Author: Elizabeth

I don’t have all day…but I do have a few hours!

Have you ever thought…..

I don’t have all day to join the Photo Workshop but I am curious what it is all about.

I have a small project, I don’t need a full 12 hours.

What would I do all day working on my photos?

I can imagine if you have never joined us you might be wondering what in the world do we do all day at our Monthly Photo Workshop. You may be weighing this with your other commitments and priorities. I wanted to share a bit more about what my events look like so you can decide if you might want to pop in for an hour or two or put it on your calendar for month later this year.

This type of event started when I had mostly traditional scrapbookers and it would take a while to unpack all of the tools, supplies and products for our projects and once we got it all out, we wanted to be sure we made our effort count. We sometimes called these events Crops but they were a very similar type of event where you would come and work on your project, and be able to benefit from the help and inspiration of others. My customers liked having a large block of time that they could dedicate to working on their photo projects and having it regularly each month helped us stay on top on things or catch up on past years. This event has molded and shifted a bit over the years as it has grown and the group has changed. Now we have quite the variety of folks who come, some who still love to bring the traditional projects and appreciate the time and space to set up and spread out for the day but we also have plenty of folks who come for a shorter time. Some will bring a laptop or a box of media conversion to work on and pop in and out for a few hours. The beauty of this event is that you have the flexibility to do what works for you. I provide the space and time and a couple of registration options and you bring the project you want to work on and we have fun together.

Our agenda is very loose but generally runs like this:

10am – Doors Open

11:45ish – While everyone grabs a plate of lunch, I share a welcome as well as New Product update from Creative Memories and Current Specials from Forever

Lunch is provided for those who join with the Full Day and 1/2 Day Option

1:30ish – Project Recipe Break out – This is a 2 page traditional layout that we do as a group. Instructions and supplies are provided. Typically the only needed supplies are a tape runner and a 12″ trimmer but I have all supplies if you need to borrow something. Included with the Crop Option (Full Day and 1/2 Day Option) or can be added on for an additional fee for anyone else who is interested in joining.

2ish – NEW in July – Digital demo of Monthly Project Recipe using Artisan for the digital scrapbookers to create similar layout.

3pm – Transition Time – 1/2 Day Participants head out, Afternoon Only Participants start arriving.

Ask me about my Try it for “Free after 3” if it is your first time. As long as space allows I welcome you to join us the first time for FREE with our “After 3pm” option. RSVP is required.

3:30ish – Afternoon Snack provided

Dinner – On your Own

8pm – Store Close: I have CM products for sale and Forever products on Display throughout the day. You can stop by anytime until 8pm to shop even if you are not participating in the workshop. I will start to close down & pack up all of these items and tally final order forms at 8pm.

10pm – Doors Close

If you are ready to jump in and join us at the next Workshop, sign up by using the Events Tab at the top of the page. Here are the current rates:

Full Day with Lunch

(10am-10pm)

Traditional Customer

includes Project Recipe Kit, Full Table Space

$ 75.00

Digital Customer

includes shared table space, power to each spot

$ 50.00

Day Only (1/2 Day Option) with Lunch

(10am-3pm)

Traditional Customer

includes Project Recipe Kit, Full Table Space

$ 60.00

Digital Customer

includes shared table space, power to each spot

$ 45.00

Afternoon Only (3pm-Close)

As Space Allows (Trad/Dig)

Attend for as long or as short as you wish

$ 25.00

* If you would like to “Try it for FREE After 3”, please contact me directly to RSVP so I can reserve your spot. This is available to anyone who has not attended a Monthly Workshop if over a year. Come work along side us and get your questions answered or just jump start that next project you wanted to work on.

You can also always Pop In and Shop the latest new products from Creative Memories, Drop off a Media Conversion Order to add to my next Group box or check out what we have going on if you are in the neighborhood with a quick visit too. No need to RSVP for pop in visits, I always love to see you all. Just let me know you are coming if you want to be sure to have time for me to answer specific questions when you stop in.

