Gather up all your photos if they are not already catalogued then lets start by organizing them, it may seem like a big job but its better that you do it now when you only have 10 years of photos rather than in 10 years from now when you have 20 years worth of photos probably spread across the whole house.

Catalogue your photos by theme, year, location or event. This is something you will need to decide on your own as to which way you would like to organize them.

Either use a photo box, folders, envelopes or plastic sleeves and name each one by the category you are planning to use.

Here are a few category examples.

people

time periods

places

events

holidays

pets

family

graduation

weddings

birthdays

awards

picnics

children

school functions

concerts

seasons

vacations

tourist spots

friends

babies

Begin sorting your images into each folder and selecting only those photos that are suitable such as the Best shots, the shots that capture the most detail about that day

Don't be afraid to choose photos that may need cropping, if you are not ready to cut your photos and take a little creative license with your memories then its not time to start Scrapbooking with photos instead use color copies or re-prints.

Once you have all your Scrapbooking quality photos sorted set them aside and choose one folder and one event to begin with.

Whilst you have all your photos out why not take the time to organize those ones you are not going to use for Scrapbooking either into boxes or albums.

If while sorting through your images you come across photos you know you will want to use together in a layout at a later date, then go ahead and create a sub-category such as //Birthdays / Toms Birthdays. Then Place them into an envelope inside that categories plastic sleeve in this case //Birthdays// or into an envelope Cleary marked //Toms// slipped into that sleeve, section or bag which ever you have used to sort your photos.

A little organization goes a long way all you need is to create a system and stick to it.

This Article was written by Shellie Wilson co/founder of Craftbits.com

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