The “Where We Should Start” Poll!

This blog is about you and helping you make a difference with those you care about…. making them, and maybe you, Story Stars. It’s truly one of the most, if not THE most, important uses of our photos/digital images. I hope you will make your voice heard by taking a minute to review the list and placing your vote for the top option you’d like me to begin with. Here we go…

Thank you for sharing your preference. Can’t wait to see which is the top choice so I may begin my next post! I’d love to hear any thoughts/comments you have regarding this poll/these topics.

Image Credit: HansKristian

A Few “Don’ts and Dos” for Digital Image Safety

We have entered the digital age, yet, many of us are trying to navigate it using substandard beliefs, information and/or equipment. It’s mostly because we just don’t know what we don’t know. Hoping to avoid learning the hard way, here are a few “don’ts” for us to follow:

* DON’T assume that because your beloved is THE knowledgeable one regarding computers, they have expertise in organizing or safeguarding your family’s digital images.

* DON’T believe your digital images are safe when stored in just one thing.

* DON’T load digital images onto your computer’s hard drive without knowing the total amount of hard drive space and the total amount of FREE hard drive space.

And, now, a few “do’s”:

* DO take an active interest in where/how your digital images are being stored. Contact your CM consultant for digital training and information on THE 2 best digital organization and album-making programs on the market (I’ve compared them so I know this and can say this!)

* DO BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP!! And not on just anything! When using an external hard drive which you will be transporting often, purchase one which is built to be portable. If not moving it, a regular external HD will do. Plus, get the one with the most gigs you can afford! When using CDs or DVDs, purchase those which contain Phthalocyanine dye and are built to stand the test of time. If you are using the CDs or DVDs which come in sets of 100 for $20, for instance, they are a recipe for disaster.

* DO know the total amount of gigs on your computer’s hard drive (C drive on PCs, finder/hard drive on Macs), continually monitor the amount of free space available and ALWAYS keep AT LEAST 10% of the total space free. The closer you get to 10%, the more you invite a computer crash. Go below 10%, you might as well kiss your computer bye-bye!

There’s more do’s and don’ts, but they will have to wait for another day. Where do you stand on insuring the safety of your images? Do you have any other great ideas for keeping them safe? Please share them.

And, watch for my next post which will be a survey of your interests. Let your voice be heard!

It’s Not a Big Deal…. or Is It?!

As I was getting ready to post a survey of choices to learn your areas of interest for this Story Stars blog, something happened with my friend and client, Beth (a pretend name to protect her privacy), which was too important to be ignored. There is “patient” and then there is “gambling”. You be the judge….

Last week, Beth began her digital journey with the goal of organizing and finally enjoying the images she has accumulated through the years. She decided to complete a very quick project as a birthday surprise for her sons, and I made myself available to help her with her 1st project. We set a date for her to come over. To prepare for the appointment since she just had one hour, her plan was to:

1) choose the images (we pre-scanned photos which weren’t previously digitized)

2) write the text

3) pre-select the digitized kit

When she arrived, she had completed all of her tasks except she didn’t have exactly the images she wanted to use.  She told me her husband, who is the IT specialist/trouble-shooter at his company, lent the external hard drive, which contained her accumulated digital images, to a friend at work. But, she said, she was not going to “make a big deal out of it” and would use the images she did have, thus not letting it abort her project goals.  I held my breath as I asked her, “Is that the only place those images are?”. When she answered “yes”, I knew she didn’t really understand how big the “lending of the external hard drive” was. While she was being patient, loving and understanding of her husband’s actions, thinking it was just the inconvenience of not having the exact photos she wanted, she had no clue at the level of risk her images might be. Yet, it wasn’t the time to bring it up as what had been done, was indeed done. We pushed on with the items she had, easily completing and ordering her project before she had to leave. I made a mental note to be sure to share my concerns with her the next time I saw her, hoping it wouldn’t be too late.

Does this scenario hit all too close to home for you? Your situation might different, yet, do you know where your images are, how they are being backed up or the health of your computer which is housing them? For some important “don’ts” and “do’s”, check out the next post to come.

Photo Credit: Inju

The Picture Whisperer, Continued…

In the last post, I shared how I saw some similarities between the “Horse Whisperer“, the “Dog Whisperer” and how we deal with our photos/images. They rehabilitate horses and dogs, respectively, while training their owners and photo solution consultants like me rehabilitate photos/images while training their owners.