I hope you will join us in August whether it be for a short pop in visit, a Free after 3pm try it out option a Half Day option or All Day Long. Come have fun with us while we check off a few project with our photos and learn something new too.

5 years ago

Filling my Cup

When the days get hectic, my posts become a bit farther apart but I thank you for sticking with me this summer as I have dusted off this blog and given this a try and posting more regularly. As I shared at the beginning of the summer and you will find as we continue, this will not be a daily blog update but typically I will share one or more times a week. I have had several posts outlined out but not quite finished so hopefully I can get a few extra ones scheduled for next week.

Yesterday, was a day of recharging for me, a vacation day I wanted to take a couple of weeks ago but with several commitments at work recently this was the best day to put it on the calendar and make it happen. I know of myself that sometimes I just have to put a day like this on the calendar to allow myself time to recharge. Often in our family we remind each other that we are only able to be the best we need to be when we take care of ourselves first – we like to remind each other of this with the image that we are to “put on own own oxygen mask first” just like they tell you on an airplane with the safety instructions. So whether I am “Filling my Cup”, “Putting on my Oxygen Mask” or another cute way to remember to make “self care” a priority, I know that this is important for me. It is necessary for me to be the best version of me for those around me.

How do you like to recharge?

Time alone: For me, it typically requires some time of being by myself with an unscheduled, block of time and having that time at home. For those of you who have studied the Enneagram, I am finding that I am very much a #2 and I want to be a helper to everyone around me – which sometimes can be distracting from the things I need to do for myself and can be exhausting when I am trying to sort through the needs of others and can’t even figure out what is on my own lists. To recharge, I have to have some time to think about what I need and then I can be more focused when other needs are weighing on me. (If you are new to the Enneagram, I recommend the book The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile or the summer series EnneaSummer on the Podcast: That Sounds Fun by Annie F Downs)
Time with my people: Connecting with my closest friends and family is an important part of recharging to me. Time to hear how they are doing and to talk through the challenges and celebrations I am facing.
Time to make progress: Typically a part of recharging for me also includes making progress on my to do lists. It may be running errands, projects around the house, work with my own photo projects or other projects I have had on my lists whether it be a mental lists or one of the many post-its or notepads floating around. Sometimes even the act of regrouping my lists can be helpful too. I know my fellow lists makers can understand this one.

It sometimes takes work to make happen but I have been blessed with a few things sprinkled over these last few weeks that have helped fill my cup in both big and small ways.

Lunch and dinner catch up dates with dear friends that I haven’t seen in months – oh how it sometimes takes us way too long to make those happen but they are so sweet when we finally connect.
Hugs from kiddos I love and time hearing what is important & exciting in their lives.
Checking items off my list of to dos and errands – this list is finally starting to look a bit shorter. It might need to get below 90 degrees on a weekend I am home for me to tackle that mulch project I didn’t get done this spring.
I received flowers (shown in the photo above) from someone at work as a simple thank you for the work I do.
A wonderful unscheduled day off from work to have the space and the room to think and dream a bit.

I would love to know how you find your rhythm with recharging. What fills your cup? We are all different and motivated by different things. Do you need time to yourself or do you need to be with others? Do you seek out a day every few months or do you have a routine that let’s you recharge more often? Do you crave a few hours or a day to recharge? What activities help you feel more grounded and ready to tackle what life throws your way?

This doesn’t always fit in a neat box or in my timing but I know that it is work fighting for and making sure I get it scheduled and make happen on a regular basis. I hope you find your own way to take care of yourself and fill your cup so you can be the best YOU for those around you too!

5 years ago

Where are my FB & Instagram Photos?

Did you have a moment of wonder or even worry this past week when Facebook and Instagram had the glitch and were not showing or posting photos? I know I was confused but I was not worried since I have the peace of mind about my photos being safe with Forever and always being in at least 2 place that I can get my hands on them should one not be accessible.

