Don't loose your photos or all your scrapping. Save all of it!!!

[ilovemickeymost]

I went to a conference this summer & attended a session called "My Life in a Box." Basically, they taught us what important documents you need to take w/ us in case of an emergency (Katrina). Everything important goes in some sort of container (an accordian file works great) & you keep it by the door or some place you can get to if you had to leave right away. Personally, my parents in another state are getting notarized copies of everything. I'm even giving them the container to keep everything in. During the class, the instructors mentioned her pictures. She downloads all of them to an online site. You don't have to order all of them as prints. That way if your computer is ever stolen or damaged, you still have access to your phots. It got me to thinking about all the creativity, time, energy, love, memories, & money I put into my scrapbooks. If there ever was a flood or fire, I couldn't possible replace all of that, even if my pictures were okay. So, I've decided to scan ALL of the scrapbook pages I've made & will be making. The scanned images will be stored on a thumb drive. Once its full, it will be sent to my parents to go into the special box. The 12x12 pages will have to be scanned in 2 sections. I know it sounds like a huge task, but I'm doing it one book at a time. When I finish a book, its scanned. If I have time in the week I'll scan past albulms. Just wanted to pass this idea along to all my fellow scrappers.

 

[nicurn]

that's actually a great idea. I will have to think about that this weekend. thanks! maggie

 

[ilovemickeymost]

I got my 1996 WDW trip done after my original post. It was 16 pages, 2 scans each. It really didn't take me that long. I was surprised. I renamed all of them when they shouwed up in my pics ex 1996wdw1b (year, where, page, & scan). When I say 2 scans per page, its b/c they are 12x12 & so I have to do each page 2xs, just moving it over to get the other half. I decided to label them that way, so if I ever need to print them out, I'll know what order the albulm was already in.

 

[LindaBabe]

That's a GREAT idea!

I do upload all my photos to snapfish, and I have the 'getaway' box. But not sure saving my scrapbooks is viable for me. At 40+ full books that's >1600 pages to scan!

 

[New England Eeyore]

I know, I'm terrible with doing stuff like that, but I do have to make more of an effort. It's too time consuming with my scanner to scan and stitch the 12x12 pages, but I always take photos of the albums I make as gifts. I should really just sit down one day and take pictures of all my completed albums. Not exactly the same detail if they were ever lost, but the essence would be there.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

That's a GREAT idea!

I do upload all my photos to snapfish, and I have the 'getaway' box. But not sure saving my scrapbooks is viable for me. At 40+ full books that's >1600 pages to scan!

Just do a little at a time. Maybe 5 pages a night. And I'd start w/ whatever you finished recently or are working on currently. And then when you have time, so back & scan a few each day. Congrats on 40 books. You are my idol. I just hope to get all of my stuff done before I die.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

I know, I'm terrible with doing stuff like that, but I do have to make more of an effort. It's too time consuming with my scanner to scan and stitch the 12x12 pages, but I always take photos of the albums I make as gifts. I should really just sit down one day and take pictures of all my completed albums. Not exactly the same detail if they were ever lost, but the essence would be there.

I never thought to do that w/ my camera. Then I could just burn them to CDs & give those to my mom. I was considering switching to 8x10 b/c of the scanner. shiver, shiver, shiver. Now I don't have to.

 

[Boo Bear]

Great idea! I'm all about the sense of nostalgia and would be devistated if all of that was suddenly gone. I try to back up everything digitally but I should be more faithful about doing so with my scrapbooks...

 

[LindaBabe]

Congrats on 40 books. You are my idol. I just hope to get all of my stuff done before I die.

Thank you! It's only because I'm older than dirt. In fact, I hadn't counted until you posted that, and I wanted an estimate of the work I'd have to do. And that figure doesn't take into account the circle journals, gift albums, exploding boxes, altered paint cans, etc. It kinda snuck up on me!

A couple years ago, I spent the entire winter photographing all my slides to get them on computer - about 1700. NOT sure I want to undertake a nearly equal number of pages because it won't be as simple as click the remote, click the camera. They'd all have to come out of their page protectors to eliminate the glare

My prayer is "I can't die YET, God! I've still got pictures to scrap!"

