos show labels on a 10 oz. bottle. Labels will be 3" high. The combined width of the two pieces of labels to wrap around the bottle is 7.5".
I put the two label pieces on separately, but you can also stick them together first before wrapping around the bottle, like this:
I'm so excited for this graduate to be able to send such personal graduation announcements, have wonderful photo keepsakes of this exciting time in her life, and have some personalized swag at her graduation party!
Do you have a graduation coming up or know someone who does? Share this post with her/him, either on social media or by e-mail. Or Pin the image below to Pinterest so you can find it again when you DO have a grad to celebrate.
Save and share or Pin for later!
These products can be made for any celebration--birthday, retirement, anniversary, bar/bat mitzvah, baptism, etc.!
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