The glitch that Facebook and Instagram experienced this week did remind me on a couple of things. See if any of these resonate with you:

Until it is broken, I forget how often I use social media to fill moments in my day. Whether it is while I wait in line, when I am board, when I am curious about something, or even when someone come to mind.
When “the glitch” happened this week, I was intrigued by how all of the photos were replaced with white boxes with text in them. I know about data mining but it was a good reminder about how that works and how this is typically done through computer scanning our photos and categorizing them. It takes a far more detailed look that even I realized and flags my photos with tags that I don’t have a way to see or edit behind the scenes.
I am glad that I don’t rely on only a cloud based photo solutions – I know a few of you will pause in your tracts and say but I thought she sells cloud based photo storage. I do and believe it in but I also sell and use (and have used for over 12 years) a software program on my computer that helps me organize my images. I have always been a big believer and supporter of having your photos in a second location with another form of back up.
I felt so disconnected on Wednesday – we have become such social creatures who rely on our “social media” connections, our updates, our checking on others and our rush of seeing how others interacted with our own posts.

My final thoughts as we returned to normal routines was that I appreciate the benefits of “data mining” technology when I go to search something with Google or need to pull up something on my phone or computer and it remembers things I have done previously. I also love sharing and connecting through social media with friend and family I don’t see as often and don’t plan on stopping this anytime soon however I also like knowing that I have choices about a safe and secure site to store my photos and videos that values our photos rights and does not data mine for any reason. I can choose to pick the few photos I want to share on social media and then keep the the majority of my photos in this site and share in other ways.

As always, if you are looking for help with a plan on how to get your photos in one place – safe and secure I am happy to set up a time to chat further. Our next Monthly Workshop is also a great time to pop in and learn more. Be sure to check out our Events Tab to see when the next available workshop is to join.

5 years ago

Finding my Rhythm & Workflow

When I am able to spend some consistent time working with my own photos, I find a rhythm – a routine, a flow to the way I work. I would love to share a bit of my process with you all. There is not one correct way to do any of this but I find it helpful to hear how others organize their process and get their projects done and hope you will find this helpful too.

I am finding the best progress when I spend my time focusing on my favorite photos first and working one month at a time. I have been using the 15 Minutes a Day approach I share about in The Power in 15 Minutes for months now to have my photos organized into a Favorites album in Forever.

I use Forever’s Artisan software for most of my photo projects these days since most of my photos are digital already. It is a HUGE timesaver when I get to photos I have already worked through and picked my favorites. I have recently wrapped up my 2017 Page Prints and started my 2018 Page prints so I will walk you through my flow on 2018 since that will be most easily able to be adapted to a complete book project or page print project. I personally love page prints for my annual albums because they give me the most flexibility in my albums and allow me to still use my Creative Memories style albums and insert traditional pages if I wish or if I happen to have printed photos or memorabilia that I want to include, I can do that easily too.

I start a NEW project for each year in Artisan and work through my pages in chronological order. I always choose a 12×12 Hardbound Book project (even though I typically am going to print as page prints). This allows me to have the features for viewing a 2 page spread which is my favorite way to work. I like to choose a Pre-designed template to get me started. I love Forever Design Maps as a good base to work with. By choosing a Pre-designed kit rather than blank, I have at least some pages ready to pop my photos in and finish off quickly. I can always switch around the pages or even pick other pre-designed pages I have from other kits or p2p Blueprints I have received with my membership each month.

I use the View Tab at the top of Artisan to choose the option to View 2 Separate Trimmed Pages (Yellow Highlighted area will give you this option) and I turn off the Print Guides to have the best working space. My screen look like this when I am getting started.

A bonus tip if your page doesn’t look like this on the Elements Panel (left side), hover over the area between the Elements panel and the Welcome tab about where the magenta arrow is and there will be a small area. Use your mouse and left click and drag this Elements Panel wider to see more detail like I have shown. Play with this and find the way you like it best.

Once I have my project set up, I add just one month or one event photos at a time. I find it is easier to work with 10-25 photos at a time rather than hundreds. I will my photos from my Forever Account > my 2018 Favorites Album. I add the photos first and fill in the photo spots first, add more or remove any that aren’t needed and then I go and add paper and embellishments if the template needs any. Remember to SAVE often so you don’t loose any work along the way.

