Organization tips: Who still makes photo prints and fills "old fashioned" albums?

[hs03842]

My husband's father died this year, and looking  through old photo albums of his childhood was a great comfort to him as he began the grief process.  At that point I realized that I needed to come up with something easy (for me) to do that would create the same sort of relic for our children.  After being terrible at picture organization, I've decided this is the way I can be most consistent at actually creating photo albums for my kids to look at in the future.  Digital photo books and physical scrapbooks full of fancy paper and stickers both take so much time--I'm always behind!  Last year I uploaded pictures to Snapfish as the year went on, then printed an entire year's worth of pictures in January.  A photo binder, some insert pages, some blank cards to write notes on, a few hours worth of sorting and stuffing, and we now have our very first "yearbook."  If you still make old fashioned photo albums what's your system?

Edited July 4, 2020 by JoyKM

[Katy]

I started doing that again this year.  I order prints from Nations (they were the ones I liked best back when I dabbled with learning photography, and they don't discolor like cheap prints from Walgreens or Walmart).  I got photo albums from Amazon, I just ordered a dozen leather ones so I'll have plenty of matching ones for years to come.

[Ali in OR]

Well, I started with Creative Memories when my oldest was a baby. I'm chronicling their childhoods and I also do just Christmases in a separate album. I've finished with the oldest two kids and have 7 more years to do in youngest's album and our family album. I want to be done with those by this time next year (her high school graduation). Then I plan to "graduate" and be done with scrapbooking for the most part, but I think I'll keep doing Christmas.

[J-rap]

I used to do that, but the last one was maybe 10 years ago?  Now when I look at my much older albums, I see the photos are already fading.  At some point, they will be so faded that the picture will probably be unclear.  On the other hand, my parents have photo albums from the 1930's and 40's where the photos are still very clear.  They're black and white.  Maybe it's the color that fades in the colored pictures?  

But also, in my albums and also my parents', the photos eventually slide around, and some are missing.  I won't do that anymore.  Now, I do all of mine on sites like Shutterfly.  Actually, some sites -- I think Shutterfly is one -- you can upload your photos and the site will even arrange them for you.  You can still switch them around after that.  It doesn't need to be a lot of work.  I think those books will last a lot longer.

[MEmama]

I do my own version of Project Life. https://www.beckyhiggins.com/
 

The way I do it has evolved over the years. Usually I print one photo from each day, adding in journaling when I feel like it. Right now it’s not necessarily daily, but each page always represents one week in our lives. 
 

I print from home. My process is super streamlined so it takes very little time. I’m always surprised by how easy it is to fill a week even when it feels like we have nothing going on. Sometimes I include tv shows we are watching, music I’m into, current events that are meaningful to me, and right now I’m trying to keep up with journaling bits about quarantine life. But photos are the main thing for me. It’s how I see the world. 

[Kassia]

I still print photos and put them in albums.  DH would prefer I don't because we have SO many and want to move eventually.  After almost 35 years and four kids, they take up a lot of room.  

[alisoncooks]

I do! In fact, just this week I got all caught up to the current year. I hadn't printed pictures since 2014! (In my defense, DH was diagnosed with cancer that year and many things were let slide...).  I got everything uploaded (which took forever) and ordered: just shy of 1,400 pictures! 😵 Price was about $140 total (part of that was $50 shipping -- that's where Snapfish gets you).

Anyway, I put them in 300-picture albums, nothing extra or fancy; I just write the timeframe on the inside cover. They're all organized chronologically but I just fill up each album (so an album may run, for example, May 2015-Feb 2016).  Once an album's filled, I start a new one. 

ETA: I also print occasional photobooks, usually for special events. After our dog passed 3 years ago, I made my kids books compiling all our dog pictures. Same for after our big Disney trip. I'll probably do another from a family photo shoot we did a few years ago. 

Edited July 4, 2020 by alisoncooks

[Jentrovert]

Sigh. 

I do a horrible job of taking pictures to begin with. For a long time, I didn't have a phone with a decent camera, and hate keeping track of an actual camera, so I hardly ever took photos. I still rarely take photos, though I have a decent phone camera now.

For me personally, if I am taking a picture of it, I am not fully appreciating the moment. I'd rather be 100% there.

And I really, really, with all my heart despise how people now insist on documenting every dang activity with a picture. I think I've swung entirely the other way without fully meaning to. (This is not directed toward the pp who documents things in their week. That's different.)

I do need to take more of the kids, whether I enjoy it or not. And figure out albums and such. 

[Jentrovert]

33 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I do my own version of Project Life. https://www.beckyhiggins.com/
 

The way I do it has evolved over the years. Usually I print one photo from each day, adding in journaling when I feel like it. Right now it’s not necessarily daily, but each page always represents one week in our lives. 
 

I print from home. My process is super streamlined so it takes very little time. I’m always surprised by how easy it is to fill a week even when it feels like we have nothing going on. Sometimes I include tv shows we are watching, music I’m into, current events that are meaningful to me, and right now I’m trying to keep up with journaling bits about quarantine life. But photos are the main thing for me. It’s how I see the world. 

The more I consider it, the more I begin to think something like this might actually work for me. A routine, and the pics can be of anything.

[MEmama]

11 minutes ago, Jentrovert said:

The more I consider it, the more I begin to think something like this might actually work for me. A routine, and the pics can be of anything.

