I think one of the most common questions I am asked is 'how do I find a theme amongst thousands of photos'?

When you begin scrapbooking, looking at thousands at photos can often lead you to put the photos away and not even consider getting them into scrapbooks.

Here are several themes you can consider. These are all very general themes to help you sort those thousands of photos:

? Children Through The YearsThis would mean pulling out photos of the one child and putting the photos into a chronological order.

? Family HistoryThis would involve pulling out all family photos and from there organizing them into categories, such as aunt, uncles and cousins. Or it could mean organizing the photos by family last name. For example, perhaps your extended family has both the Smith's and the White's. Separate the photos into two categories and either create one book with each family at either end of the scrapbook, or break it into two albums if you have enough photos.

? VacationsPull out all of the photos of vacations over the years. I know my folks took trips every year. We were able to determine what year from either the photos themselves or from the envelope given to us when the photos were developed.

? Christmas or Hanukah through the yearsI was able to pull out all of the holiday photos and put them in chronological order and have one holiday album.

? PetsOften we take wonderful photos of our pets. Create an album that is just photos of family pets.

? Specific eventAs we look through our old photos, often we find a large amount of photos from one event. Pull out that event and create a scrapbook for just that event. It might be a wedding, or an anniversary party, or a teenager's prom. If you have enough photos of one event, create an album of just that event. Some of our events are day trips. For example we went to Disneyland and took so many photos we were able to create an album of just that one day.

? BirthdaysWe are big on birthday celebrations. If you have had many birthday celebrations over the years, make an album of everyone's birthdays. Your album can have both kid's birthdays, mom and dad's birthdays and even grandma and grandpa's birthday.

? SportsMany of us have had the joy of watching our children in various sports events. My own daughter loved cheerleading. Create an album of your children through the years in connection with their sports activities.

Once you've been through those thousands of old photos, and assembled them into categories, or themes, you'll begin to take new photos, thinking of the upcoming scrapbook. For example, my daughter took a one week trip to Washington D.C. She knew she'd be making a scrapbook of just this trip. She took plenty of photos to make an entire album.

Not every photo has to go into a scrapbook. If you pull out those photos that fit into the themes you've chosen, the rest of the photos can either be collaged, or put into photo albums.