General Information
What Is A Scrapbook?
A scrapbook is simply a decorated photo album—but it’s different from a photo album because it preserves something more than just the photos. A scrapbook includes journaling (telling the story behind the photos) as well as memorabilia (tickets, certificates, letters, etc.). You might have a family album as well as smaller theme albums for vacations, home improvement or a baby’s first year.
Scrapbooking safely preserves your photos and memorabilia. Remember those “magnetic” albums? Ten years after carefully placing photos in these albums, people found that the glue had harmed their photos. By using acid-free and lignin-free papers and adhesives, photos can be preserved beautifully and safely. Even better, the papers and accessories available now give us lots of creative options for doing more than just filing photos in an album—scrapbooking is a creative hobby!
If you do have photos in those magnetic albums, please remove them! I use Un-Du from Doumar, which safely loosens the glue to remove the photos. Another tip is to use a warm (not hot!) iron on the back of the page.
If the pages are very old and you simply can’t get the photos out with these two methods, I suggest making color copies of the photos and using the copies. It may seem strange to get color copies of black and white photos, but you’ll be able to capture the shades and shadows much more clearly. Take the pages down to your local copy shop—they can advise you. Be sure the copies are made onto acid-free papers. You can also duplicate the photo by scanning it on a home computer and printing onto photo quality paper, or using a Kodak Picture Maker to make copies.
It’s really all about getting those photos out of shoeboxes and attics and into albums where they can be seen and shared. Best of all, no experience or expertise is required—it’s as simple as cutting and gluing.
Are you looking at those big boxes filled with photos, wondering how you’ll ever get around to all of them? If scrapbooking seems like a monumental task, don’t worry—it’s really not. All you need are a few basic materials and some ideas. I’ll help!