Show off your family’s greatest moments
Compile all the things that make your family unique and share them — digitally
By Cindy Waxer
For new mom Ashley Hunt, a beloved scrapbooking hobby was fast becoming a thing of the past, along with candle—lit dinners and breakfast in bed. Motherhood simply wasn’t affording the 24—year—old enough hours for collecting embellishments and tweaking layouts.
“I just didn’t have the time to sit and crop paper,” says Hunt, noting the mess that can also arise from a single scrapbooking session. Yet, with the arrival of her son Ethan, Hunt was even more eager to record and share her burgeoning family’s most precious moments.
So Hunt turned to Scrapblog. Uniting the disparate worlds of scrapbook creativity and multimedia functionality, Scrapblog allows members like Hunt to combine photos, videos, audio and text to create Web—based multimedia journals that can easily be viewed by friends and family.
Create a visual diary
It’s easy to understand the desire to document life’s special events. Says Angela Urbano, owner of Urban Scrapyard, a specialty scrapbooking store in Toronto: “If I’m not here tomorrow, I want my daughter to know what I was feeling or thinking [or] why I took that picture and what was so special about that moment.”
But a scrapbook—digital or paper—based—is just one of many ways to collect, compile and preserve those favourite family moments. These days, people are gathering keepsakes (such as family recipes, popular tunes, photographs and old home movies) and digitally incorporating them into photo and video sharing platforms as well as personal blogs.
Online photo and video sharing sites such as MyPhotoAlbum, for example, offer members hundreds of design and layout options and a short, memorable Internet address.
Another great platform for your digital tribute: the ubiquitous blog. Free—of—charge Web log publishing tools such as Windows Live Spaces not only allow you to post your innermost thoughts, but can also get the whole family involved in creating a multimedia collection of their best moments.
Encourage grandma to submit her secret recipe for lasagna, ask your friends to scan and e—mail grade—school classroom photos, or publicly declare your musical tastes by offering links to your favourite downloadable MP3s. You can post them all on your Windows Live Space for friends and family to share. But the trick to making your creation truly voyeur—worthy entails venturing beyond run—of—the—mill family portraits. With Windows Live Spaces, you can document this summer’s family road trip in real time by uploading entertaining photos and video clips from your cell phone!
Tricks for greatness
Of course, there are a few tricks when it comes to creating unique digital compilations. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started:
Think beyond photos
Be careful not to limit your multimedia compilation of fabulous family moments to predictable photos. Just ask Urbano. She recommends scanning out—of—the—box items. Some to try:
- Report cards
- Concert tickets
- Old passport pictures
- Award ribbons
- Craft projects and artwork
These items can be easily dragged and dropped into templates or pages you’ve designed from scratch. In fact, Urbano’s scrapbook for her five—year—old daughter Maya includes art projects, ultrasound pictures and a hospital baby bracelet—items that can be easily scanned for a digital collection.
Create an interactive experience
Creating a compelling online photo album shouldn’t be a solitary endeavour. Get friends and families into the act by encouraging photo—ratings and visitor photo comments. Windows Live Spaces allows users to leave comments on both photos and blog posts.
Not only is this a great way to solicit feedback about your masterpiece, but it’ll also encourage others to create their own digital compilations.
Vet for errors
Even the most eloquent prose can fall flat if it’s riddled with misspellings. Whether you’re posting family recipes on a blog or writing in your scrapblog, Hunt recommends running your carefully chosen words through Microsoft Word’s spell checker before hitting the “publish” button.
