Dallas Winter Wonderland

It snowed for 24 hours in Dallas. I know that's not a really big deal for those who get several feet of snow every year, but I don't remember this much snow in Dallas ever and I've lived hear for 42 years. The picture is of a grassy bush beside our drive way. I took it at 5 am before anything outside moved. I wish I had a video of my white standard poodle trying out the snow. Oh, she didn't want to go outside. I stayed home and watched it all day long. Lovely. Definitely took some pictures to use in my digital books.

Getting Organized

Every New Year I make a resolution to lose weight and get organized. Okay, I'm still overweight, but I am losing. I'm also getting organized. Oh,it is so easy to go to the local office supply and buy folders and labels and boxes and containers. Then, it was even more fun to move stuff from one place to another. I'm talking about paper files and boxes and even filing cabinets. But still, the one thing I keep putting off is organizing all my photos into safe and accessible and secure files.

First, I have to do something with the cabinet full of printed photos I've collected in shoeboxes for years. I bought a scanners. I think it will take about a month to scan them in. I keep putting that chore off. Before I scan them, I need to figure out how I want to organize them. From Creative Memories I bought a Power Sort Box that holds 2600 pictures in a safe, archival quality container with dividers. Within the Power Sort Box are 4 smaller sort boxes (each holds 600 pictures)with dividers.

I realised that I must have a secure place to preserve them after they are scanned. I bought a terabyte (pretty darn big) external hard drive (still in the box). I also bought a large package of DVD (gold ones because they are suppose to last the longest.). Now I'm starting to get paranoid. What if the hard drive fails? What if a have a computer crash before I finish my project?

I've really thought this through. I bought Memory Manager 3.0 from Creative Memories. As I scan my pictures into my computer, I will place them in files on Memory Manager. Then I'll export them to my external hard drive and also send them to Creative Memories to be archived. Only then, will I remove the files from my computer. Now my photos will be available to me online, anytime and anywhere. If something happens to my external hard drive, I can retrieve them from Creative Memories.

Now, the hardest step of all...opening that first shoe box.

I've joined a new scrapbook meetup

Tonight I'm meeting with a group of scrappers I found on Meetup. If you haven't been to Meetup yet, give it a try. There are groups for almost every interest. You can find like minded people in your area just by going to Meetup on the net and putting in your interest. They'll match you. You can even start your own meetup group for a very low fee.

I am a member of Altered Arts Meetup led by Cathy Johnson. We do altered books, art trading cards, cards, and anything else that needs a little bling.

My Meetup group I have named North Irving Scrapbook Therapy Club. No, it's not for real therapy, but since scrapbooking has helped me in so many ways, I chose that name. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than paying a shrink! :)

I want to really expand my contact base and meet many more scrappers. I'll try to blog about what I learn at these meetups and maybe add a few pictures of featured projects along the way. Keep watching my blog. You never know what you will learn.

Digital photo stats

I want to share some statistics about digital photos.

79% of digital photos taken are not printed.
8% of consumers order photo gifts, including photo books, each year.
39% of consumers have lost some (30%) or all (9%) of their digital images due to a hard disk crash, virus, or accidental deletion.
Facebook has over 14 billion photos, with 2 billion photos uploaded each month.
70% of Facebook users don't know that Facebook saves only low-resolution photos!
The average digital camera user takes 116 photos in 3 months.
The difference between professional and amateur photographers is that the pros only show you the good ones.

DESIGN AND DELIVER

I had to get Deliver in there somewhere. For 30 years I delivered babies, and now I deliver Digital Storybooks. In addition to being a scrapbook consultant, I also help those who don't have the time or inclination to do their own projects. Weddings, senior books, baby books, heritage books, cookbooks can be designed easily with Creative Memories software. The quality of the printed project is wonderful and is guaranteed to last.

I'm taking pictures this weekend for an engagement brunch. These pictures will be turned into a professional looking digital hard covered book. I'll try to share a page or two from the finished project if I get their permission.

You can contact me if you are interested in having a digital book or other project done for you. Also contact me, if you'd like to have the software to do your own projects. I'll teach you to use your software for free.

www.mycmsite.com/momdoc

Putting my toe into the water

My big toe is in the blog water and I'm feeling very uncertain. Sink or swim...here goes.

I'm a Mom Doc, an obstetrician/gynecologist, who has retired from practice, and found a passion for photography and saving memories. After I retired I was pretty depressed. Most of my friends still worked and my identity had been tied up with medicine for as long as I can remember. I always thought I'd return to music after retirement, but arthritis and a fractured finger finished that dream.

I put the violin back into the closet and sulked.

My dear husband told me about a patient who loved to scrapbook, and he insisted I go with her to a scrapbook retreat. The rest is history. Now, I turn my digital pictures into digital Storybooks and help others do the same. It's great fun to discover your creativity and do something useful at the same time.

I took a long trip a few years ago and took tons of pictures. They became my first traditional scrapbook album. I still love paper and scissors and cutters and embellishments, but then I discovered the wonderful, easy to use Creative Memories Storybook software that literally turns pictures into treasures. Now, not only do I make traditional scrapbooks, but I also make digital Storybooks, mugs, tee shirts, mousepads, calendars, photo panels, cards, postcards, and a big variety of other thing. Now I am a scrapbook consultant and designer, M.D.