It's time to scan in the 50's, 60's and 70's!

For years, I've been wondering what to do with the 1,000s of slides my Dad had stored in the basement...that we never saw. It was such a production to get the carousel out, set up everything in the right order...I mean, we just never looked at them. So last year, I decided to splurge on a $99 scanner with an accessory for slides, and started the massive task of digitizing everything (if you can afford it to have someone else do it, go for it!). I decided not to make it a task I hated, so I made this a relaxing, no deadline multi-tasking activity while I watched a favorite TV show. I used my laptop, put up my feet, placed the scanner next to me on the couch, and started scanning. I now have about 1,500 slides scanned in (there were quite a few that I decided we didn't need since they weren't identifiable), each in their own folder: 1949, 1950, etc. all the way to 1983. It took me about 6 months of scanning at a very relaxed pace, and what a great feeling of accomplishment to have that precious history of our family finally archived!

And then here's the fun part...now that I had all of that stored digitally, it was a breeze to turn it into a meaningful book! I put one together for the whole Wells Family Early Years, and then, when my Dad was being honored last month for his life full of service in Latin America, I put together a book about his adventures and honors through the years (and I made DVD copies for everyone, complete with 1950's music background). I was feeling a bit creative so I didn't use one of My Memories Suite's pre-designed templates. I just picked a background that looked a bit antique, and tried to make it look like I had some brown leather on there, and some brass brads. I'm not a designer by any means...but did I do ok? I especially love the picture of my Mom and Dad heading out to a fancy party...I always thought they looked like movie stars! My Mom kind of reminds me of Eva Gardner and my Dad is a cross between Clark Gable, John Wayne...and bit of Ronald Reagan thrown in. Have you tried scanning your family slides that are gathering dust somewhere?