Hello from a newbie

Greetings, all!

I am new to this group, having been reading it for only about 3 months, and thought I would love to join you here. Everyone seems sweet, and very knowledgeable. I began scrapbooking about 2 years ago, when, after my mother's death, my sisters decided that, because I am interested in genealogy, I should become the "family historian", which meant that I suddenly became the caretaker of about a century's worth (no exaggeration here) of family photographs, covering 7 generations. Then I found a book on heritage scrapbooking, and I was hooked. Those first few pages look pretty pathetic to me now, and I'm beginning to wonder if I should try to update them, but then I look at the boxes (and boxes- and boxes- ) of photographs yet to be done, and decide they can wait awhile. My computer has been a godsend. I'm not much of a computer scrapper; I much prefer to hand scrap. But as each ancestral photo is scanned into the computer, the original goes into a safe deposit box, and the computer copy provides endless possibilities. I'm still learning all the computer and the photo editing programs can do. I would love some advice or tips from anyone who works with Photoshop Elements on a regular basis. I recently acquired a digital camera, and all of a sudden, after 30 years of trying, I can take decent photos! Where was this gadget while my kids were growing up? My daughters, and granddaughter, both live in Nashville, roughly

6 hours from here ( I live in metro Atlanta ), so I get to see them only 2-3 times a year. But the last couple trips have resulted in a LOT of pictures. I also have hundreds of photos of my other favorite hobby, birdwatching, which has resulted in several favorite layouts, and even more photos of our "other" children, the cats. I will _never_get all this scrapbooking done, but I'm having fun trying! I've been following the discussion on types of albums, and I'm curious. I've been using postbound albums, and have been satisfied with the way they work, but I've been considering strap albums. Has anyone tried this type? What do you think? Anyway- I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone, and learning more about our favorite hobby!

Mel

Reply to
Mel
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Hi Mel,

Welcome to the club. We looking forward to your L/O's.

I use both the strap and post albums. I find the post kind easiest to find the replacement pages.

Kate

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Reply to
a-scrapbooking-diva

Welcome Mel! So glad you decided to come out and join us!!!! How wonderful to have so much history....Do you store the unscanned photos in a fire safe? If so please remember to keep it locked when not in use. Sadly we've (the fire department I work for) see many fire safes and most of them are unlocked, thus the contents are either completely/partial lost or just as bad water/smoke damaged.

Aren't digital cameras wonderful?! I love mine as I always laid down the used roll of film and lose it for a few years....sad to say that's why my children don't have very many photos of them as by the time I'd found the film very few pictures were any good.

I love making LO's of "non-human's"! In fact I think most of my best pages are those that are of pets or nature.....

As far as the album types, I have only used the post bound so I'm no help.

Reply to
Kenda

Reply to
Sandy

Hi Mel.

Melissa from Seattle here. I cannot help with the albums as I've moved to Creative Memory albums from so many others and will never go back. However, I wanted to say hi as I have just completed an album of my great grandmother's life (she passed on Jan 9th at 99 years 6 months and eight days young). I'm now working on the second album which begins at about age 15. And, I'm into geneology too. So I'm eager to get to know you better. My family's been all "Ooh and Ahh" over the album. --- sorry everyone for not posting yet. took pictures and they got erased from the card and we don't have a scanner sufficient and I don't have posiition at this point. But will in a month or so. -- I am very eager to share and eager to see your century, Mel, of photos. Fun. Enjoy,

Melissa Pages in 2005: 92

Reply to
mlderr

Hi and welcome Mel. My 2 cents about the first pages you did that you're thinking of redoing...don't. I thought about it too, but now that I have so many pages I'm kind of nostagic about the first ones. They show how much I've grown in artistic ability and scrapbooking know how. I say keep moving forward on your 100 years of photos. :)

Lynne

Reply to
King's Crown

I had not thought of a fire safe. Right now the photos I haven't scanned yet are in boxes in my scraproom ( which used to be my daughter's bedroom), and aren't really protected at all. That's probably not the best thing for them. I've been trying to get them scanned and into the safe deposit box, but after 2 years I'm only about halfway there. I'll see about getting a fire safe. I'd hate to lose any of these.