 

[Raenstoirm]

She downloads all of them to an online site.
So, I've decided to scan ALL of the scrapbook pages I've made & will be making. The scanned images will be stored on a thumb drive. Once its full, it will be sent to my parents to go into the special box. The 12x12 pages will have to be scanned in 2 sections. I know it sounds like a huge task, but I'm doing it one book at a time. When I finish a book, its scanned. If I have time in the week I'll scan past albulms. Just wanted to pass this idea along to all my fellow scrappers.

I had all of my photos saved on a PAID online site for years. I think I paid $60 a year for the space I used. One day I went to access a photo and learned they had gone out of business! All of my photos were gone! Luckily another company took over all those files and I got them all back, but don't rely too heavily on online sites.

As for "saving" scrapbooks. I take a photo of every completed page. In case of emergency I at least had the image. One of my projects is so scan and stitch them. I am still looking for a 12x 12 scanner to make that easier.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

Well, my genius plan was working just fine. I got an entire albulm scanned yesterday. I was truckin along. Decided to move it to my 4 GB thumb drive. I wanted to get it big enough to hold as much as possible. My thumb drive isn't showing up at all. DD tries & gets it to show up & then the computer says, I don't recognize this thing. It won't let me do anything w/ it. So I have a bunch of scanned pages on my computer that can't go anywhere. So, this am I ask DH to look at it. He does & says, just burn it to a CD. GRRR. I know he thought he was helping, but I really want it on my thumb drive. Its so little & I can put so much on it. Now I'm scared to put anything on it in case it can't be read again. Any advice would be fantastic. I'm not computer smart at all.

 

[LindaBabe]

First thing, I would try it in a different USB port. Second, if that doesn't work, I'd try it in a different computer. Third, I'd buy a new thumb drive - they're pretty cheap. Fourth, you can always get a portable hard drive that holds a lot more than a thumb but is only about the size of a paperback book.

 

[ColleenG]

Is there a scanner on the market that is big enough to scan a 12 x 12 page? I definately don't have the patience to stich pages together.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

Is there a scanner on the market that is big enough to scan a 12 x 12 page? I definately don't have the patience to stich pages together.

You don't need to do that unless you lost all your scrapbooks. I just scan one side, then the other. I just label then part a & b. If there was ever an accident, then I could reprint the pages that were damaged. But as you can see, I can't get mine onto a thumb drive, so hope nothing happens to my stuff right now.

 

[carolinagirl]

First thing, I would try it in a different USB port. Second, if that doesn't work, I'd try it in a different computer. Third, I'd buy a new thumb drive - they're pretty cheap. Fourth, you can always get a portable hard drive that holds a lot more than a thumb but is only about the size of a paperback book.

If you do this, just be aware that portable hard drives are susceptible to failure. I put all of my pictures on an external hard drive for safe keeping, or so I thought. Then it died!!!! I almost had a heart attack! I took it to a local computer shop and they were able to recover 99% of the files, but it did cost me $50, plus the hard drive I paid for ($150) was a total loss....so a $200 lesson learned the hard way! Now I upload to a third party website and also burn 2 DVD's everytime I download photos from my camera. One goes to my Mom's house, one stays at mine.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

I bought a box (clear plastic w/ split lid - walmart) to hold all my CDs about a month ago. I just got it out & wrote "Tawnya's photo CDs----Already in Scrapbooks" on the top in sharpie. Here's what I've put in the box so far: music CDs from our wedding (preceremony, ceremony, & reception. We gave music cds for favours. Video CD for my g.parents 58th wedding Annie. I photo documented all the antique dishes I own. All the photo CDs of everything I've already scrapped. I have all my photos/videos burned to a CD at Walmart when I get my prints made. It comes w/ an index, so I know what is on it. Once I've put all those pics on pages, I write scrapped on the index. The box still has plenty of space, but is going to be mailed to my parents' house very soon. Then, when I scrap more pics, I'll just pop the CD in the mail. Soon (I hope) I will be mailing a thumb drive or cds of my completed albulms. Someone in the photo department of Best Buy told me it was actually best to keep them on the SD cards. Once I get a big enough supply, maybe.