Rein in Your Photos, Videos and Memories: Photo Rodeo

Have you heard of a Scrapbooking Crop?  (Yes, paper scrapbooking has its own lingo.)  A crop got its idea from an old-fashioned "quilting bee" where ladies come together to socialize and make a quilt.

A Scrapbooking Crop is similar.  People come together to work on scrapbooks, sometimes for entire weekends, socializing and sometimes sharing materials.  But always sharing ideas and excitement.

Years ago when I started digital scrapbooking (memory-keeping in digital photo books and pages), I started hosting Digi-Crops.  But today my Digi-Crops are getting a remodel!  Today I am introducing you to Photo Rodeo: Rein in Your Photos.

My two favorite things about Photo Rodeo are:

1. It's online (over Zoom) so anyone from anywhere can attend.
2. It's time to do whatever your memories need.  It's not just about putting photos in pages (although that's definitely one possibility).  Reining in your photos might mean they need to be organized or uploaded or culled.  And, in reality, Photo Rodeo isn't just about photos.  If you need to gather old family videos on VHS tapes for digitizing with the Forever Box, do that!  

So, Photo Rodeo is time for you to set aside and spend with your photos/videos and memories with friends.  It's casual and fun.  (And free!)

It's great to celebrate our wins together, and I love to see scrapbook pages people are working on (Zoom is so nice for screen sharing!).  As you'll see in the agenda below, there's time for both socializing and some quiet time to work.  

Photo Rodeos will be held once a quarter:  spring, summer, fall, and winter.  Some will be daytime, some evening, just to mix up the time and hopefully fit your availability now and again.  You can always find the current Photo Rodeo Zoom link and the passcode to join at this link.

The next one is Thursday, June 26, 2025.  See the link above for details.

If you're new to memory-keeping and/or to Photo Rodeo, here are all the details you'll want to know.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The best memory-keeping tool I've ever seen since working as a memory-keeping consultant since 2005 is called Forever.  You'll want a (free) Forever account to get started.  Open it at that link.   

It's smart not to trust your memories to just anyone, so you can learn more about Forever here.  Forever, as you might guess, is all about longevity.  Your photos and videos and photo-memory books are guaranteed to be there for your lifetime plus 100 years with full privacy, no data mining, no advertising, etc.  Basically, if you'd want it for your memories, you can find it at Forever.  That's what I've found for myself.

There's always a sale happening, too.  You can find information on 3 ways to get the best prices here.

One last thing if you're new to Forever, before I get to the Photo Rodeo details:  There's so much you can do with Forever, from making photo-memory books with free and easy software to fully creative digital scrapbooking!  See all the possibilities here so you can choose whatever fits your available time, interests, and needs.

All right!  Let's move on to everything you could do at Photo Rodeo, with plenty of tutorial videos to help you get there.  I suggest watching ahead of time so you're ready to hit the ground running at Photo Rodeo.

THE AGENDA

Photo Rodeo: Rein in Your Photos (& Videos) is a wonderful opportunity to work together with other memory-keepers, ask your Forever Ambassador (me!) questions, and share your wins, no matter how big or small.  We sprinkle in some quiet work time as well to lessen distractions and help you focus on things that may need your attention.

IF YOU WANT TO UPLOAD, ORGANIZE, OR EDIT PHOTOS AT PHOTO RODEO

I made you this tutorial video to show you exactly how to do it.  It's so easy, and it makes finding and sharing your photos super easy, too.

This is a great feature of preserving your photos in Forever Storage, too--you can edit them!!  

You can also tag them and add descriptions.  Tagging helps you find photos faster, and descriptions are the memories and details associated with the descriptions.

All these are great options for taking care of your photos and memories at Photo Rodeo.

IF YOU WANT TO PRESERVE PHOTOS AND MEMORIES IN PAGES AT PHOTO RODEO

One thing I absolutely love about preserving photos and memories in pages with Forever is options!!  Whichever you prefer, your books (or individual scrap pages) will be printed using inks, papers, and bindings that are THE highest quality in the industry.  