Before I go to the next page, I add a title and journal at least a short caption or quick story that relates to the photos on the 2 pages. My final step is to go through and add shadows to photos and embellishments and text. I typically add a Heavy Shadow to all photo boxes, titles and main elements of paper or embellishments and a light shadow to journalling and other lesser significant embellishments or top layers of paper.

Once I have 5-10 pages complete, I upload those completed pages to Forever Print to order with the next special and I save the JPGs so I can share the completed page either on social media or through my Forever account.

A few other tips that may be helpful as you are working through this process:

I like having lots of templates and blueprints available to pick from so when I use all of the templates in the base kit I have picked I have plenty to choose from.
You can change the template by going to the Home Ribbon and choosing Template (to change) or Add Page (to insert a new page). You do have to switch back to the single page view to Add a new page but if you are changing you can do that from the 2 page view.
Whether you are changing a template or adding new page, you will be asked if you want to choose your template from an Art Kit or from your Computer. Your Art Kit options are those kits that have been purchased through the Forever store. Your p2p Blueprints will be found by using the Templates on your Computer.
One trick I often use is to go ahead and put photos in the template I have in front of me even if I don’t like it. When I go to pick another template the preview will show me the new template with my photos already in it. My photos may not be in the exact right spot but it gives me a good idea if it would be a good fit. I can shuffle the photos as needed.

Do you want to see more? I am happy to set up a time to do a 30 minute screen sharing conference call and show you how this looks when I do it and let you ask questions as I do. Message me or comment below if you would like to join me for the next screen sharing conference call or if you would like to see this demo at my monthly workshop, July 13th. Be sure you sign up if you are interested in joining us for the July workshop to hold your spot: July Workshop Sign up

5 years ago

The Story of the Sunflower

I have a great hope of a day when I have a yard with flowers and plants that can be enjoyed regularly and maybe even mulch that is put down at the correct time of the year but until then I will celebrate when I have a few living flowers in pots or keep the grass alive another summer or the clay dirt is not too exposed in the flowerbeds.

This past spring my mom was helping me re-pot some flowers that we had hoped might survive another season and shared with excitement that she had picked up some sunflower seeds and that “WE” should plant them at my house. This “WE” in our family normally means one of us has a great idea and all of us are going to “get the opportunity to” participate in some form. So off we go, right that moment to the back yard and size up a good spot for our seeds to be planted. The encouraging part to me was as my sister read the package that these seeds needed bright sun but that actually thrive in bad dirt. Good thing because I believe that any beneficial top soil was scraped off my lot long before my house was complete and I have some mighty fine packed clay to work with in this little yard.

We proceeded to plant our little handful of sunflower seeds along a flower bed I had started to prep a few years ago. Like I said we have some fine clay underneath that thin layer of mulch but needless to say we planted our seeds and hoped for the best. I did my best to remember to water them and watch for how they were doing and sure enough after a few weeks, we had a few sprouts and then those sprouts began to grow. It has been fun to watch this out my back window and see as I go and come each day from work. When the weather has brought heavy rain and even hail a few weeks ago, I was quick to check and see how our sunflowers were handling it. A few leaves and one of the stalks did show some damage but the main stem was still strong and growing.

This little plant has been a great reminder of all the lessons we can learn through a garden – even a garden of just a couple of sunflowers. This plant didn’t require good soil – it makes the most of where it is planted. It weathers the storms that come it’s way. It needs nurturing, water, sun and a bit of tending but no matter what how much help it gets from those things, it still kept growing.

This weekend it was fun to wake up and see the first peak of yellow pop through. I don’t know how many flowers we may get this summer but this one bud beginning to open has been a treat and blessing to watch. I am reminded of how it started from a simple seed in the dirt. If you haven’t had a chance to read the book Cultivate by Lara Casey, she makes a great parallel to our lives about how Good things grow in the dirt and It is OK to Grow Slow and my favorite – Little by Little progress will add up. So as I continue to watch the slow and steady progress of this beautiful flower, I will remember the other progress I am working on in goals related to health, projects around the house, work assignments, etc and remember that the little bits of growth and progress can turn into something very beautiful in just the right time.

