Scrapbook Family history - Record Your Life

As a child I loved to look through my grandmother's family photograph albums. My Grandmother is gone now, and with the passage of time, I'm sure if I looked at it today I'd remember very few but the closest family and friends.

It's great to find an album that carefully records the names of those in the photographs, but most of us don't do this as meticulously as we intended, resulting in fragmented memories - or perhaps it's because of fragmented memories! LOL. When we capture the photo it's so obvious who the people are that we cannot imagine we may forget the details of the occasion, the people and the issues.

In the process of clearing a loved one's home it is not unusual to come across many photographs that mean nothing to you. Wouldn't it have been so much better if you'd recorded the information before your loved died?

Tell your family stories. Scrapbook your family history while those who remember it are still with you. It will be a blessing to both them and you.

Most of us have a need to be known. Scrapbooking your own life will allow you to be known to future generations.

(Then use it to talk with your kids. Uh-oh! Did I say I wouldn't mention them?)

Tell the Story

Scrapbooking is not just a nice way to keep your photos, but a way to tell the story behind the photographs. This is called "journaling" is scrapbookers' language; a bit like writing a diary. And it's what makes a scrapbook different from a photo album.

There are lots of ways to tell the story. Here are some ideas to be getting on with.

You can make lists: things you love to do with the person in the photograph, answer imaginary questions, give reasons why something happened, or why you like something. Use bullet points for these sometimes. The bullets can be brads, eyelets, or tiny jewels.

Try including some conversation, an interview or just some silly story or memory about the day, the event, or the photo.

Write a letter, some notes on scraps of paper, or "emails". Use a relevant quote, poem, song, or proverb. If it's intensely personal, you can hide your journaling behind a photograph on your scrapbook page, maybe with a ribbon tab to pull it out.

Hiding your journaling is also a good thing when you don't want it to be found for a long time. Why would you want to do that? For example if you want to tell your children something, but not till they're older.

There are a great many ways you can write the story, but your own handwriting is the best.

Wondering which method to use this time? Make a list of say, ten journaling styles and write/print each on a separate small square of paper. Fold each up tightly and store in a small jar. For each new scrapbook layout you plan, shake the jar and pick one of the styles at random.

Passion for Photography

Do you take dozens of photos at a time, looking for an exact expression or that elusive something that will make an outstanding shot? What do you do with them then? What a waste if you are just shooting photos yet doing nothing with them but storing them on your computer or disks and not looking at them.

If you have a good eye for photography then you'll have a good eye for composition and color in creating your scrap books too.

Photography and scrapbooking complement each other. A quality photograph needs little adornment, yet it can be lifted to new life as the centerpiece of a scrapbook layout.

Maybe you have even more reasons to scrapbook than we've thought of?