Let’s see how:

Rehabilitating Photos = Our photos/digital images aren’t the problem. It’s what we think we have to do with them in order to get them into something in which to enjoy them, i.e. the decorating, the chronological ordering, the perfect handwriting, as well as other time consuming and self-imposed myths, which keeps us STUCK. So, debunking the myths is a huge step in rehabilitating our photos/images.

Train Their Owners = After identifying what’s been keeping us stuck with our photos/images, it’s time to match organizing and “getting them out of hiding” (i.e. types of albums, Everyday Display Boards, etc.) systems to our, the owner’s, needs/desires. All while learning (here’s the “training” part!) do-able processes such as Zip Layout, Power Layout, plus more choices for getting it done and staying in the “Land of Success” as we move forward.

By doing the above, we have enough energy and focus to do what really does matter the most: using our words to make a difference with those we care about and love. Yes, there’s a process (training) for this, too, which helps us go from just captions to meaningful, make a difference writing.

Now, we can share all the great ideas in the world about what and how to write meaningfully, but if we are still stuck in the myths, it’s next to impossible to move forward to do the writing. So, if you are still feeling frozen and unable to move past “stuck”, here are a few action steps:

* go back and read the first few postings in this blog

* attend some of my upcoming online or in person trainings (soon to be listed in this blog; consider subscribing for the updates))

* read “The Power of a Positive Mom” or any of the books or free resources by Jim and Charles Fay of Love and Logic to see what’s important to convey to our kids through our writing and what’s at stake if we don’t move beyond being stuck.

Does any of this resonate with you? If so, please share how? If you think I’m crazy, you can add your thoughts on that, too. Either way, let’s get some discussion going so we all are moving forward.

Rehabilitating Photos and Training Their Owners!

Decades ago, while watching PBS (Public Broadcasting System), I discovered a most amazing person, Monty Roberts. You may have heard of him? He had a whole new way of working with horses and was known as “The Horse Whisperer”.  His programs were mesmerizing, watching him work with unruly horses and transform them into calm, enjoyable beings. He worked with horses and their owners all around the world and always said he “rehabilitated the horses and trained their owners”. While doing so and raising his own family, he fostered over 50 troubled young people using his gentle abilities of rehabilitation. The horses, and the fostered kids, were always brought to him as the source of the problem, yet it was clear the horses (and kids) were simply reacting to their own experiences. You can read more of this story in his excellent autobiography “The Man Who Listens to Horses”.  I’ve watched him weave his magic ever since.

A few years ago, another person came to my attention, Mr. Cesar Milan, who is known for his expertise in working with dogs. I think I resisted tuning into his shows as I assumed he was just playing off of Monty Robert’s fame by using the “whisperer” part and how different could an animal trainer be anyway (sadly, sometimes I amaze my self at how narrow-minded I can be!). One night, while channel-surfing, I accidentally came across his show, The Dog Whisperer, stopped and watched for a few minutes. ZAP!! I was hooked. Cesar Milan’s methods are very similar to those of Monty Roberts, so intuitive, kind, firm, humane and brilliant!

Now, you might be wondering what all of this has to do with the goals of this StoryStars blog, which are to enable us to write effectively with our photos and make real differences with those for whom we care. Well, while watching one of his shows, I heard him say for the upteenth time “I rehabilitate dogs and train their owners” and something clicked with me. A light bulb went off in my brain, and I realized that’s exactly what I did with myself to get out of “photo freeze” and into action! And, it’s a nutshell description of what I do with photos and their people! While I’m in no way a Monty Roberts or Cesar Milan, who are truly amazing, one-of-a-kind people, it hit me that my whole focus in helping people IS to “rehabilitate photos and train their owners”.

How so??? In my next post, I’ll tell you how plus some cool things to come.

Are you familiar with Monty Roberts and/or Cesar Milan and can see how their philosophies could relate to how we approach our photos/images? Please share your thoughts below and subscribe to the blog in the upper right column on this page.

Your Album-Making Style: Part 2 of 2

In the last post, I asked you to take a poll to identify your album-making style preferences, regardless of digital storybooking and/or scrapbooking focus, by choosing album #1 or album #2?

Before we get to what your choice means, please think about your answer and ask yourself if your answer really reflects your preferences or if it’s more about how you may have been brainwashed into thinking about it? Just take a second, check in and make sure your answer is really your answer. It’s very important to do this and, if you need my help in finding your own perspective, just let me know. I’m happy to help you! Okay, ready to move on?