5 years ago

Summer Sale – Facebook LIVE Style

I don’t want you to miss out on all the goodies I have available for Sale but the online list doesn’t seem to be the best way to share this so I am changing up a few things and will be sharing my remaining items Monday night on my Creative Memories FB Group. Are you a member of this group? If not, please be sure to join before Monday night so you don’t miss out – https://www.facebook.com/groups/Elizabeth.CMGroup/

I will have inventory that I have in stock available for a Buy 2, Get 1 XX% Off Sale on all items. Your % Off will be 50% when you pick up your order at my house in Apex – from my drop box at my door or 40% for all other orders picked up at my workshop or with meeting between us. If you would rather me ship the order I will be happy to ship for the additional charge.

You can find the current list of products I have shared so far over on the Summer Sale page – https://www.seeingagreaterpurpose.com/photo-solutions/summer-sale/

There will be even more items shared on Monday.

Mark your calendar – Monday, July 1, 2019 at 8pm ET.

Friendly Reminder:

Forever has amazing specials through the weekend – check the Deals Tab for the full lists.

Creative Memories is sharing NEW Products Monday. Watch my FB Page for a sneak peak this weekend or jump on the website on Monday at noon for the remainder of the details.

5 years ago

Celebrating Vacations, Trips & Adventures

As I scroll through my Facebook and Instagram feed it is clear we are in the full swing of vacation season. The last several years my family has taken our vacation the end of May. It makes for a nice time before many places get super crowded and it helps me not to be too jealous when all of my friends start taking fun trips throughout the summer. Honestly, I do live vicariously through all the fun photos shared and dream of trips to new fun places each time I see a new post – my list is quite long these days.

Have you been on a trip recently, maybe another type of adventure where the photos tell such a story of the memories made? I really like taking our family photos and capturing the story of our trip in my photo albums or through canvas prints to display in my home. With the amazing 50% off sale this week with Forever, I don’t want you to miss out on the great opportunity to jump on this special and have a simple and fun photo book or canvas to celebrate your latest vacation, trip or adventure. Maybe the photos you want to celebrate aren’t that recent – there is no rules on how recent that latest vacation, trip or adventure may be when I share this. No matter where you went or how long ago it might have been, have you thought about how you want to be sure to enjoy those photos beyond just social media or scrolling through them on your phone.

I know that some of you may be new to Forever and especially our online PRINT service. We have an amazing software program called Artisan where we can create lots of fun projects (I am happy to teach you this too when we have more time) but when it comes to “Quick, Easy and DONE”, my go-to is the online PRINT Service. Our books typically start at just $20 for a simple 8×8 or $35 for a 12×12 with options to upgrade and enhance in various ways or add pages. With a 50% off sale, it is a great time to try this out and even try one of our upgraded options. Also, I have a great opportunity to help you get $10 or more off your order too – on top of the 50% off sale. That can make these books almost FREE.

Want to give it a try this week? I am offering 2 opportunities to learn more – One in-person and One online! Each will include a 30-45 minute step by step instructions with 30 minutes afterwards for additional questions or time to work on wrapping up your project while I am nearby to help if needed. There is no cost to attend but I do ask for a RSVP to reserve your spot.

Celebrating Vacations, Trips & Adventures Events

Online – Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at 8pm

In-Person – Thursday, June 27, 2019 at 7pm at my home in Apex

You can sign up with the form below or e-mail me with the answers to these questions.

I will walk you through all of the details at either event but if you are curious about what type of photo books you can create, check out this short video I shared a couple of months ago for a previous sale. Sample Photo Books

Do you know someone else that might enjoy joining us? Be sure to have them use the form above to get things started with signing up to attend one of the events this week.

