Scrapbooking Your Family History

After gathering the photos and memorabilia for your heritage scrapbook, its finally time for the fun part - to sit down and create the pages. The basic steps for creating a scrapbook page include:

• Select Your Photos - Begin your page by choosing a number of photos for your page which relate to a single theme - e.g. Great-grandma's wedding. For a single album page layout, select 3-5 photos. For a two page spread, select between 5-7 photos. When you have the option, use only the best photos for your heritage album - photos which are clear, focused, and best help to tell the "story."
  • Heritage Tip - If a photo that you wish to use in your album is torn, scratched, or faded, consider scanning in the photo and using a graphic editing program to repair the cracks and clean up the image. The restored image can then be printed and used for your heritage album.

• Choose Your Colors - Select 2 or 3 colors to complement your photos. One of these may serve as a background or base page, and the others for matting photos. A variety of papers, including patterns and textures, are available which can serve as beautiful backgrounds and mats for heritage scrapbooks.
  • Heritage Tip - You can create your own background papers by photocopying precious family heirlooms (such as a bit of lace from your grandmother's wedding dress). If using patterned paper or a photocopied image for the background, then it is usually best to mat photos with plain papers to help them stand out from the busy background.

• Crop Photos - Use a pair of sharp scissors to trim away unwanted background and other objects in your photos. You may want to keep cars, houses, furniture, or other background images in some photos for historical reference, while highlighting just a specific individual in others. Cropping templates and cutters are available to help you crop your photos in a variety of shapes. Decorative-edged scissors can also be used to trim photos.
  • Heritage Tip - It is best to make and use copies of any precious heritage photos which you wish to crop, rather than cutting and possibly destroying the only photo you have of a deceased relative. Cropping can also cause crumbling edges and cracking emulsion in older, fragile photos.

• Mat Photos - A bit different than the traditional picture mat, matting to scrapbookers means to glue a photograph on a piece of paper (the mat) and then trim the paper close to the edges of the photograph. This creates a decorative "frame" around the photo. Different combinations of decorative-edged scissors and straight scissors can help provide interest and help your photos "pop" from the pages.
  • Heritage Tip - When including original heritage photographs in your scrapbook, it is always a good idea to attach them to your page with photo corners rather than glue or other adhesive options. in case you need to remove them or make additional copies.

• Arrange the Page - Begin by experimenting with possible layouts for your photos and memorabilia. Arrange and rearrange until the layout satisfies you. Be sure to leave room for titles, journaling, and embellishments. When you are happy with the layout attach to the page using acid free adhesive or tape. Alternatively, use photo corners or a corner slot punch.
  • Heritage Tip - Always assume that memorabilia is acidic, rather than finding out the hard way. Use a deacidification spray to deacidify book pages, newspaper clippings and other papers, and enclose other memorabilia in acid-free sleeves.

Next Page > Add Interest With Journaling & Embellishments

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