{Album Organisation}

How do you organise yours?

Me, I opt for chronological thanks to this post by Shimelle. This is seriously the best thing I have done.

I spent an afternoon this week actually labelling my albums. (it feels so good)

The reorganisation of my albums was not a quick thing. It was a slow progress. Before I made this conscious decision to change how I order my layouts they were (well some of the older albums) kind of organised by theme - and then as life moved on, it was just - 'oh this album has space, I'll stick my layout there' As much as this was a quick storage option at the time it made it difficult viewing the album, as it would be a real mix of themes, and date of photos.

When I read the blog post I felt this option would work for me. I spent a few evenings pulling ALL my layouts out of my albums. I then sorted them into piles sorted by year (this process also showed me how little I actually date my layouts - I have now changed this!!!) These layouts were then put into albums. I then spent a few evening organised these layouts into chronological by year. (thankfully picassa organises my photos by date!)

Since this rejig I now stick to the chronologically order of my layouts. I leave blank spaces for pages I know I want to do. Even in my older albums. I realised when reorganising my albums there was some stories I hadn't recorded yet. (my notebook is full of sparks, ideas and layouts I want in my albums)

The albums I have now include:

• The Early Years (a combination of childhood photos, old family photos and pre 2007 layouts)
• 2007
• 2008 #1 & #2
• 2009 #1 & #2
• 2010 #1 & #2
• Document 2010
• JYC2010
• 2011 #1 & #2
• Document 2011
• JYC2011
• Wedding 20/08/2011
• Honeymoon

All of the above are pretty much Works in Progress. And this fact does not overwhelm, worry me or cause me stress. I love the flexibility I can go back and scrap a layout from 2009 or one from last year or a wedding photo. This, I believe, makes me more creative, more willing to be inspired and less worried about feeling behind.

As much as I have applied the above to my scrapping life - the one album I do try and stay up to date with is my Document albums. I love these everyday highlights of our life. Hopefully my 2011 will be finished soon (need to order the photos) so I should be able to share these with you soon.

I'm hoping (light depending) to take some photos of my wedding and honeymoon layouts so far.

So there is a little insight in how I organise my albums.

Happy crafting

L