Yeah, the key is that it works for *you*. And I’ve found what works changes over time, so I decided long ago to be okay with that. 
 

When DS was little I did the kind of scrapbooking that was popular back then. The stickers, the 12x12 pages, the reinventing the wheel every layout. I did it for years. And then I moved somewhere I didn’t have access to the “stuff”, and the photos just collected on my phone. I was in a deep depression and had too hard a time seeing the beauty in our days, so I let it go. Years later, long after I started a simplified version similar to above, I went back through those years and did digital Project Life. I was able to get several years worth of albums done in a short time, and honestly, I’m not bothered that my albums aren’t all the same format. That those years albums are different speaks to the years themselves. (Digital Project Life is awesome, btw).

Heres an example of a digital page.

[Shoeless]

Those are really nice, @MEmama

[Jentrovert]

18 minutes ago, MEmama said:

Yeah, the key is that it works for *you*. And I’ve found what works changes over time, so I decided long ago to be okay with that. 
 

When DS was little I did the kind of scrapbooking that was popular back then. The stickers, the 12x12 pages, the reinventing the wheel every layout. I did it for years. And then I moved somewhere I didn’t have access to the “stuff”, and the photos just collected on my phone. I was in a deep depression and had too hard a time seeing the beauty in our days, so I let it go. Years later, long after I started a simplified version similar to above, I went back through those years and did digital Project Life. I was able to get several years worth of albums done in a short time, and honestly, I’m not bothered that my albums aren’t all the same format. That those years albums are different speaks to the years themselves. (Digital Project Life is awesome, btw).

Heres an example of a digital page.

These are wonderful. Thank you for posting them! 

[hs03842]

37 minutes ago, Jentrovert said:

And I really, really, with all my heart despise how people now insist on documenting every dang activity with a picture. I think I've swung entirely the other way without fully meaning to. 

I do need to take more of the kids, whether I enjoy it or not. And figure out albums and such. 

I get this. I find myself purposefully not filming my kids performing things, receiving awards or having some moment—I just watch it (craning my neck around the cell phones), enjoy it, and take a picture before or after in costume/by something noteable,etc.

Being a bad picture taker means catching up should be faster!  We have so few pictures of 2009-2016 that I will be lucky to fill two albums. ☹️ Taking pictures became important to me only recently. I’m also getting large 12x12 pages to slide a 12x12 piece of white card stock into for attaching portraits from that year. I used to be bad about getting portraits done, too. Now I can incorporate ones not in a frame into the photo album which makes me feel better about getting the them—they can still be enjoyed. 

[ScoutTN]

I print, but just save them in photo boxes. My SIL is fabulous at making Shutterfly books.

[Ellie]

I do, but I don't make crafty pages. 🙂 Pictures are as artfully arranged as possible, cropped when necessary, notated when possible. I don't have time or creativity to do all the stickers and stuff.

Last year I finally finished an album for each of my *only two* dds. You understand that they were born in 1975 and 1978. o_0 Now I'm working on mine, and then I'll do one for Mr. Ellie.

[klmama]

I print photos for graduations.  That's about it.  We have a box full of unmarked photos from when the older dc were very young, but after that we got a digital camera.  Everything since is on the computers, and a lot of it is not saved in any particular spot or in any particular order.  Worse, dc2 went through a fierce "don't take my picture" phase that lasted for years, so we didn't have any.  Thankfully, dc's best friend's mom is a prolific photographer and documents every. little. thing. her dc do.  Dc didn't argue with her when she took photos, so she had the shots we needed come graduation time, LOL!  We sent all the digital files off to Wal-Mart, had them printed, and mounted them on display boards for the grad party.  

I guess I really should start making albums, so that when I'm in a nursing home someday, I'll have memories to look at....

[Jentrovert]

39 minutes ago, JoyKM said:

I get this. I find myself purposefully not filming my kids performing things, receiving awards or having some moment—I just watch it (craning my neck around the cell phones), enjoy it, and take a picture before or after in costume/by something noteable,etc.

Being a bad picture taker means catching up should be faster!  We have so few pictures of 2009-2016 that I will be lucky to fill two albums. ☹️ Taking pictures became important to me only recently.

Exactly this. The one thing I did do post-kids is have their pictures done regularly and family pics yearly. (Have slacked off, though, the last couple years.) So I do have some nice ones. I just don't have a lot of day-to-day, regular photos.

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, MissLemon said:

Those are really nice, @MEmama

Thanks!

 

[MEmama]

56 minutes ago, Jentrovert said:

These are wonderful. Thank you for posting them! 

Thanks! I know for myself it helps to actually see examples.

Edited July 4, 2020 by MEmama

[mom2scouts]

I started scrapbooking again during the quarantine. I love having something creative to do and I'm never happy with the photo books you print out. I may never get caught up with all the pictures I have, but it is fun to look through the albums and scrapbooking has forced me to organize all those photos that are thrown into boxes. I do try to make simple layouts by just mounting the photos, adding a few stickers or designs, and writing something about the event.

[J-rap]

4 hours ago, Kassia said:

I still print photos and put them in albums.  DH would prefer I don't because we have SO many and want to move eventually.  After almost 35 years and four kids, they take up a lot of room.  

That's true, that's probably one of the biggest advantages of making your own online.  The old-fashioned albums do take up so much room!!