It used to really upset me when I'd take an entire roll of film and then have maybe *one* picture came out. It seemed like such a waste, not only of money, but of that special moment I was trying to capture that will never come again. With the digital camera, I don't mind if I have to take a dozen photos to get one good one. At least I know immediately that I have that good one! (And the "delete" button is your friend...)

I've not tried to scan any layouts at this point. Another computer area where I'm a total novice. My older daughter has her own website. Maybe she could walk me through posting a few. OR, maybe she'd loan me webspace on her site? Time for a "help" email... after all, I've gotten more than a few of those from her! (I'll never forget that pathetic phone call a few years ago: "Mom! My husband brought home this huge, beautiful roast! What do I do with it?" This is the same daughter who couldn't understand why her green bean casserole was like soup. I had to explain that "you have to drain the cans of green beans first!")

I do have one page- "non-human" type- that I'd love to post, from 2002 titled "Backyard Visitor". As soon as I figure out how...

Mel

Reply to
Mel

Mel posted:

Welcome, Mel!

Genealogy? Family historian? Me, too!

I started genealogy back when I was in high school. Let's just say that was more than half my life ago & before the computer age. Unlike you, tho, I'm a digital scrapbooker (for 8 years; long before I'd heard the term "digital scrapbook"). Hadn't thought to count my generations recently, but with the 2 younger than me & as far back as I've got (very sketchy & only on one line), I've got eleven (!) generations.

Both hobbies are addicting, huh? Good thing they complement each other!

I know that feeling. I've been posting my albums on webshots. The first few albums were pretty simple (but, to my defense, I had nothing to compare them to). Have gotten more creative with the last few & this group has given me even more ideas to try with the next one.

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Hopefully I can upload some more layouts this weekend after I get the genealogy updated, printed & sent off to an octagenarian cousin who's recording family history stories for those of us interested. I look forward to seeing your layouts, especially the family history ones. And any of cats. LOL

Alicia

Reply to
amcinca

Kenda advised:

Are there any brands &/or suppliers you'd recommend? Any specifications in particular one should look for when purchasing one?

Thanks in advance!

Alicia

Reply to
amcinca

Hi, Melissa!

That's my name too, though I've been Mel since college. Your albums on your great grandmother sound like a wonderful project. I have one photo each of my grandmother's parents, taken in the 1890s, and a few each of my grandfather's parents (on my mother's side) but I have only a little information about them. I have traced my grandmother's family back to Scotland in the early 1800s, but I'm nowhere near that far on the other lines.

The trouble with a lot of these photos is, that while Mom was great at labeling most of her photos, there are a lot of people in them I can't identify. I have a family photo taken in 1924 of my mother's family, with many faces that I know are relatives, but no one left in the family can identify them. Mom was 2 when the picture was taken. She's the youngest person in it.

I'm curious about the Creative Memory albums. I have a catalog from a friend at work who's a consultant, but the albums are kind of expensive. Are they worth the price? My albums mostly came from Michael's, usually with the weekly coupon (LOVE those coupons!).

Mel

Reply to
Mel

CM albums are expensive. When I first started it was all I knew, so I have

5 of them. I have to say with the construction going on in my house plaster got sprayed on the cover of one of them and I was kind of pouty about it. As I was having friends over to scrap I took a damp wash cloth and started washing it. It all came off. My album covers always look wonderful. A friend of mine had a Golden Retriever and she has hair stuck to hers along with other fuzz. She and I took tape one evening while watching a movie and cleaned them all. They all are back to being furry. Mine have zero fuzz on them.

I have been branching out and getting other albums mainly out of ease. Don't have to find a CM rep, so we see how they hold up.

Reply to
King's Crown

My Scottish ancestors came from the Glasgow area in 1828. Where in Scotland did yours emigrate from?

There's a neat website called familyoldphotos.com that has a place where you can post unidentified old photos in the hopes of someone seeing it that can help you out. I haven't gotten around to posting any of mine yet, but I have found a few relatives there.

