I’m thinking about my late father as I write this. He was a machinist who loved his family and did so much for us.
In 2020, My Dad was moved to a skilled nursing facility the day California announced COVID lockdown and we weren’t allowed to visit him.
So, it didn’t take me long to create a new printed photo book from digital files that we stored on FOREVER®, the most complete memory-keeping system available. The photo book was created instantly for me using FOREVER’s AutoBook.
My wedding photo was the first page in his book.
My dad was also dealing with early signs of dementia. This photo book created with love by me was filled with cherished memories from 1986-2020. He could enjoy looking through the pages and reminisce so many treasured memories plus the staff could get to know my dad since he was new and we sadly couldn’t visit him.
The memories he helped us create during his lifetime were his gift to me and my siblings. And in later years we gave him the gift of looking through the photos that meant so much to our family.
Read on to see how you can turn older photos into life-affirming printed photo books and gifts.
First, let’s declutter and digitize
If you have traditional scrapbook albums on shelves in living rooms or stored in garages, have you ever wondered how you’ll keep them safe and pass them along to kids and grandkids?
You likely have shoeboxes and envelopes filled with treasured family photos, too. Let’s declutter those mysterious piles and digitize them.
There’s so much you can do with those pictures once they’re digitized. I’ve been a photo coach for almost 30 years and I can show you how to bring all of your most meaningful memories into the same safe place using FOREVER®.
Your photos, videos, slide shows, and audio tapes from the last century can be stored in the same place as the photos and videos you’ll take in the years to come.
Read to see how it can be done simply.
Turn older printed photos into attractive photo books and gifts
This is the easiest way to declutter and digitize those wonderful memories and turn them into lasting gifts and mementos.
We need to sort through your older memories. Here’s how you do it.
- Choose one place to be your staging area
- Collect your loose photos, videos, handwritten letters, slide shows and other files. You’re going to find plenty that are blurry or don’t have any meaning. Toss those.
I have a system for choosing what you know you should keep and what should get discarded. Contact me and let’s talk.
- Pack them into a special box that FOREVER® provides and have it shipped to their digitizing facility just outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
- After your files are digitized, you can store them in the digital home that you own as a FOREVER® user. The original files will be returned to you.
Send the photos from your Library to the book sizes of your choice. Options include soft-bound and hard-bound books, an array of sizes, and templates using themes touching on all phases of our lives.
- Easily create photo books using your digital files. Have the books shipped back to you or to a friend or loved one if you’re giving them as a gift.
See what others have done.
Scroll to the end of this post where I link to the stories of 3 friends and how they’ve used photo books.
Get maximum enjoyment from your digitized memories
FOREVER® lets you fully use your most meaningful memories possible by sharing them with family and friends and making them available to future generations.
This is truly permanent storage.
The files are guaranteed safe for a lifetime, plus 100 years and beyond.
Older files will be migrated to newer technologies when the older files become obsolete. There’s no additional cost to you or future generations. Accounts are guaranteed to last a lifetime, plus 100 years and beyond thanks to the FOREVER® Guarantee Fund. I can share about passing it on to future generations.
Let’s safeguard your most meaningful memories
You don’t need to feel alone when you start to declutter and digitize.
I’m here to guide you.
Contact me and let me know if you’ve tried digitizing printed photos and videos before or if this is new for you.
I’m passionate that families should protect their stories and save them as their legacy for future generations. Store them digitally and print them in photo books and as gifts to create a lifetime of meaning.
Here’s how friends and colleagues of mine have used photo books with their families
This is a post about Kathy Storie who helped her father put his photos into a book and what happened when he shared them with his brother and children:
Strengthening family bonds by organizing and storing family photos
Amy Vanden Berg lost her father in an untimely accident. See how she and her family memorialized his life.
How Safely Stored and Well-Organized Photos Bring Hope and Peace of Mind
Kathy Jones created history photobooks to use with her adult son during his terminal illness.
Finding Joy Through Family History Photo Books with Photo Coach Kathy Jones