Earlier this summer, Gabriela at Une Vie Saine, blogged about a photo project she was undertaking. Gabriela decided to organize her childhood photos from having them stashed in boxes to being displayed in albums. Lightbulb moment! I put this idea on the back burner for future reference.
Now, my Mom was a step ahead of the game, back in the ’70s, way before scrapbooking was a popular hobby. She started creating photo albums for The Brother and me right from the moment we were born. Using stickers, coloured construction paper, traceable stencils, and her imagination, Mom transformed the simple chronicling of our childhoods into vivid stories.
My photo albums are showing their age. Thanks to incorporating childhood pictures into blog posts, I’ve been spending time paging through my collection. So, while my photos are in order, and in books (up to about the age of twelve) they do look in need of some TLC.
You’ll remember that July is goal-free (!) but I thought that it would be a good idea to spend some time re-gluing Mom’s handiwork; otherwise, some day I’m going to open my baby album and have a waterfall of snapshots and pastel paper flowers at my feet.
I formulated my plan. Step #1:
NEVER go to michaels without a coupon; there is ALWAYS one available online - just google!
Step #2:
many sticky-stuff options...
Step #3:
go with the tried and true
Elmer’s Rubber Cement is foolproof. (And also good for egg decorating!)
Here is my collection of photo albums:
the oldest book is on the far R, then we move chronologically to the L
And here are three “before” pages:
exhibit A - we're close to losing that shoe!
exhibit B - the birds are flying south!
exhibit C - whoops! code red over here!
Me and Elmer got down to business…
The best thing about rubber cement is that if you get it on your fingers, just a little rub and the stickiness is gone!
...and it's colourless!
There. Hopefully the photos will be secure now for another 40 years a very long time.
After shots:
exhibit A - a successful rescue operation!
exhibit B - the birds have found their flight path, again!
exhibit C - i have tried to replicate mom's designs as best i can!
So, this really strikes me as more of a winter-time project, but it’s also something that I can devote either 7 minutes to or 7 hours 57 minutes to, at a time. And Mom’s creative handiwork will be preserved!
Part II will entail going through envelopes crammed with pictures, (the teen years and on are hit and miss in terms of organization) and putting any loose photos into albums. Maybe I’ll leave that part to tackle this winter!
So, I give my hearty thanks to Gabriela for the great idea/inspiration (I’m not sure if she finished her own project – I should find out!).
Do you have many photos from childhood? Are they organized? Thanks to being the oldest child, there are more albums of my baby days than there are of The Brother – a very typical occurrence in many families!
~*~*~*~*~
On this day in 2010…the expression, “Life’s a Beach” was very fitting, indeed!
1970KikiProject Blog 