Alicia

Reply to
amcinca

Alicia, I would buy what you can afford, don't take out a second morgage just to buy one. Do a little bit of research to make sure you get a company that's been around a while. I prefer "established" companies, but that's just my preference. We keep all our important documents and CD's of all our pictures in a safety deposit box. Our fire safe is just where we store items that are to be placed in the SDB, like when we had to have the boys birth certificates for the adoption and now the new BC as well as the adoption paperwork. We don't like to keep any of those type items around. Guess it's a hazard of our job! And don't forget to lock the safe!! Just because it's closed doesn't mean it's sealed, they only become fire "proof" after they are sealed.

Reply to
Kenda

Hi, Mel welcome to the group. 3 months is a long time to wait and join in. I think I read a day and hopped in. You will be glad you did. I have enjoyed this group so much. Everyone is great. I can't wait to see some of your LO's. I've been scrapping for a little over a year now. I use strap albums. Then seem to be ok. Just hard to put together. I plan on trying other types to see what I like better.

Reply to
shannon

Hi Mel....I am a newbie too...LOL I have been lurking for much longer than 3 months and have to agree with you on the participants in this group. Generous, caring and sharing bunch of people! I look forward to seeing your LO's 'cos I have only been scrappin since December 2004...lots to learn :o)

Reply to
Marilyn

Welcome to RCS Mel! My mom is also into geneology and has several old family photos. A heritage album is another of my scrapping goals....just not this year. LOL You'll find lots of great ideas here. We're always happy to see newcomers come out of the woodwork.

Reply to
Deb in AR

Welcome to the grou[p Mel.

Reply to
Tabitha McCarthy

Hi Mel and Welcome!! This is a great group and a lot of knowledge can be found here. I think foremost in our make-up is that we all are caring and kind.That just naturally leads us to care about families and friends enough to keep the records. Good luck on your Heritage pages! I also inherited the photos of my Mom's and am working slowly on that. I was very fearful of doing them because it is such a huge responsibility to do them justice. I am doing copies while my oldest daughter has been entrusted with the originals. We have six generations of memories and I spend more time on these layouts than my current ones. I just brought home a ton of pictures from my recent visit to my daughter's and I am going to busy with them for a while. Glad to see you and hope you will share your LOs and knowledge with us.

Hugs, Sabrina in Kentucky

a good friend is a life long treasure

Reply to
Sabrina

Hi Mel!

I am so glad you decided to join us live and in person. We all had first pages and for those of us who started before the scrapbook magazines and online layout galleries, the first pages are far more stark than some of the beginner pages I've seen on here recently! I'm with Lynne on this one, I don't think that you should redo your first pages. Part of the fun of all of this is to go back through your books and see how your style and technique has changed over time. I am looking forward to seeing your work. I live in Little Rock and have a brother in law in Atlanta. I believe that we will be visiting there in April or such as they are expecting a little girl towards the end of March and you can't start too early to spoil a niece!

Welcome!

Reply to
M-C

Thanks, Alicia!

Y'all make me feel very much at home!

I first started researching my family at libraries and family history centers, and I'm only now learning how to do it online. There is *so* much information out there it's overwhelming. I'm tempted to subscribe to a service just to have the data somewhat organized.

How good is Webshots? I've been looking at the site, but I know almost nothing about uploading pix to any sort of website. Are there other sites for photos or web pages, and does anyone have ideas on which one(s) are best? I'd love to find somewhere to upload some L/O's.

I have more layouts of family history right now than cats, but I recently looked at my box of to do photos, and realized that I have 2 full boxes all of one type, one box with 30 years of kid pictures, and one box of 30 years of cat pictures. About equal numbers of each. I think I need to get at least a few layouts done, or it may take me another 30 years to do it all. For example: I recently finished several layouts of my parents' wedding, now I need to scrap my wedding, and then I have my daughter's wedding to do. Hopefully, these will be finished in time for my granddaughter's wedding (she's five)! At least this will use up those piles of wedding layout supplies I couldn't resist buying...

Mel

Reply to
Mel

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