Wondered what to do with them? Me too. Until now ...
Probably in the last six to 12 months I've started having my photos printed at Harvey Norman rather than printing them myself. I'm not the type who fills my camera card and then heads down to the local photo shop to download the card and have all my photos printed at one time. I only print those I plan to scrap, and pretty much only on an as needs basis. Before having them printed away from home I only ever used to print the exact photo(s) I needed in the exact size I needed, when I needed them. Now though, I often find myself having more photos than necessary printed. Whether it be that I end up not using all the photos on a particular layout or I didn't know what size I'd want to scrap with so I had the photo printed in multiple sizes and then didn't use them all, whatever the case I'm ending up with unwanted photos.
I don't know about you but I just can't bring myself to throw photos out. Is it because of some throwback from the past where photos were sacrilegious (so to speak) because of their rarity to most? Is it because I don't like waste? Or is it plain old sentimentality ... how could I possibly throw a photo of one of my beloved doogles in the trash? Because of this 'issue' shall we call it, I find myself offloading these photos onto GB. But what's he supposed to do with them LOL?!!! He doesn't scrap (obviously!) and if I'm honest, GB loves that I scrap but doesn't really get the whole 'cottage-y' thing. If I did everything in a clean, graphic style he'd probably be happy. But I digress ...
It occurred to me back in (dare I admit it?!) the middle of last year that with my 'big daddy' Big Shot Pro and one of its fabulous dies (Album w/Tabs) ...
... I could make him an album to pop the photos he chooses to keep in. Yes the ones he doesn't want get thrown out. :( I thought the album might make a great little surprise for GB's birthday in September, then for Christmas; failing those occasions I then turned my attention to our wedding anniversary in January. Well let's just say better late than never because its March and finally I've made his album. But wait there's more. I made not one, but two, plus I let him on the 'secret' and so he got have to some input. His input went along the lines of plain cardstock, dates and places, and no flowers. LOL okay so I added the 'no flowers' bit myself but every now and then I'd threaten to add a flower and I'd just get this 'look'. He also got to name the albums.
This is the first album ...
Yep LOL, quite a bit different to the Sizzix example. But this was for my man and GB is not a butterfly and bows kind of dude!! I've decided I don't mind the 'cleanness' of this album. To be honest, I rather like it. Could there be a 'KISS' scrapper lurking somewhere deep inside me?? I used some very heavy, black, book board to die-cut the album and Stampin' Up! Kraft cardstock (I'm pretty sure the Kraft colour was replaced by Crumb Cake) to make the pages, the title and accents (like the eyelets). So you can get an idea of how plain GB wanted the album here is a sample of the pages ...
We decided to create two albums so Geoff could split the photos of Hayley and Max from the more general photos. 2 dogs is a fabulous little album and given that we are soon to lose Max, will be a wonderful little thing for him to have up in his study to pick up from time to time to sit with, and remember. Plus although GB's not big on words, and therefore journaling, there's deliberately not a lot of space for him to write and write and write, but just enough for him to add a few words if he chooses. The second album is called gb's v.1 ...
The "v.1" is for volume one because I'm not planning on stopping scrapping any time soon so I'm sure there will be a plethora of spare photos to come in the future. This album follows much the same format as 2 dogs but has been created with Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla cardstock instead of Kraft. Again, the pages have been kept very plain ...
Never in a million years would I have thought to make GB an album in which to keep the spare photos that keep flooding his way. He is so not a scrapbooking kinda guy. But by making his albums very plain and simple, and almost masculine like, I've solved the problem of my unwanted photos, made something special (this was one of March's special projects) for GB, and in the process have put a smile on GB's dial. A girl's gotta be happy with that right?
So the next time you're sorting through your photos and find yourself with a stack which you no longer need or want, stop and have a think of those around you. There may just be someone in your life for whom you could create an appropriate mini album to pop these photos into. You never know who's day you might make.
BTW these little albums measure 5 and 1/8" at their widest point and 6" high and the font I've used is "Diesel" ... a cookie cutter alpha by Quickutz.
