Gift-giving happens all year long and for many different reasons like birthdays and anniversaries. Giving a meaningful gift can also happen just because you want to brighten someone’s day.

Michelle now prints her photo books from her permanently stored photos
Custom photo books are perfect for gifts throughout the coming year—from Valentine’s Day to Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day and just as a way to express your appreciation for a friend or loved one.
The photo books you can customize are different than the thicker traditional scrapbook albums we store in our closets and on our bookshelves.
Creating memorable photo books begins with digital storage.
That’s what my friend and photo coaching colleague Michelle Collinge has done.
Begin with Permanent, Digital Storage
Digitally storing all of your photos, videos, and other files brings all of your most meaningful memories into one place. You know where everything is.
I use digital storage with FOREVER®, a complete memory preservation system with tremendous benefits:
- Digitizing old media like 8mm home movies, VHS tapes, slide shows, and photos in your traditional scrapbook albums
- Storing your files permanently—guaranteed
- Owning your space, not renting
You own your space so you’re not subject to changes in the company’s Terms of Service like you are if you’re using for free or paying a low monthly rate.
Even more importantly, your data is safe with FOREVER® and your content isn’t used for advertising or marketing purposes.
FOREVER® is the only permanent storage system I’ve found. It’s guaranteed to safeguard your memories for a lifetime, plus 100 years and beyond.
Try the platform with 2 free GB of storage space.
You can experience uploading photos to the main section called the Library and creating online albums.
Turn the photos in your albums and in your library into colorful photo books that are easy to carry around.

My main album, Travel Memories, has sub-albums or nested albums
Turn Digitized Photos into Printed Books
Imagine all you can do. You can create photo books with photos that are decades old and contrast those with photos taken now.
Create a Mother’s Day photo book or Father’s Day book of mothers and fathers in your family’s line and hand them out to various family members.
Other examples of how you can create photo books come from my friends and photo coaches Kathy Storie and Kathy Jones.
Kathy Storie met with her 86-year-old father weekly for two years to help him organize his photos using FOREVER®. He developed new interests.
“His eyes lit up as he saw the pictures populate the account. He forgot about the TV and learned to use his phone with the online storage album. He’s thrilled to show everyone how he can see his childhood photos right from his phone! And he loves how they are so nicely organized.”
She and her father, Bert, made photo books that he gave to other family members, like his brother, who had few of his own photos.
Read more of what she did in this post:
Strengthening Family Bonds by Organizing and Storing Family Photos.

Kathy and her father Bert, organizing photos and re-kindling relationships; photo by Kathy Storie
Kathy Jones did something quite different. She made photo books for her adult son who became terminally ill.
“My son had a rare neuromuscular degenerative disease and always lived with us. While he battled cancer in 2010, I made a photo book chronicling his life as a way to cheer him up and remind him of all his wonderful accomplishments.”

Kathy’s photo business has become a passion of helping others
Kathy’s services include touching up photos to make them look their best.
Get ideas from her in this post, with links to her website and services she provides like expert photo retouching:
Finding Joy through Family History Photobooks with Photo Coach Kathy Jones.
Digital storage with FOREVER® is the best way to make your photos, videos, and all older media files last permanently, guaranteed. You can let friends and family members access the albums even if they don’t own a FOREVER® permanent storage account. They do need to have at least a free FOREVER 2GB account.
Though we live in a digital age, printed photos still have a place since holding a book is an enjoyable experience.
I’m Here to Help
I’m passionate that you should preserve your family stories so relatives can enjoy them for decades and, yes, even centuries to come.

Melody Whitehead, Safeguard Your Memories
Contact me with your questions.
Learn what you can do with FOREVER®.
Try it with 2 free GB of storage space.
Then, check the Events page here on Safeguard Your Memories.com to write your family story and see all that you can do with the FOREVER® platform. These are fun weekly sessions and you’ll meet new friends.
If you’re interested in photo coaching as a part-time or full-time business then I’ll be glad to share with you my career stretching back over almost 30 years.
Our photos are treasures. Get the most from them that you can.
I want you to safeguard your memories.