Photo Freedom (Simple Scrapbooks) [Ring-bound]

Simple Scrapbooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2008 | Series: Simple Scrapbooks

Are you tired of feeling like you're drowning in a sea of photos that may never get scrapbooked? Stacy Julian throws you a life preserver in her new book, Photo Freedom. Teaching you the system she teaches in her successful Library of Memories class, Stacy gives you a Big Picture approach to prioritizing and organizing photos. With Stacy coaching you through this book, you'll get those piles of photos off the computer (and out of shoeboxes) and into your scrapbooks quicker than you ever thought possible. Through Photo Freedom, you'll gain the freedom to scrapbook the memories you wish to preserve and have fun in the process!

Product Details

• Ring-bound: 130 pages
• Publisher: CK Media; 1st edition (February 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933516798
• ISBN-13: 978-1933516790
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Whole New Way To Look At Your Photos June 22, 2008

By Mary Kay Seckinger

Format:Ring-bound

Stacy Julian's scrapbooking philosophy, first laid out in Big Picture Scrapbooking, is simple: It's not about getting it done. It's about telling the stories. That makes a lot of sense to me, even though I spent many years trying to "catch up." I finally realized that you'll never be caught up unless you stop taking pictures, which I don't recommend.

In her second book, Stacy goes on to describe, very specifically, the organizational system that allows her to tell the stories, rather than just scrapbook her pictures. She calls her system the "Library of Memories." She has several stages she takes her photos through after they're developed, including sliding them into storage binders (regular slide-in photo albums), sorting them into category drawers (for photos sorted by a variety of categories), library albums (for completed layouts), a memorabilia file (for those bits and pieces of life you want to save but often aren't sure what you want to do with), and (she's not done yet!) cold storage (photos you have no plans to scrap soon but don't want to toss) and square punch drawers (she punches faces out of photos she'd otherwise throw away, and often uses them for mini books and the like).

Using these strategies for sorting her photos, Stacy is able to make connections between photos that she would never see if she scrapped chronologically. You might find photos of your son on his birthday every year, and put together a "through the years" page. Or perhaps you find you've taken a photo of the kids in front of the house every year on the first day of school--these make a perfect mini book that shows how they've grown, how their first-day fashions have changed, and even what lunchboxes were en vogue.

The great thing about this approach, when you're freed from chronological scrapbooking, is that you can see patterns and relationships that wouldn't be obvious if you were just trying to get "caught up." Stacy gives a host of examples from her own scrapbooks, as well as short interviews with others who have adopted the "Library of Memories" approach. I found the idea both inspiring and stress-relieving; I can tell my stories simply and easily, without pressure! What a great gift. I know this is a book I'll refer to again and again as I begin to create my own Library of Memories.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The name says it all! May 31, 2008

By mt scrap gal

Format:Ring-bound

I was already a fan of Stacy and her simple scrapbooking philosophy, so I was anxious to get her latest book. I have hundreds of pictures from 44 years of marriage and family plus more hundreds I inheritated from my mother.Trying to tackle the sheer volume of organizing all this is overwhelming.Stacy gives practical info for the task. Giving yourself permission to throw some photos away and the release from the burden of chronological scraping are only two of the Photo Freedoms she teaches.Stacy helps you put the emphasis on the most important parts of keeping memories and passing them to others.The heart of the book is her Memory System which is a organizational tool for all your photos. As she says you can use part or all of the system for yourself.I really think this can even help me and my mountains of photos. She even covers all the digital issues too.Her writing style is not too technical. She wants us all to have fun. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for freedom from their photos.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My Photo Bible July 26, 2008

By A. Beaman

Format:Ring-bound

Stacy Julian has changed my life when it comes to scrapbooking. Her whole Simple Scrapbooks philosophy is what has kept me interested in the hobby and her earlier book, Big Picture Scrapbooking, is awesome as well. I read that one first and it taught me how to look at the overall purpose of scrapbooking and that it is the everyday moments and relationships that we will want to remember 25 years from now, as opposed to looking at huge volumes of birthdays and Christmas pics from every single year of our lives. At first I thought I would not need to read Photo Freedom since she references her "Library of Memories" system to photo organization in Big Picture, but eventually I wanted more of her insight. I ordered the book and read the whole thing in three days. It really made sense to me and I now follow her system almost exactly. She thoroughly explains every single thing she does and names the brand names of the products she uses and then shares how at least ten other women have modified her system to their own style. She not only explains what she does with prints, she also shows how she organizes all her pics on her computer, which I am now doing exactly like her. It really makes sense. As an added bonus, she appears on the TV show "Scrapbook Memories" on PBS every day at the beginning and talks about her ideas on the two books and demonstrates with her personal pics and albums.