How I Store My Photos

I have to admit, I'm still totally old school when it comes to my photo albums. :) I save all my pics to my computer, but I still enjoy flipping through an actual album to see my pics. That's why I still print out my pics and save them in albums. I have a few friends who go all out on their scrapbooking...tons of embellishments, fancy papers, stickers, you name it. Well, I'm not nearly that talented and I don't have a lot of time to spend on my scrapbooks, but I still want to document everything and be able to easily locate my pictures. I'll show you how I scrapbook my pics. It's nothing fancy at all, but it gets the job done. :) By the way...I have a Kindle, but I still kind of prefer an actual book. LOL! I told ya...old school, baby!

I take a lot of pics with my big camera, but I also take a lot with my iPhone. The pics that are on my big camera, I just print from the memory card at Walgreens. When I take a pic on my phone that's "print worthy" I save it to a folder in my photos on my phone that I appropriately named "Walgreens." Ha! That way, I know every pic in that folder needs to be printed and placed into an album. 

Walgreens makes it very easy to print from your phone. All I do is open the (free) Walgreens app, then click on "Photo" then "Print From Phone." It then pulls up all my albums on my phone and I click on the one I titled "Walgreens" and select every pic in the album. It then uploads them and sends me an email saying they're working on printing my pics. I get another email from them when my pics are ready to pick up at the store (in about an hour.) Couldn't be easier!

I usually wait until I have 50 photos in my folder to print them because you get a break on the price if you print 50 or more at a time. I think it's like .19 cents apiece for 50 or more. 

Here's the process I use once I get my prints from Walgreens:

I buy a 3 ring binder with a clear cover, sheet protectors, cardstock, and a cute piece of scrap paper to decorate the front and back of my binder. (this is why I get the clear cover binders) I got the binder at Walmart, the sheet protectors and cardstock at Joann's and the scrap paper at Michael's.

Here are the sheet protectors I use. It says they are museum quality and acid, lignin, and PVC free, so I guess it's pretty safe for my photos. :) These are 8 1/2 x 11 size and have the three holes on the side to fit into my 3 ring binder.

Here's the cardstock I use. It's also acid free. I usually get white or a light color because I write little captions under my pics and it's hard to see my writing if the paper is a dark color. These are also 8 1/2 x 11 size.

Here's the sticker on the binder. I usually get the 2 inch or 3 inch size.

Here's a pretty paper I picked up to decorate the front and back of my album.

You can probably see how it has a clear cover.

I just slip the scrap paper into the front (and back) to jazz it up a little. 

There! I think it looks a little bit nicer now. :)

I use my punch to cut out these little circles, then I write the dates that are in that particular album. (this is an older album) This makes it extremely easy to find pics. I then use a spray adhesive to adhere it to the spine of the binder. Or you could just tape it.

First I place my pics on the card stock with just a tiny bit of tape. I usually get 2-3 4x6 photos on one side of my paper. I use both sides, so I get a total of 4-6 pics per sheet (front and back.)

Then I usually write a little caption with the date under the pic.

Next, I simply slide the paper into the sheet protector.

Then put it in the album. So easy!

I love that my kids can say "What did we do for my 3rd birthday party?" and I can quickly locate the correct album and show them. :) I'm always looking back at old pics and love that it's so easy to find things. How do y'all store your photos? Am I the only one that still puts them in albums?

~Lisa

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