Album Planner “in a nutshell.”

1. Decide how many page layouts you will do for each event.
2. Choose the photos and send them to the printer.
3. Sort photos into 2 page layouts and store in ScrapRack Perfect Six Pages Photo Storage Sheets.
4. Use a TravelPack to store the photos.
5. Add 8 ½ x 11 page protectors for storing larger photos, memorabilia and journaling notes.
6. Add ScrapRack Super Sized Single Storage sheets for storing completed pages until the album is done.
7. Complete the Album Title Page.
8. Add “finishing touches” and journaling notes to the album.
9. Put pages into the actual album.
10. Throw away any unused photos.
11. Leave empty Perfect Six, 8 ½ x 11 pages and ScrapRack Super Sized Single pages on the Spinder so you can begin setting up your next album.

One of the things that can really make you a more productive scrapper is using a good system for organizing your photos. Irene, as most of you know, is one of the few Scrapper’s who can honestly call herself “current.” Read on to find out how she does it.

Question: What’s your secret to getting so much done? Do you only take a few photos?
Answer: No, I take 100s of photos; I’m all digital now which allows me to really get great shots. I said that I take 100s of photos, but I don’t keep them all.

Question: What do you mean?
Answer: I only keep the ones I really like. If the photo isn’t great, I delete it right away. One of the problems digital or even traditional photographers have is keeping/printing too many photos. Once I’ve downloaded my pictures I delete the bad ones and copy the rest to an unedited disk. I store the unedited disks in the CD Album from Pioneer.

Question: What do you do next?
Answer: The next thing I do is decide how many pages I want to do of the particular day or event. This is a really important step. It keeps me from creating too many redundant pages. I ask myself first how many pages I think I want. Then I consider the other people who are looking at the album, how many pages will it take to tell the story, how long will they stay interested. Remember if nobody is enjoying your work, you could be doing it in vain. Keep the story and pictures moving, that way you’ll keep the attention of your reader the same way a great author keeps you reading a really terrific book.

Once I’ve decided on the number of pages for the event, I decide on which pictures. I crop and edit those particular pictures. I move them into a file on my desktop labeled for the album I am going to use them in. Album labels might be just dates; January-June 2005, or they could be themes, Christmas 2005, or even gifts, Mom’s Birthday Album. I also write journaling note and the number of pages I think I will use on this particular event. Once I have 20, 2 page layouts in a file, I’m ready to send the pictures off to the printer. Just before I send them I take one last look and decide which pictures I might want to enlarge, place the order and off they go. At this point I transfer the pictures to an “album” disk. This disk will go into the back of the album. If I need reprints or someone wants a copy of the picture, I don’t have to search my computer, I just pull the disk out of the back of the Album and download the pictures to wherever they need to go. I use the “Hold-It” brand CD pockets. They are just a self adhesive pocket that I stick to the inside back cover. You can decorate the to match your album.

When the photos arrive in the mail, I sort them immediately into two-page layouts using The ScrapRack Perfect Six Pages. I keep these pages in a TravelPack and reuse them over and over. I also have some regular 8 ½ by 11 page protectors in the TravelPack. I use those for the enlargements, journaling notes, and other memorabilia. There are also 20 ScrapRack Super Sized Single pages on a separate Spinder. I use these to store the completed pages until I’m ready to put the finishing touches on everything.

Question: What do you mean “Finishing Touches?”
Answer: Well, do you ever work on a page, think it’s done, put it your album, but when you look at it there it’s just not right? It might need one more accent or embellishment; it might need more journaling or maybe some fiber. So you either take it out or leave it there feeling that its “incomplete”. When I have all those completed pages in my TravelPack, I’m able to add those finishing touches to all the pages at the same time. I might carry a fiber all the way through the album, or repeat an embellishment at different points to bring attention or continuity. I wait and do all this stuff last when I know how the album is really going to look and feel. It saves me a lot of regrets and reworking later.

Question: I know you said you are caught up, does that mean you only have one of the Album Packs going at a time?
Answer: No, as a matter of fact I might have 5 or 6 of them going at a time. I have sets of the ScrapRack Perfect Six Pages and the 8 ½ by 11 pages on several Spinders. I Scrapbook for others so each client will have their own Spinder, as I collect things for their albums I add them to the Spinder. These are just stacked on shelves. But once I’ve got my 20 pages together, I start working. I just grab the Album Spinder off the shelf, and a Spinder of SuperSized Single Page put them in the TravelPack and off I go. I can complete a whole album, except for the finishing touches in one weekend crop because I’ve already done the thing that takes the most time “choosing the photos.”

Question: What’s a Spinder?
Answer: (LOL) A Spinder is the Velcro backed 3 ring section that holds the pages together. It is like the Spine from a Binder which is how ScrapRack came up with the name, Spinder rhymes with Binder.

Question: Do you ever have left over pictures?
Answer: Yes, any extra pictures I have, after the page is done, go into the first empty 8. ½ x 11 page pocket UNTIL I'm done with the title page for that album (which I do last) then... I THROW away extra pictures or send them to my Mom BUT I get them OUT of my house.

Question: When do you add the journaling?
Answer: I’ve usually got the journaling notes already typed up and stored on the Album disk. Once I’m done with the basic layouts I go to the computer and reshape the journaling to fit in the blocks I’ve left on the pages. This is part of the “Finishing Touches” procedure.

1. You don’t have to touch your photos, a million times, moving them from the store to the your purse, purse to desk, desk to storage container …….
2. You don’t spend lots of time sorting and resorting photos, you do it just once.
3. The TravelPack keeps everything safe and in order.
4. The TravelPack makes it easy to take things with me in when I go to a crop or class.
5. Viewing the pages all together before actually assembling an album makes it easy to add finishing touches and get a good Feel for the album. No more taking pages apart