If you're looking for quick, simple memory-keeping, you'll love Design & Print.  It's free, web-based software using pre-designed (free) templates.  You can choose each page design in your book separately, too!  The software is very intuitive and I always tell people the learning curve is practically a straight line.  See what I mean in this little 5-minute video:

Or, if you prefer creative, flexible digital scrapbooking where you can play with fonts, put any text or photos anywhere you want on a page, you'll love Artisan.  It's a computer program that you purchase and download like any other program, and it's designed for a PC.  Mac users can use a partitioning program to use Artisan.  You can try the 30-day free trial if you like!

Learn more about the computer specifications required for Artisan here, and then see a little overview here in this 14-minute video:

IF YOU WANT TO PRESERVE OLD PHOTOS, VIDEOS, AND MEMORIES AT PHOTO RODEO

I'm sure you're like me--not all your memories are in photos.  Some of them are in video, old scrapbooks that are falling apart, slides, etc.  One fantastic way to spend your Photo Rodeo time is to pack a Forever Box!

The price of a Forever Box includes 3-way shipping and the cost of digitizing a certain number of items.  You can add more to fill the box, if you like, for an additional per-item cost.

Here's how it works--how to pack a Forever Box, what can be digitized, etc.  

Just be sure to order your Forever Box here before the next Photo Rodeo.

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE UNFORGETTABLE PHOTO GIFTS AT PHOTO RODEO

There are a lot of options for using your photos for gifts, too!  Here's just one example:

You can find several more ideas at my Fast, Fun Friday! series playlist here, or at my 10 Gift Ideas That Won't Be Re-Gifted article.

DON'T FORGET!

It's not just you.  You're not the only one whose photos/videos need some reining in.  Friends are welcome at Photo Rodeo.

You're not the only one looking for TIME for memory-keeping, and Photo Rodeo is exactly that:  time.

As a fantastic bonus when you bring a friend who is new to Forever, you can share your Referral Link with them (where they will open their new Forever account), and you'll get a $20 coupon as thanks!  Here's a short video about how to use your Referral Link.

THE NEXT PHOTO RODEO

I hope you'll join me at the next Photo Rodeo!  I'm there to help with any questions anyone has, too!  I bring my own "project" or plan for what I want to do at Photo Rodeo, but it's a backup.  I like to prioritize answering questions if needed first.

Click that image or this link to get the specific information about the next Photo Rodeo so you can save the date.

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How to Start Digital Scrapbooking

Feeling like there's got to be a better solution for photos than keeping them by the hundreds on your phone?

You're right.  There is.  

Digital scrapbooking is my favorite way to preserve photos and memories because it's fast, convenient, and cost-effective.  I recommend it to everyone I know (and everyone I don't), so if your photos need a home where they can be loved, you're in the right place.

Did you know that scrapbooks are older than photography itself?  Families often kept scraps and mementos in books for safekeeping, and the first “scrapbooks” were often the family Bible.  As early as the mid-1400s, people recorded births and deaths in the front covers of their Bibles, and according to “The Fascinating History of Scrapbooking,” publishers in the 1800s started including extra pages in the fronts of Bibles for this very purpose.  This made family Bibles into heirlooms because they preserved and housed the history of a family.

If you’re old enough that the term “scrapbooking” seems like a burdensome, time-consuming chore, I have some great news.

If you’re young enough that “scrapbooking” is old-fashioned and outdated, I have some great news.

The Great News

Whether you’re a former scrapbooker or a never-scrapbooker, this is the great news for you:

Digital scrapbooking is easier, more efficient, and often less expensive than traditional scrapbooking.  And it’s 1,000 times more meaningful than keeping your photos on your phone or computer.

If you’ve never done any sort of scrapbooking before (maybe you’re a young-un who lives in a digital world and doesn’t see a need), keep in mind the heirloom qualities of the first “scrapbooks,” where families would keep their own history, in essence, and pass it down to a new generation to help them know who they are and where they come from.  Preserving pictures in hand-held pages today serves exactly the same purpose.  As you know, phones aren’t exactly heirlooms.  (Check out these five reasons your photos don’t belong on your phone!)

