Priceless Memories

Before we get to the layouts, we pause for this important weather announcement...

We are in the midst of tornado season though so much of the country started early.  There was one that did quite a bit of damage about 30 miles from us in January!  Next month brings us Hurricane season and some of the country is already so dry they are starting wild fires.

No, you didn't click on the Weather Channel by mistake.  I'm mentioning all these awful things to put a little fright into you and to me.  Why?  Because our photos are triggers of our most precious memories.  Are your photos safe from disaster?

Here are some tips for taking care of those precious photos:

1.  Scan old pictures or take a picture of them if you don't have a scanner.  It may not be as good as the original - although my cheap all-in-one printer/scanner does a pretty good job. It is better to have a photo of a photo than none at all.

2.  Back up your digital photos and scans.   If you take photos with your cell phone, download them.  A cell phone is way too easy to lose.

3.  Store the backup somewhere besides your own home.  Note the natural disasters mentioned above.  A good backup is an off-site backup. It is what corporations do and it is what we need to do also.  Consider a bank safety deposit box.  You may also store backups with a family member who lives a good distance away from you.  On-line backup services may be a good option for you as well.

4.  If you have extra prints lying around, those too can be stored off-site.  Perhaps doing a photo swap with a family member for those extra school pictures or other extra photos that you don't need. Keep a box of their keepsakes safe at your home and let them keep a box of yours.

5.  Remember that all media gets dated.  By this I mean that if you backed up data a long time ago on a 3 1/2" disk, you might have a lot of trouble finding a computer to off load it onto should you need it.  Your backup system will need to be revisited every few years.  Is this a lot of trouble?  It is some aggravation but think about those people you see on the news hunting through the wreckage of their home after a tornado to find just a few photos or mementos.

I know this isn't new information, but I for one am guilty of not having everything backed up.  I have a lot of it scanned and stored in a safety deposit box but not everything so this is a reminder to me as well to keep working on recording those memories and keeping them safe.

I truly hope you never need a backup of your photos but if you do, I hope you will have those precious memories preserved.

Now that I'm done preaching, onto my layouts for today...

For this layout, I used the originals - after I scanned them.  Often the thing I notice most in old photos is not the main subject which I guess was supposed to be me as a baby but the other people and the background.  These photos tell me a lot about my parents and my home growing up.

Look how thin my Mother is!  I was only 3 or 4 months old here - the photo isn't dated, but I can tell from the flowers.  She certainly got her figure back in record time.  She was and is such a beautiful woman.  Also Mother is obviously very comfortable as a new Mom, my Dad looks a little more uncertain of having a baby in his arms. Unfortunately, I inherited my Mother's photographic ability :-)

I did "The House that Built Me" page first and I'm glad.  It turned out pretty busy so I knew the other one needed to be a lot simpler.  The major embellishment here is the hand stitching.  I was inspired by all the stitching I've been seeing lately on Sue's blog.

While all these pictures are of me as a baby and a toddler, I was more interested in the setting. Each of these photos remind me of the home I grew up in.  My parents still live in that house but you wouldn't recognize it as the same one.  They did two major remodels.  Since they owned a carpet, wallpaper and window treatment business, Mother redecorated our home a couple of times when I was growing up and again after she retired.  So all those original furnishings and finishes are gone or buried under new wall paper and carpet.  I don't just barely remember some of this.

Both layouts were completed with papers mostly from Echo Park's This and That Graceful collection that I got from ArtfulDelight.  These papers have a real 50's vintage look.  My parents house was constructed in the late 1950's (I wasn't constructed until a few years later).

The idea for putting the photos in the 'house' came from the fall Scrapbooking and Beyond issue.  The photo frame was small in their layout, more of an embellishment.  I decided to fill all the squares with photos.  The 4 square design was cut on the Cricut with SCAL software from chipboard and then a woodgrain pattern paper that reminded me of the paneling in our den.  The roof is courtesy of the Scoreboard and then cutting paper into strips and layering.  Once I got started layering all the stickers and papers I liked, I just couldn't stop!

The House title is from the Miranda Lambert song.  In the song she goes back to her childhood home. I see my childhood home all the time as my parents live less than a mile away.  Still with these photos I can 'go back' to the original house look and a different time.

Thanks for visiting today!