Whether you get your photographs printed or keep them online matters not-the first phase to creating a truly wonderful scrapbook is to organize your pictures and memorabilia. This may seem like a time-consuming and unnecessary part of your scrapbooking project, but, believe me, it will save you time later and help you avoid making mistakes that can't be fixed, such as forgetting to include a particular photograph.



Computer Storage

More and more scrapbookers are deciding to keep their pictures on their personal computer or on an online site. This is a great option for people who are creating digital scrapbooks or who don't have the space to hold many printed pictures waiting to be scrapbooked. Digital image organization is also the fastest and easiest way to keep your pictures in order.

You can store pictures in folders on your computer or choose to upload them to a website that hosts picture sharing. In either case, you will have the option to create folders, which is the preferred method over dumping hundred of picture uploads into one big folder. It is easiest to create folders according to your album theme. For example, if you are creating an album in chronological order, your folder names might be "Spring 2006" or "The Holidays, 2005." If you take many photographs, you might even group them according to event, with folder names such as "Kim's 5th Birthday." If your album is not simply chronological, you'll probably find it helpful to sort your online images in another way, according to how you will eventually use your pictures.

Print Storage

Of course, there is nothing wrong or old-fashioned to resist the computer trend and continue to get print copies of your photographs. If you're anything like me, however, it's hard to find the time to always complete pages as soon as you get the hard copies made. It is important to safely store your prints until you can create albums.

Many storage systems are on the market to protect your photographs from acid and to keep them clean. Look for products that are specially made for picture storage; these organizational tools should always be acid free. In my opinion, one of the easiest and most convenient storage methods is to buy regular photo albums (many safe albums are available on the market, but again make sure they are acid and lignin free before purchase). Sliding your pictures into slots is not nearly as attractive as creating pages, but when you use a regular photo album, you can still share your pictures in a presentable way with guests until you have time to create scrapbooks.

Again, it will probably work best for you to organize your pictures according to your album theme. Instead of creating virtual folders however, you will use other tools to separate your photographs. Like the computer folders, keep these compartments, files, drawers, etc. labeled so you can quickly find what you need when it's time to scrapbook. The key to organization is time-devoting a few minutes to arranging your images before you start a project will save you from stressing when you are creating albums.