 

If you are a traditional scrapbooker looking to make the switch, I highly recommend the article I wrote based on a class I taught on this subject, “How to Transition from Paper to Digital Scrapbooking.”  I answer 5 common questions about switching to digital, including what digital offers that paper doesn’t and what to do if you already have scrapbooking supplies you don’t want to waste.  And then, of course, I show examples of digital scrapbooking right in front of your eyes via video.  Those who attended live LOVED it!

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find several affiliate links in this post, from which I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

STEP 1:  Choose from Digital Scrapbooking Options

In over 15 years as a digital scrapbooker, I have become acquainted with several digital photobook and digital scrapbooking options.  There are a lot of variables in publishing companies.  The two big things to look for are quality and longevity.  Your pages have to be top-quality, otherwise all the work (and money) you're putting into them will have to be done all over again in 10 or 20 years (sometimes less).  You also want digital backups of your books or pages to be around for a while.  Some companies are fine deleting your projects and your photos after a while (Walmart and Shutterfly, to name two). 

Here’s my choice for the best digital scrapbooking available.  There are actually three options here, so there's something for everyone.

After quality and longevity, I think the best digital scrapbooking advice I can give is to choose something you will love.  If you love doing it, you're much more likely to do it.

So if Design & Print's software and free, easy templates look like your style, DO THAT.

If you like the creativity and flexibility of pages in Artisan look amazing, DO THAT.

Here's a little more about Artisan if that looks like your digital scrapbooking preference.  It's definitely mine!

There is so much that you can do with Artisan software that I have created two additional resources to help!

1. Artisan Cheat Sheet - I put this together when I first started using Artisan to help me remember how to do something I just learned.  I update it periodically, so I suggest you bookmark it!
2. Artisan Quick Tips with Jennifer - This is basically the video version of the Artisan Cheat Sheet, which is nice, I think so you can see how 

There's also an online digital scrapbooking group for Artisan users!  They have TONS of videos and fun resources (including blueprints, which are like templates) for free, too.  It's called Pixels2Pages and has a monthly or yearly membership fee.  The ladies who run it are called Pixies, which is kind of adorable, and you can learn more about the Pixels2Pages online scrapbooking group here.

Note:  Artisan runs on a PC, but MAC users can use it with a partitioning program.

a screenshot of me creating my digital scrapbook using Artisan

Please also consider photo privacy when choosing a digital scrapbooking option.  The company you use should not reserve rights to our photos to sell your data or photos.  I didn't think that was a thing until I did a little research and wrote this article which will most likely blow your mind:  What You’re Really Signing Up For with Digital Photo Storage.  So, please:  know what you’re signing up for when you choose a publishing (or photo storage) company!

All the options you see recommended here at Photo and Story Treasures will always meet the highest quality, longevity, and privacy standards!  It matters. 

STEP 2:  Get Ready – Photo Organization

Most people I know stop right here.  The idea of photo organization is so overwhelming (and understandably so) that the idea of leaving your pictures to die on your phone sounds preferable to creating a family heirloom book with photo and story treasures inside.

But you’re better than that!  You can do this!

I first recommend that you choose your topic.  Do you want to make a photo-storybook about your summer adventures, baby’s first year, the Hawaii trip, or a family yearbook of 2017 or 2020 photos?  Just focus on one thing, not all the pictures you own.  Some people like to start with the most recent (pictures from this summer), but some people like to start at the beginning (the wedding, baby’s first year, or wherever you left off).  Go with what sounds easiest and most doable to you.   

Next, organize and choose photos from just that topic. You may have a lot more photos than that.  That’s ok.  They’ll wait.  Do one thing first, start to finish, and the momentum will propel you forward.  (Because it’s fun, super exciting, and so rewarding.)

I’ve created several resources to help with photo organization.  Find many of them here, including video tutorials.

STEP 3:  Make an Appointment with Yourself

Just like going to the grocery store or the dentist or the gym, nothing happens without making time for it.  So make a digital scrapbooking appointment with yourself and then be a friend (to yourself) and keep it. 

