Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Next Steps

The last time I left you... oh so long ago... I got you to the point where you sorted all your pictures and were ready to store them. Here is what my pictures looked liek before I sorted them

What a mess! It might look like they are all nice and neat but they were all mixed up and some were still in those envelopes that we get them back from the developer in.
After a long evening I had them sorted into some main categories:
Family
Jessica
Wedding
Mexico
Then a bunch of little groups like:
High School
College
Art Photography
Nature Photography
etc...

Now, I used several types of storage to keep my photos organized at this point. I did this because it is what I had available.
When picking a storage type you need to stick with something you can afford, something you have space for, and something you are comfortable with. There are many brands and types of options out there. For my numerous small groupings of photos I was lucky to have a Power Sort Box from Creative Memories. It has many awesome features but aside from being totally photo safe its major selling point for me was the 2,400 5x7 pictures it can hold! Thats a lot of pictures so I have some room to grow. The Power Sort Mini is what I used for Jessica's pictures. Why so small you ask? I have been really good about printing and scrapbooking the pictures right away so I didn't have too much to store there. The rest are in photo storage boxes I got for around $3 at Walmart. All are labeled with the pictures inside and ready to scrap when the need arises. My travel pictures for our trips to Mexico are in 2 Pioneer Photo Albums. I did that because my husband likes to look at those often. At least they are protected while still being easy to look at until I get those albums finished that is.
Like I said there are many companies that make many different options. Cropper Hopper has a system, the Container store had a nice one but it was a bit spendy for my taste and when you add shipping to that it wasn't an option for my budget anymore.
You should have a good idea not that things have been sorted as to how many containers you need. Look around decide what works for you and your good to go.
What system are you using? What are the pros? Do you not like the system you have at the moment? Why? Share with us what you think and what you use. As a final note here is my new and improved photo center in my scrap room.

this center is located right behind where I stand at my craft table so it is really easy to get to the photos I need when I need it.
Here is a close up of just the photo section

If you have pictures too please share with us by adding a link in the comments section too. Cant wait to hear/see your progress!

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