How to Update Your Photo Legacy With an Expanded Hybrid Album

How to Update Your Photo Legacy With an Expanded Hybrid Album

Posted Julie KesslerLeave a commentPosted in Family Legacy, Photo Albums, Storytelling

If you love viewing and sharing your pictures in photo albums, do any of these scenarios describe you?

You have shelves full of bulky scrapbooks.

You’d like to add to a forgotten photo album left unfinished.

You made a scrapbook or photo album for a family member, but now you want to update it with current pictures and stories.

If so, I’ve got the perfect answer for you! It’s called a hybrid album, and I guarantee it’s going to open up all kinds of creative possibilities for you.

You create a hybrid album when you take an older photo album or scrapbook (whether it is six months or six years old) and combine it with new, updated images and stories to create a brand new album. (more…)

iPhoneXR Camera Features

The New & Improved Camera Features of the iPhone XR

Posted Julie KesslerLeave a commentPosted in Photos, Storytelling

When it comes to technology, we can all rely on one thing: change! Doesn’t it always feel like companies release brand new models with better bells and whistles? And usually right after we’ve committed to a big technology purchase!

Apple is notorious for doing this, especially with iPhones. But if you’re in the market for a smartphone upgrade and you love snapping photos with your phone, it would be worth taking a look at Apple’s iPhone latest camera improvements.

Last September, Apple released two new iPhone models: the Xs and Xs-Max. Both of these phones now have dual camera lenses, but they are definitely on the pricier side. A more affordable option, and the one we will highlight in this post, is the iPhone XR.

We’re going to talk about some of the new iPhone XR’s latest camera features, and tell you how each of these can improve your pictures. (more…)

How to Create a Mini Photo Album in an Instagram Story

How to Create a Mini Photo Album in an Instagram Story

Posted Julie Kessler4 CommentsPosted in Photo Displays, Slideshows, Storytelling, Uncategorized

After a season of family celebrations or a holiday vacation, many of us might want to to tell the story in a photo album. We like to take them off our shelves, turn the pages, gaze at the memories, then share them with family and friends through the years.

Then the onset of social media gave us yet another outlet for sharing our stories with photos.

If you’re using Instagram, you might post a few photos on your feed, but perhaps you haven’t considered the idea of creating a “social media scrapbook” using Instagram Stories.

You’ve probably seen Stories – they are the colorful circles at the top of your Instagram feed. You can tap on them to view someone’s photos or videos. (more…)

Making the Most of Your Annual Photo Review

Making the Most of Your Annual Photo Review

Posted Julie KesslerLeave a commentPosted in Archiving, Digital organizing, Photo Albums

“Auld Lang Syne.” The world rings in every New Year to this familiar song. The song originated from an ancient Scottish poem whose title roughly translated means “for old times’ sake.” The song encourages us to preserve friendships and fondly reflect back on the events of the year.

Doing an annual photo review, where we look back over our memories and moments from the past 12 months, is a great way to reflect on 2018.

It can seem daunting to comb through a year’s worth of photos to choose your favorites to include in your best of 2018 collection, but the benefits of a review like this extend well beyond your own photo organization.

You can enjoy a display of the year’s photo highlights on your computer or in a wall collage. The family and friends featured in your best shots will also appreciate viewing the images in a photo book or album shared online.

As 2018 draws to a close, here are our ideas to help you create and share your own Year in Review with photos. (more…)

3 Ideas to Help You Organize and Preserve Your Favorite Holiday Recipes

3 Ideas to Help You Organize and Preserve Your Favorite Holiday Recipes

Posted Julie Kessler2 CommentsPosted in Digital organizing, Family Legacy, Organizing, Traditions

“Once you have mastered a technique, you hardly need look at a recipe again and can take off on your own.” Julia Child

That may have been true for Julia Child, but when it comes to our once-a-year, holiday family favorites, I need the recipe! And it’s not just about how to make the food, but also remembering the people and the stories behind each dish.

If you’re like me, you like to have all of your holiday recipes organized in one place, so it’s easy to find them.

By organizing and safekeeping our recipes, we can make sure future generations will be able to enjoy all our family favorites. As our families grow and begin to add new favorites that turn into holiday food traditions, we want to be sure and keep those recipes handy as well.

Some of our holiday recipes are handwritten on cards or paper. Others are on a dog-eared page inside an inherited cookbook. Nowadays, we also grab recipes from websites and receive them via texts on our phones. It can be challenging to keep everything centralized.

Here are some ways to document, preserve, and easily locate those important holiday recipes we want to make year after year. (more…)

Julie's Favorite Photo Projects - A Guest Post on the APPO Website

Julie’s Favorite Photo Projects (a Special Guest Post on the APPO Website)

Posted Julie KesslerLeave a commentPosted in Photo Albums, Photo Displays, Slideshows, Storytelling

Picture This Organized was recently featured on ThePhotoOrganizers.com, the Association of Personal Photo Organizer’s (APPO) site.

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is helping my clients pull their photos out of bins and boxes to put them on display. Groups of photos can tell a compelling story, whether they’re in simple photo displays or more complex albums. In this APPO guest post, I share my own favorite photo projects. Albums, slideshow videos, and creative displays around my home each tell a story in its own unique way.
 
Reimagine Your Family Holiday Card

Reimagine Your Family Holiday Card: Our 2018 Guide

Posted Julie Kessler2 CommentsPosted in Families, Holiday cards, Traditions

November is here, and that means it’s time to start thinking about this year’s holiday card.

While we may receive a few embossed cards with an artful image on the front and a thoughtful sentiment inside, at least 75 percent of the cards we receive every year feature photos.

Looking at photos in our holiday cards keeps us connected to friends and family far away. We get to watch children grow and celebrate milestones like graduations and weddings that have happened over the previous year.

Because it’s fun to receive news and pictures from friends at the holidays, many of us also enjoy sending our own photo cards every year. But coordinating and executing that family photo card can add to the stress of preparing for the holiday season.

To help lighten the load, and throw some creative fun into the mix, we’ve created our 2018 Holiday Greeting Guide. Some of these ideas might just surprise you! (more…)