***IMPORTANT MESSAGE***
You may have noticed my new "split entry" feature on my blog. I had this set up so that my load time is significantly speedier now and I can have more entries visible on my home page. In order to read the entire post of every entry you have to click on the "CONTINUE READING..." link at the bottom of the page. This will be how it works on the blog from here on out. THANKS!
Also, I added a link to my Facebook Business Fan page (over there to the right) as well as a link to my Networked Blogs application that notifies you when I post a new entry (VERY snazzy) and you can click on it (again, to the right) to connect with that if you are on Facebook.
Ok, on with your regularly scheduled blog post... :)
For six years (ergo Gavin's first 6 yrs of life and Ellie's first 3.5 yrs of life) I've diligently had a super duper SYSTEM in place for all the images I' take of my kids. At the end of each month I upload all the images I took that month to either Bay Photo or Mpix, get my images in the mail later that week and then *make* the time to place those images in the many (and I mean MANY) KOLO albums I have put together for them over the years. Now, don't think for one second this involves any actual scrapbooking. Not even close. Have you SEEN what some women do with their scrapbooking?! OMG. No way. I literally put two strips of double stick photo safe tape on each picture and paste it onto the cream colored KOLO paper inserts and jot down a few scribbled notes under the images indicating either a date, or event details or fun story to accompany the shots. That's IT. And because my # of images taken has increased tenfold with every passing year, it's pretty much a miracle that I was able to even keep up with that very time consuming task. Well, as expected, at some point I just got too busy and that point occurred in 2009. I still continued to upload the images to my printing sites and get them printed and have them shipped to me but that's as far as things went this past year. And now I find myself staring at several HUGE piles of stacked images mocking me, knowing all too well that there's no way I am going to be able to find the 40+ hrs needed to paste all those shots into a bunch of KOLO albums. Not to mention finding the desire to do it since it's a bit of a tedious task (which is why I've put it off and let other more important things get my attention). Additionally, those KOLO albums and refill pages are not cheap. So, a couple weeks ago I had to really figure something out because a years' worth of images cluttering my office floor was really starting to get to me. Tack on the massive mommy guilt of having NOT taken care of these shots, as I have so attentively and diligently done in the past.... OY! The bottom line is I don't have the time right now to do my KOLO albums "system". I hope to eventually, but I can't right now. So I needed a Plan B.
To help you visualize what I am describing I took a picture of the bookshelf in my office that has just a FEW of the albums I've put together for the kids over the years. The albums are literally about 4 times the size they are supposed to be, but I have found that if you just keep adding inserts you can make those albums much bigger than intended! And inserts are cheaper than a whole new KOLO album. Like I said, I've been using these paper albums since Gavin was born and am just emotionally attached to them and liked having consistency with the albums. Every year the kids get a new color "cover" and they know by color which albums are theirs. My album style & size of choice is the "Newport" 11X14 scrapbook album. It's my favorite but the 10X10 is nice too. I just find I can put three vertical and two horizontal images perfectly on each page of the 11X14 and so I maximize my space that way. I pulled a random album off my shelf to photograph and opened it up and it landed on the page where I have pictures of Ellie one week after the "haircut" incident where she and Gavin chopped off each other's hair over a year ago. HILARIOUS!
So, my plan B that I came up with was this. I am going to sort through ALL those thousands of images I have from this past year and separate them into TWO piles. One pile will be the creme de la creme shots that I will take (find? make?) the time to put in the two new KOLO albums I have for each child for 2009 and then the rest of them are just going to be stacked nicely in these beautiful Finao Image boxes I ordered a couple weeks ago which arrived today. I LOVE them and they are much nicer than the shoebox I was initially considering using! HA! So, this way, I will still continue the tradition of the KOLO albums but with less volume and put all the other (still) great shots in their own little box. These boxes look great and stack nicely and I think this will be my new SYSTEM from now on as it is much less overwhelming. The option of taking less pictures is not really an option so this will work quite nicely. Of course, I'm not going to be able to do ANY of this until I am on Christmas break but as long as this gets done before the apple drops in NY ringing in 2010 then I will still be RIGHT on track for the year! :)
Here are a couple quick snapshots of the Finao Boxes which I designed using templates I purchases last year. The kids have the spine personalized with their names and the year. The boxes are similar in color toning but with different patterns in order to make things mesh nicely but also be different. I'm thrilled with how they turned out and I got the DEEP boxes that fit 600+ images each. I'm relieved to have a gameplan and just hope I can set aside the time to get to this during Holiday Break (I take a much deserved two week break during the last two weeks of December during which time I take absolutely NO pictures at all due to slight burnout from the holiday season so funnily enough I never have any pictures of my kids/family during December!)
(front of the boxes)
(spine of the boxes)
(back of the boxes)
p.s. I do offer these to my clients as an add-on feature to their packages.
Kids start school on Tuesday and then life gets CRAZY (I signed up to be room mom for both classrooms, brilliant) with the holiday season, kids' homework, event, school activities, my volunteering, blah blah blah.....
I was up super late last night sewing new outfits for the kids for their first day of school. Ellie's skirt is a super cute pleated skirt with an elastic waistband and matching trim. The pleats nearly killed me. I still have to finish her matching shirt but that will go fast. Gavin has a cute new shirt he is excited to wear that I put together for him. I know that once the grind starts this week I won't have any time for sewing or knitting or pretty much anything other than attending to the kids' needs and my many, many shoots so I knew this was the last weekend to get it done.
I took Ellie to her Kindergarten orientation yesterday and then spent the day running errands with her. I just so enjoy our 1 on 1 time together. That 1 on 1 time with either child is so rare and that makes it all the more special. Plus, the kids are positively delightful little beings when you have them alone! Ellie will be in after care during the week so that I can pick up both kids at the same time, except for Mondays (when I pick her up early for ballet class) which will be our one day a week of mommy-ellie time and I'm really looking forward to it. I also volunteer in the kids' classroom every Monday so Mondays are basically gonna be pretty busy!
I am heading into the new school year season and my holiday season ready to hit the ground running. The summer was certainly not a lazy, slow summer by any means but I did get to sleep in a few days a week and enjoy some downtime here and there in between work and other commitments so I think we all got what we needed out of our somewhat loosey goosey summer break. Now crunch time begins!
Start your engines!!!