I would recommend that you have 25-75 photos from your vacation, trip or adventure to have the best options for a photo book project and 1-10 photos if you want to try the Canvas Print option. If you are like me, most of my trips have many more photos – if you have time, pick your favorites from the trip to have about this number. We can always add more pages to books if you have that need – 99 pages fit in these books!

I look forward to living vicariously with you this week as we celebrate the trips & adventures we all have taken and experienced.

5 years ago

Mark your Calendar – July Photo Workshop

Our July Workshop is just 4 weeks away so now is the perfect time to sign up and make sure you have a spot reserved for you. We have a great time each month gathering with friends who also want to work with their photos and create meaningful albums and scrapbooks or just get them all corralled into one place. Plan to join us for a few hours or the whole day, there is an option that will work for you no matter how much time you have available. To see all the details and available events coming up be sure to check out: the Events Tab above.

If you have a Creative Memories order, please submit to me no later than July 1 to ensure that I include it with my next order. If you haven’t checked out my Summer Sale, be sure to check out it out as new items are being added each week and let me know if you would like your order brought the workshop or you can pick up sooner at my house in Apex.

If you would like to add an order to my July Media Conversion Group box, bring your items with you or get them to me no later than July 12th so we an add it to this box. Check out details about Forever’s Media Conversion Box Services and the Price List for when you add to a group box.

5 years ago

What does caught up look like to you?

Years ago, I would hear people who scrapbooked with me say that they were so many years behind and I could tell it bothered them. I decided then that my more realistic goal was to be no more than a year behind. If I was scrapbooking last year’s Spring this Spring, then I could enjoy the fun new products and memories at just the right time. I did from time to time jump in and do a few pages of a current event to make sure I didn’t forget the details but I set my expectation to not stress on the staying “current with today” mentality. As the years have gone on, I will swing from 6 months back to almost 2 years but generally hover around the 1 year mark and that is success for me.

This last year brought a few life changes, a big job change and with that came less time to scrapbook, pair that with a year that seems to have been a big photo year with travel and lots of fun and I had slipped further behind than I like to be but I kept working a little at a time. Starting with 2019, I also took on a slightly different strategy to help my work move along a bit quicker. I started focusing my 15 minutes a day several days a week on picking my favorites and I would knock out one month at a time. I started as I always do with the current photos (January) and once I got caught up with the current month in 2019, I would go back to the next month that I had with my project and spent a few days picking my favorites and putting them in a sub-album. If I didn’t have time to scrapbook then I would at least get my photos prepped and ready. This has made a huge difference and I am already well on my way to having my favorites picked out already for 2019 once I get ready to do those photos too.

Remember that “caught up” can and does look different for each of us – it may be finishing one important project for you from years ago, it may be getting the next year’s album done, it may be gathering your photos and picking your favorites so that they are where you can find them and share the when you wish, it may be creating a gift for a friend.

What project do you want to get caught up with this month? I am excited to have made some great headway the last few weeks on my project and am down to one remaining week in 2017 and will be jumping on 2018 soon.

5 years ago

All in One Place or Close to It

As we continue talking about ways to Save in June, we have talked about:

Saving you money through our Summer Sale – Be sure to check out the Summer Sale Page for the new products added this week. There are a few albums still available and will stay on the lists through Sunday, June 16 to give you extra time to add those to your order.
Saving you time through our 15 Minutes a Day Plan – You can pop back over to the post last week and get caught up if you missed it. Take it one day at a time and only 15 minutes.
Now let’s talk about Saving and Protecting our Photos.

One of the biggest challenges I have found is that I use to have photos EVERYWHERE. There were some on my camera, some on my computer, some that were printed and tucked away in a box or envelope from the store. I would run across boxes of photos from my parents or even be given some from grandparents or other extended family. The first thing I knew I needed was a home for ALL of my photos. A way to have them all in one place was so important. I may not have perfected this process but for the most part it helps me keep the photo clutter contained.

