Revisiting Cherished Memories: Completing Photo Books That Have Been on Your "To-Do" List for Too Long

If you're like many people, you've said, "I can't wait to put that in an album," "As soon as I get some time, I'll put together a spectacular photo book," or "It's just an entire cheesecake - what's the harm?" (Okay, that last one might just be us.)

But if you've had any of these projects on the back burner for a while, it might be time to dive into your pictures and create the perfect custom photo book to commemorate your special event, outline your family history or put together a special chronology.

Revisiting Cherished Memories: Tips for Putting the Projects in Your Imagination on Paper

Whether you've been putting off your wedding photo book or you haven't gotten around to creating your second or third child's baby photo book, here are some tips to get you started:

1. Pull together photos - and don't worry about layouts or themes yet.
2. Write down what you want to include.
3. Organize and upload your photos.
4. Find a template you love or create one from scratch.

Here's a closer look at each.

Pull Together Photos

Every journey starts with just one step, and when it comes to putting together a personalized photo book, that step is opening the folder on your computer where you stashed all your favorite shots. If you didn't get that far, don't stress over it! You can start to copy them into a new folder now.

Pro tip: If you use an online photo storage service, such as Google Photos or Amazon Photos, you can search for specific photos based on location - and in some cases, even by a person's face. Try typing "Hawaii" (or wherever you honeymooned, for example) into your search bar and see what pops up.

Set aside a couple of hours to get this done, or know that you may have to set the project aside until you get more time to finish. It's easy to get caught up in your photos as you remember why each one is special.

Write Down What You Want to Include

After you've identified the photos you want to include, start thinking about special things you want to write in your photo book. Maybe you want to caption certain photos. Perhaps you want to list peoples' names so future generations can remember them, or maybe you want to include a map of a road trip you took.

Jot everything down so you remember it when it's time to create your book.

Organize and Upload Your Photos

Keep things simple by uploading your photos before you choose a template or a theme. You can upload everything you have with just a few clicks - and it's the kind of thing you click and forget. After you've started the process, you can step away from the computer and work on something else, or you can start looking for templates you love.

Find a Template or Create Your Own

Half the fun of creating a custom photo book is poring over templates. You can find templates for:

• Seasonal photo books
• Holiday photo books
• Romance photo books
• Year-in-Review photo books
• Travel photo books
• Kids' photo books

You can also start from scratch, choosing colors, design elements, and more to create a one-of-a-kind photo book of your very own.

5 Tips for Overdue Photo Book Projects

If you've been hanging on to an idea for a photo book project for a long time, it's reasonable to wonder whether it's "too late."

It's not - but you might need to modify your book idea a bit. Think about:

1. Doing a Decade-in-Review photo book (rather than a Year-in-Review" to catch up faster
2. Including all your children in one book rather than making individual books for each child
3. Compiling a family vacation photo book that encompasses all your vacations rather than just one
4. Putting together a "Then and Now" photo book that shows your wedding, anniversaries, special occasions, and present-day photos
5. Making a more general "Our Family" photo book that includes older and newer photos of everyone who's important to you

Don't be afraid to ask friends and family for help with photos, either - you'll be surprised at how enthusiastic people are when it comes to immortalizing old memories.

How Do You Jump-Start Your Projects?

Whether you drop off your suitcases in the foyer and head straight for the computer to create a photo book or you prefer to let the idea simmer for a while, we'd love to hear about how you get going on your special projects. If you have a minute, take a snapshot of your cover or favorite photo book pages and give us a shout on Instagram (we're @Mixbook) so others can see your creative genius in action!