Now, what does your choice mean?

If you chose #1 (example below), you are choosing story and impact.You value meaning instead of decoration. This is the most streamlined and efficient way to get your photos and stories into your life.

If you chose #2 (example below), you are someone for whom the look of the page and probably the process of creating the decoration/patterns matters most to you. This tends to be the most time-consuming approach to album-making.

And, if you tried to choose only one album but just couldn’t, your album-making style is a strong combination of the two versions.

Why does knowing this matter? Because it frees you to be laser focused in establishing a process which is a match for your preferences! What’s important here is that you are able to recognize the style which is a match for you, own that and stand strong in that knowledge. It decreases the clutter of “shoulds and woulds”, which often keeps us paralyzed in inactivity.

Which style is your preference? Do you have an enjoyable, efficient process for making progress in your albums? If so, please share it in the comment section below.

The Litmus Test for Album-Making Styles: Part 1

In our last entry, I shared with you what scrapbooking was meant to be in the beginning, how it evolved and the myths which occurred from that plus where we stand now. My quest continues to be the debunking of our assumptions or myths about photo organization and album-making, aka scrapbooking, so the amazing perk from this to positively affect our relationships is attainable by all. 

For some, emphasis on moderately to extremely decorated pages is the perfect match for them, and my job is to keep the creative ideas flowing along with the get-it-done processes they may desire. For others, serving them best means helping them break out of the brainwashing they may have experienced regarding their photos and related processes… yes, the myths, so they are free to focus on photos and stories on a page! 

Based on research accumulated by Creative Memories (hereafter known as CM), this is how we know that the interest level breaks down, approximately:

• 15% of the population wants to decoratively scrapbook via paper or digitally
• 5% of the population wants to have their photos/digital images organized, period…. the end!
• 70% of the population wants to get their photos/digital images with their stories into their lives via paper albums or digital storybooks
• 10% of the population wants nothing to do with any of the above 

If you are wondering which of the first 3 groups you fit into, do this activity with me and share your preference via the poll at the end:

Pretend for a moment that I know where your parents live, where you grew up.  I went up to the attic and found 2 albums they completed for YOU!!

• Album 1: They began this album when you were just a baby, and they put in photos and filled each page with stories…. stories of when you took your first step, your birthday parties, what a joy and blessing you were for them as well as the irritations you all lived through. They added Faith stories and times you were “caught being/doing good” for others. It was filled with pages of photos and stories of their love for you.
• Album 2: In this one, after your parents were told their albums could/should be more decorative, they learned so many decorative techniques, they could have taught classes on decorative pages. They put a photo or 2 on each page and some captioning but concentrated their time and energy on creating pop-ups, sponge painting, fold-outs and big decorated pages.

If I told you that you could only have ONE of the two albums, which ONE would you choose? 

What does your choice mean about your album-making style? Check “Part 2″ of this 2 part series of posts to find out!

Scrapbooking: Debunking the Myths!

“Scrapbooking”…. the joy or bain of my existence, depending on the moment.  Most people who know me, know that I’m all about photo/digital image organization and getting them out of hiding and into something in which we can enjoy them, like Digital Storybooking or Picfolio/Traditional albums. When I’m asked, “What do you do?”, my answer is usually something like:

“You know those photos/digital images that can jam up our drawers and clog up our computers? Well, I teach people how to organize them into something they’ll love and make a difference in their relationships.”

Most of the time, the response is “wow, how do you do that?!”, and we often begin an amazing journey from there. Yet, some of the time, the response is “oh, you mean scrapbooking?!!” When I get that response and I followup by asking what “scrapbooking” means to them, I usually hear:

“that’s something my (mom, daughter, sister, aunt, best friend… you fill in the blank) does and she spends hours and hours on her pages (meaning decorating them). They are beautiful and I could/would never have the time/talent/money/interest to do that.”

This is when the term “scrapbooking” is the bain of my existence and why I’m on a quest to debunk the myths of “scrapbooking”.