Alternatively, you may want to recruit a friend you can work with.  All you need for digital scrapbooking is a laptop, so getting together is pretty easy.  I used to do this all the time—we’d take turns at each other’s houses and our kids would play together.  Or you can always do Girls Night at any local restaurant or shop with good wifi.  Or you can even get together with friends long-distance thanks to Zoom and such.

And you are invited to do your digital scrapbooking with me!!  I host an online digital scrapbooking work time (sometimes daytime, sometimes evenings) once every season.  It’s free for anyone using my fave, Forever, and is lots of fun!  You can find details of the next event and a link to join it right here—just scroll down until you find “Photo Rodeo – Rein in Your Photos.”

I have one last idea for you to help you make sure your good intentions get done.  Have you ever thought about working with your kids/grandkids to put together your photo and story treasures?  Based on some experiences I’ve heard from people who do it, I wrote Preserving Your Pictures as a Family Tradition.  If you like the idea, read that article and see what suggestions are helpful.

STEP 4:  Just Do It  ~  Enjoy!

Now’s the fun part.  Just do it.  Take those precious photos and preserve them as family heirlooms that tell your story.  It will mean the world to your family, plus it’s so good for your heart and soul!

I love what happens when you preserve your photos and tell their stories—both for the person doing it and the person receiving it—so if you need help or have questions, let me help you on the road.

Create yourown heirloom-quality photo-storybooks by following the steps here.

Then share this post with someone who wants to put their photos into their hands, too!  No experience necessary.

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Perfect Gifts with a Budget-Friendly Plan: Christmas in September

This post was updated in 2022.

You’ve probably heard of Christmas in July, but if you’ve never heard of Christmas in September, today’s your lucky day.  

Get ready for a mind-blowing, life-changing approach to completely annihilate the stress and expense of gift-giving in December while giving impressive and amazing gifts which I promise you will be the best gifts ever.

I’ll give you a month-by-month guide (use it as a checklist, if you like) along with memorable, personal, and unique gift options to choose from.  You’ll have everything completed by Thanksgiving, your expenses will be spread out, you won’t be scrambling for gift ideas, and you will have very happy recipients.  

Christmas in September is basically the best thing ever.

All these gifts are created digitally (sort of like canva.com or Photoshop) and then submitted for professional publishing.  You'll just need a (free) Forever account, which I'll give details on later.  You get a $20 coupon just for opening your account, too!  It's only good for 60 days, though, so I'm going to help you plan accordingly.  

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find several affiliate links in this post, from which I earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you.

If you'd like a video version of this post, I walk you through Christmas in September with a few more ideas here:

Something to keep in mind is that although print products are fantastic gifts and I'll show several of them here, we're using Forever products and services for this Christmas in September Plan, which means you could also gift digitization!  You can get old home movies digitized, old photos digitized, etc. with the Forever Box!

Find more details on the Forever Box here or email me at photoandstorytreasures@gmail.com with your questions.  (The Forever Box is almost always on sale, too.)  It's a priceless gift!

All right!  It's time for the Christmas in September Plan!  It's unforgettable gifts with a budget-friendly plan, and as a bonus you don't have to go to the mall in December!

SEPTEMBER

The first steps happen in September.  This gives you time to choose the gifts and budget for them.  These particular gifts will be personal (and delightful, I happen to know from experience), and I’ll include a lot of details here to help you make them that way, such as video tutorials.  The links will have more pictures, too.  This month, you’ll only need to set aside a portion of the cost.

In September, you’ll just need to do these 6 things: 

1.      First, learn about the three platforms for creating impressive, personalized, high-quality gifts here, and then we'll jump right into the Plan.

 

2. Make your recipient gift list:  Grandparents, parents, friends, siblings, spouse, children, neighbors, grandchildren, everyone.

3.      Explore personal and unique gift ideas that are also high-quality which can fit a variety of ages and interests (and price ranges for you).  Make a budget first if you like, then explore gift ideas and options here.  Don’t worry about not knowing yet how to actually get/create these items—that’s another step later.  This part is just having fun and picking gifts for loved ones.  Books are always meaningful, but calendars and ornaments are popular this time of year, and steel water bottles, mousepads, and wall decor are other great ideas.

