Do you know what a QR Code is? Those little squares made up of more squares and you can scan them with your phone to take you to a website, etc? They are Quick Response Codes. They are a type of matrix barcode invented in 1994. Lately I am seeing them everywhere, even on business cards.
Did you know you can add a QR Code to your scrapbook pages so people can pull up a video that relates to the photos you scrapbook?
Seriously! How did I not know about this until now! You would think that being a person who is generally decent with tech I would have thought of this myself. Nope! Thanks to one of the many scrapbook groups I belong to I happened to come across a post where they were asking for help on how to do this. I was struck still! I couldn’t believe it! This was AWESOME! Total game changer! (okay enough for the exclamation points for a bit) I take little videos of the kids all the time. They get onto the computer and sit. I don’t even always load them to YouTube or other video hosting sites. I always say I am going to make a DVD… I never do. It takes time that I would rather use doing something else. Now, with a few clicks they can go on YouTube and into my scrapbooks! The videos will be available as long as the hosting website, YouTube for me, is functioning.
So, how do you do this? It is so easy! Above is a QR Code I made. When it gets scanned it will bring the person to my blog. You can create codes for anything, but in my info below I walk you through adding a QR Code for video.
1. Find a video on your phone that has been eating up your file space. Double check you want this file to be seen for as long as YouTube is available. (you can change privacy settings at any time for each and every video later if you wish) You can use any other video hosting site that allows you to share the link for your video and it can be viewed by others.
2. Go to YouTube and navigate to loading a video.
3. Add your video and pick your settings.
I leave all my videos unlisted so only those I share the link with can see it. Unlisted videos are only viewable if you have the link. It can't be searched for and doesn't show up in any directory, etc. If you pick private no one will be able to see the video, so it must be public or unlisted for this to work.
4. Once the file is done loading in YouTube find the share option and copy the link.
5. Open your QR Code Generator app. There are so many out there to pick from. I use one called QR Code Generator – QR Code Creator & QR Maker. It really doesn’t matter which one you pick as long as it is a code generator and can can create one from a link. Once you are in your app follow the app instructions to create your code.
With QR Code Creator & QR Maker I click on the web option
Paste my link to YouTube and Create the code
I add text with the date and subject
Save the code – it will save to my phone photo gallery
6. The code should be able to save to your phone’s photo gallery.
7. Print out your QR Code by printing where you print all your photos or by plugging your phone into the computer with the USB cable, then finding and printing the code from there on your home computer.
Do keep in mind that the code needs to be scannable by a cell phone. Which means some photo companies will not print it out in a 2x2 square. You may need to plug your phone into the computer and save all the QR codes so you can print them off from a computer at home. This way you can get them to a simple 2x2 square.
I tested this process of loading video and creating the code from my camping chair while out by the fire one night. I was able to create the code and have my husband use his phone to scan it. The video popped right up on his phone!
SO AWESOME!
So, now us scrapbookers can add videos to our scrapbook pages! I think I will add mine with a 2x2 flip-flap. Close To My Heart has them in that size and it should be perfect! I can do a cute little top portion with a title or cute embellishment and the bottom that gets flipped up will be the QR Code ready for scanning.
I hope you find this as fun as I do! I already got all my 2020 videos generated with a code. Now I need to print them all out and add the flip flaps to my albums. Yay!
Happy Crafting!