Mrs. Taco scrapbooks but it’s not a life’s mission nor is she a hoarder. She doesn’t have a good set of supplies and implements just like anyone who’s into a hobby might.
She does good work too.
Green Bean, I’ve been frustrated recently because I can hardly find any regular old photo albums anymore. All the local craft stores and big box stores have tons of scrapbooking albums, but I want PHOTO albums. I’ve been keeping photo albums for about a decade now, and didn’t previously have any trouble finding something hardbound (not ring-bound) with space for memos and two 4x6" photos per page. But this kind of thing may be going the way of the dodo.
On my last quest for photo albums the very few I found that weren’t just glorified ring-binders came in four cover designs: froo froo wedding album, froo froo baby album, froo froo travel album, or faux black leather. There was nothing appropriate for my ordinary photos of Halloween, Christmas, visits to a friend, etc. If you’re not a bride, a mother, a world traveler, or a biker (?), there are apparently no photo albums for you.
Silly Lamia! Why use a photo album when you can be using a Scrapbook???
I thought I saw somewhere that they had regular photo insert pages for “scrapbook” albums. Oh here…Pioneer - Le Memo Photo Albums Refill Pages - Holds Six 4 x 6 Inch Photo Pockets Per Page - 5 Pack. Those are for 12x12 format. Maybe you’re going to have to buy the pages and the albums separately? They do make some different sizes. I saw some actual photo albums on that site, but they looked pretty jerky. They seem to have some good and inexpensive stuff at Michaels.
And I TOTALLY know what you mean about all the froo-froo stuff! Any album other than “plain” is like…well, like the kind of things that appeal to the bridezilla demographic or something. Okay, okay, there are exceptions, but for the most part they’re froo-froo as hell and it’s a real turn-off. And it was kind of hard to find packages of plain one-color paper. Sheesh.
But in the interest of staying on topic:
I’m actually embarking on my first scrapbooking project right now, and it is definitely in service of getting rid of stuff. It’s kind of funny, but my entree into scrapbooking is for porn. See, I have maybe 12-15 dirty magazines, but there are only a couple of things in each of them that I like.* So there’s no need to keep all those bulky magazines around, and it will be nice to have it all in one place for easy “reference.” I was going to use regular sheet protectors in a binder but somehow that seems like it would be a bit of a buzzkill or something.
I’m definitely concerned about acquiring even more craft supplies once I start doing the photo albums, especially given that I’m a bit of a pack-rat. But unless I get hooked on embellishment (unlikely), it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Other than the album covers themselves, the only things I’ll be adding to my stock of craft crap would be paper inserts, sheet protectors, and some photo corners whatever. I have plenty of room in my box where I keep craft-ish papers, so I should be all right. I have all the other stuff I would need, like glue and Xacto knives and the right kind of pens. The process should make me cull my photos pretty drastically and it will be nice to have them in a more usable format.
*and there’s one major thing I don’t like in one of them–the cover girl looks a lot like my best friend! It’s not her, but yikes. Speaking of buzzkills…
Making a scrapbook can be helpful for mild hoarders – once on “Clean Sweep” they had a woman who was keeping all sorts of broken appliance because they were her “first” from when she came the US, and after taking pictures of them and making a photo album she was able to throw them out.
Scrapbooking, on the other hand, with all the froo froo bits of this and that and the “save every scrap!” mentality would easily become another item to be hoarded.
So–somebody has part of a room devoted to a hobby. Everything is neatly arranged. It may not be your hobby–it isn’t mine–but why judge? Some people really get upset that I have “too many books.” In fact, I’m in the process of culling my library; everything that I’m not actually reading needs a place in a bookcase–not in a stack. Seems to me that scrapbooker has her stuff under control.
However, I’ve heard of folks who really want to get into scrapbooking–someday. So they’ve started saving all those little bits & bobs. Tossed into boxes & crammed into drawers & shelves. Hoarding alarm!
It strikes me that people are vastly overestimating how much anyone in the future will possibly care about their trip to Disney. Back in the olden days, when people rarely left the village of their birth, sure, souvenirs mattered. Now there is so much crap associated with anything you do, no one will ever wade through it all. As the baby boomers reach the end of their days, someone should sit them down and make them edit their remembrances down to one single scrapbook.
Hell, we barely keep photos! I found a box of old photos, including a bucn from my prom. Other than my prom date, I don’t remember the names of half the people in the group shot. I’m not in touch with any of them and the photo is pretty meaningless to anyone else, and not particularly relevent to me. So out of probably 40 photos, I kept one.
And I probably won’t tlook at it for another 15 years. I only kept it because my hair looks funny.
Well, I did write a whole thing about my plans for the photo albums I’d like to make, but I thought it might be too boring. But it’s relevant to this comment.
I’m not making these albums for future generations. I’m making them for me. But I also want to set them up so that it will be easy for whoever is left with them to “edit” it themselves.
My plan was to use glue on the photos that would only matter to me (it’s easier), and use photo corners for the few things that I might either want to get copies of or that someone is likely to want after I die. That way, whoever has the unfortunate duty of going through my crap can just pop out whichever of the pictures that they want and chuck the rest.
Also, there are certain pictures that I want to keep but don’t merit the album treatment, like the one SMC mentioned. I’m going to cull those to a minimum and keep them in one of those photo shoeboxes labeled “random pix that I probably should chuck.” Then when I get to be an aged old crone, I can dump it. Or if it’s after I’m dead, my son will know that there’s nothing important in there.