First, I started with printed photos and through a few Creative Memories Power Sort Boxes I created a system that would work perfectly as my home for all my printed photos until I was ready to put them in a scrapbook or had time to go through them further. Although there isn’t much fancy about this box, I like that it is photo safe and has compartments so I can sort my photos quickly. The tabs can be labeled with a simple regular pencil and erased when I am ready to relabel a section for another group.

Even if you don’t have a box like this, you can achieve the same thing with any container, my biggest encouragement is that you find a container that works for you and start collecting those photos that are already printed.

Second, I discovered that with our growing digital age, many of my current photos were digital and were on my camera and were starting to collect all over my computer. Over 12 years ago, I started using a computer program called Historian to help me organize all of my photos on my computer. It is a PC based program that you can purchase from Forever – on Sale this week for less than $60 or you can try it at any time for FREE for 30 days. This software is amazing for organizing – you can group photos by people, albums, and other tags plus at any time sort by date. There is an amazing photo editing tool built in if you would like to click an easy button or do your own photo editing on special images. I appreciate that this software resides on my computer and my images are always accessible to me without internet connectivity. You can back up your photos from Historian to CDs or external hard drives or link it with Forever’s cloud based storage for permanent back up.

For years, I used Historian exclusively with CD back ups done every few months. About 4 years ago I discovered Forever when I was looking at options for backing up for my photos with my new computer that no longer has a CD drive. Forever provides a permanent home for our photos and other media through their Permanent Storage Account. You pick how much space you need and pay once and it is yours FOREVER. You only pay more if you need more space. Forever Storage links with my Historian software to upload any photos I want to save or back up. Forever also has a FREE app that allows my to access my account from my photo, I can sync & upload my phone photos to my app. With the start of using Forever, I have taken advantage of the Auto Sync feature on the app to provide me peace of mine that my phone photos are always safe. I sync when I am on WiFi so they are backed up each time I come home and connected. When my phone was acting up a few months back, I did not stress about getting my photos backed up because I knew there were already on my Forever Account – safe and sound. I can organize in my account by albums or tags and share or download from the Forever website no matter where I am – as long as I have internet access I am able to get to all of my photos. Forever also let’s you try out the storage account for free with a 2 GB FREE account. You can use this link to give it a try and get a $10 Welcome Coupon that you can use if you want to place an order in the first 60 days: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/elizabethgoodson

Do you find yourself being the keeper of your family’s or extended family’s photos from years, maybe decades ago? Once I started being the person in the family to do scrapbooks and keep my photos organized, my family started sending any extra photos they found to me too. Many of these are photos from years ago, of generations before me. They are photos that I am not the only one who will treasure them but I needed a way to share them easier. One of the other amazing things that I discovered with Forever was the power of the Media Conversion Services Forever offers. They take such special care of my media when I send a box in. They make sure that each item is handled with a white glove service and that they scan or digitize it like it was their own families items. I have had photos, slides, negatives, documents, video and audio converted and get so excited when my order if finished and I start seeing the items show up in my Forever account. This has been another great way to clear my extra clutter by gathering those items that have been taking up space and sending them off to Forever to digitize. I can then determine if I still need the original, share it with other family members or discard it and save that space.

Where is your place for all of your photos and media? Do you have one, are you looking for a system for your printed photos or those on your computer to keep them organized? If I can help you, fill in this simple form and I will be happy to help you with the next steps.

Here are some ways to Take Action in your 15 Minutes a Day this week:

Find a container you already have or reach out and let’s get you a Power Sort Box to be your home for your printed photos – you Photo Box
Go through your house and gather those loose photos or special videos and put them in your Photo Box.
Identify if any of the items in your Photo Box should be scanned and converted
Let me know if you want to add your media conversion order with my next group box or if you want to take advantage of the amazing sales on media conversion boxes June 16 or June 18th.
Determine how you want to organize your digital images. Historian and Forever Storage are my go to tools but the biggest advice I have is to pick 2 places to have your digital images since it is never a question of if our computer or technology will crash it is a question or when. Don’t wait until it is too late!

Let’s keep working on your photo projects a little each week and see what progress you find as you lighten your load!