Let’s see how these myths began, briefly…. when people first started putting photos and captions/stories in albums, it was just that…. photos and stories in albums. This was known as “scrapbooking”, and a company known as Webway was a major player in the album-making field.  Many decades later, in 1988, the company I’m excitedly an Independent Consultant for, Creative Memories, (CM) came on the scene, born from the vision and passion of Rhonda Anderson and brought to being with the expertise and collaboration of her co-founder, Cheryl Lightle.  As the industry evolved, the process of scrapbooking took on a crafting variation which included lots of things with which to decorate pages. Now, people had choices. They could continue in the scrapbook tradition of photos and stories on a page, which in and of itself is NOT particularly time consuming and involves little to no creativity, or those who felt craftier could include and have fun with the new page decorating items, techniques and processes. How nice to have choices, right??

Well, instead of page decorating being a nice option for those who preferred the aesthetics and/or therapy of it, it became the definition of scrapbooking!! Many traditional scrapbookers bought into the myth that in order to make albums or scrapbook correctly (or the “right way”, as I sometimes hear), it had to involve page decorating… and often lots and lots of page decorating. Something which was supposed to be a next step in additional options somehow became the “measuring stick of correctness”  and very competitive.

Yes, I will admit that my company and most of our consultants led the way and the call to “craftiness”, while becoming the leading scrapbooking company internationally. Before I became a consultant 6 and a half years ago, even I bought into this myth!  Having discovered CM 1993, believing the myth kept me frozen and unable to complete 1 album or even 1 page…. and missing out on a most amazing “secret weapon” in my parenting toolbox while growing my family.  Yet, when I did become a consultant with CM, I broke free of these myths (with the help of one very brave and forthright consultant, Kimberli Brackett) and have devoted my energy and attention to helping others do the same; in the process, demystifying and simplifying photo organization and album-making while matching my friend’s and client’s photo preferences to compatible processes and techniques.

That brings us to today and the myths of scrapbooking persist, creating backlogs of printed photos and computers jammed with digital images, not to mention missed opportunities for “bullet-proofing” our relationships.  Where are you in this regard? Have the myths held you back? Do you have people in your life who could benefit from albums filled with your encouraging words?

Photos AND Stories Create Attention Grabbing Tools

To help you understand the power behind the “secret weapon” of stories with and without photos, consider this…. what’s your impulse when you are out and about, in a restaurant perhaps, and see someone you  don’t even know passing around photos? Have you ever walked into someones home, saw an album or even just a stack of photos sitting on a table and felt pulled to take a peek? If so, you are like the majority of the population, including me.  We feel compelled to pick up that album. It’s just the way we are. We have a natural, innate curiousity about photos and their stories. And, guess what? As is the nature of the “human being”, if the set of photos or album has US in them, we are beyond curious…. we are laser focused!

What do you think happens when we use what already exists… our photos, then add our words of love, plus stories of faith, lessons learned, values, character traits noticed and more and make someone the “star” of the story? Yes indeedy… we have created an automatic high interest HOOK; that tool which has the capability of adding to the “bullet-proofing” of our kids…. truly, of any person/relationship we care about! I truly believe this is one of the best kept secrets of the world!

Who do you have in your life who could use some “bullet-proofing” for living in our world? Who’s full attention would you like to have and what would you like them to hear/learn from you? Please share with us in the comment section.

The Surprising "Secret Weapon" of Storybooking and Scrapbooking

My 26 year old son, Brian, fully involved in a SB!

Do you crave a way to truly connect with your kids on an ongoing basis?

Do you have “lessons learned” from your own mistakes or failures which knowing could help your child as she navigates her world?

Do you wish your child saw himself as you see him with all the strength and support that would give him?

Are there values and family stories you know are important to be learned and passed on?

What about helping your child see the God Moments in her life; really seeing her “faith-in-action”? 

Like me, you have probably sought ways to capture your child’s attention in order to accomplish any of those things yet have found your efforts inconsistently effective at best. Talking and lecturing will only go so far… usually in one ear and out the other. We know our kids learn best by actions and behaviors they see modeled for them consistently. And, we aren’t always around to “teach, model and support” when our kids may need it. In my world of “digital storybooking and hybrid scrapbooking”, I have found the most amazing and untapped “secret weapon” in our parenting toolbelt; one which has challenged the myths of scrapbooking and has given me passion and determination to bring to you… the secret weapon of photos AND, more importantly, the strategic use of words and stories!

How are you striving to shape your children’s development? What lessons, values, character traits or faithbuilding are you wanting to instill in your kids? Leave a comment sharing your goals as a parent or someone important in the life of a child.