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An awareness for keepsake preservation has recently emerged. "Memory books", popularly known as scrapbooks, have captured the interest of young and old alike in many parts of the world. You, too, can enjoy constructing and presenting your own easy-to-make time capsules.
Rather than let snapshots of the precious moments in your life fade away in some obscure box gathering dust in the attic, lay them out in beautifully handcrafted pages that will forever showcase your joys and history.
Here’s how to get started with scrapbooking:
1. Buy the basic supplies. Visit your nearest crafts store, stationery or cards shop, or go to an online vendor to see what scrapbooking materials are available. Starter kits come reasonably priced, complete with easy-to-follow instructions. Buy only “acid-free” supplies because the acidic ingredients in many paper and adhesive products adversely reacts with the chemicals in photographs. Here’s a list of the basic scrapbooking supplies:
* Binders or albums
* Sheet protectors – transparent plastic sleeves that should made from polypropylene, polyethylene, or polyester -- not with PVC or polyvinyl chlorides
* Acid free paper – choose a variety of colors, designs and textures
* Adhesives – choose archival quality, acid-free, and photo-safe; available as glue sticks, glue-line dispensers, double-sided adhesive tapes, and photo splits and corners
* Pens for journaling -- choose acid-free, waterproof, odorless, and photo-safe
* Sharp scissors
* Other accessories -- fancy-edged scissors, paper punches, paper trimmers, circle cutters, stickers, rubber stamps, and templates.
2. Organize your photos and embellishments. Decide on a theme that will coordinate color, shapes, and style. Choose background and accent colors and textures. Consider framing and matting.
3. Crop your photos if there are extraneous backgrounds or unwanted elements within the picture.
4. Prepare your embellishments or decorations. Cut graphics and colored paper, draw, or use stickers and rubber stamps.
5. Scribble some words. This is called journaling. Add personal notes about the pictures and events you want to remember. Include names, dates, and anything that will add interest or highlight to the page.
6. Layout all the items on the background paper you’ve chosen, then carefully glue them in place.
7. When the glue has dried, slip the finished page into the sheet protector and bind them in the album.
There you have it – a scrapbook you can proudly show off to your friends and relatives.
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