4.      Make a price list of how much these sweet items cost, but keep in mind that by following this Christmas in September approach, you’ll hit some sales as well as have a chance to get some freebies.  Tally up the total number of dollars, but take into consideration that sales are 20-50% off.  This "save up over time" Christmas in September approach will save you an additional 5% as well, so include that in your tally.  

5.      Once you’ve determined how much your amazing gifts will cost, now it's time to learn about Forever Club.  It's free to join, and you're essentially just putting money into your Forever account a little at a time to save up for your upcoming purchase.  You can read about Forever Club here, or watch either one of the videos below.  Club Dollars don't expire, so it's a great way to save up during the fall for your Christmas purchase--and save 5%, too.

6.      You will need to order your chosen gifts at the end of November, so chances are, you'll want to join Forever Club near the end of September in order to use your $20 coupon within 60 days.  If you want Forever Storage or Artisan digital scrapbooking software, you can use the $20 there instead of later for your gifts.  It's up to you!  Join Forever Club at this link.

OCTOBER:

In October, you get to start creating!  Woo hoo! (Certainly, you can start on this earlier if you want).  This is the fun part.  If there aren’t specific videos for the items you want to gift—or if you just have questions—you can contact me here.  

In October, you’ll need to do these 2 things: 

1.      This one is easy!  If you joined Forever Club in September, let it auto-renew this month, putting the same number of Club Dollars in your account as you did last month.  (Or change it if you prefer--you can do that right in your account.)  If you didn't join in September, check your tally and see how many Club Dollars you'd like to save up by the end of November--you'll probably want to join Forever Club now.      

2.      Instead of going shopping for hours in November or December, you’ll use that time now to create your special gifts.  In October, you should make most (if not all) of the gifts you’ll be ordering.  Again, contact me if you have any questions!  If you're using AutoPrint or Design & Print to create your personal gifts, they are both fairly straightforward platforms that take only minutes to learn how to use.  If you're using Artisan, you have a lot more flexibility but there's a lot more to learn.  Either way, you can find some video tutorials about each here.

NOVEMBER:

You have 3 things to do in November.

1.     If you’re on Forever Club, let it auto-renew this month so you keep accruing Club Dollars.  If you're not yet, definitely join this month so you can save an extra 5% when you place your order at the end of this month.  You'll need to be a current Forever Club member when you place the order to be able to get that 5% savings, so time things right as needed. 

2.      Check the current and upcoming sales ("Deals") at this link on November 1!  Sales are based on when you submit something for publishing.  You’ll get the sale price when you submit something for publishing during the specified day(s).  If you haven’t finished creating (digitally) some of your gift items, the Deals will help you determine what you need to finish first.  I post updated specials here, and I send them out in my monthly newsletter also.

cork-backed coasters; set of 4

3.    Last of all, place your order!  Place your order by Thanksgiving for delivery by Christmas.  If you're new to Forever and opened a new account here, you also got a $20 coupon, so don't forget to use it! All these gift ideas are professionally published and shipped to your door.  

ENJOY DECEMBER!

I love being *done* with Christmas gifts before Thanksgiving, steering clear of malls and big box stores at that time of year, and spreading out my gift-giving budget over a few months.  

More than that, though, I love giving high-quality, unique, and personal gifts that are always loved.  I feel like Forever makeS me the best gift-giver in the family/neighborhood.  Christmas in September has so many perks, SO I hope you enjoy this plan as much as I do.

As a bonus way to enjoy December, you’re welcome to join the yearly online event I host called the Enjoy December Card Party.  It’s the most fun you’ll ever have getting Christmas greetings done.  It’s normally the first Friday of November, but you can find details (including date & times) at this link for the upcoming year.

We “meet” online and work individually to create our digital cards (or newsletters, or any number of other creative greetings), then submit them for publishing!  Again, you’ll get them back before Thanksgiving, so you can enjoy December.  You can see how fast it is to make impressive cards here:

And then you get to just enjoy December!  Sip hot chocolate in front of twinkling lights.  Give service to those in need.  Go to some parties.  You might even have enough energy now to host one!  

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