A Lifetime of Memories - Scrapbooking Journaling and History

Journalling and History

Scrapbooking

I found all this very valuable information while surfing the web one weekend when I was just getting into scrapbooking. I also was new to the internet and was just going to use the material I found for my own use, not knowing that in the future I would be so interested in sharing what I have learned on this subject. I wish I had bookmarked the pages as I now have no idea on what websites I found these suggestions. If anyone knows the source, please let me know so I can give the scrapbookers the proper credit they deserve.

Take a moment when you have finished a scrapbook page and with a fine point acid-free pen sign your name and write the year. Do this so it appears on the front or back of every page. If a hundred years from now your scrapbook has been taken apart for some reason, the ever important date will still be on each page to identify a segment of time.

For a musical layout use blank music sheets that are marked archival quality on the package. Journal on these sheets. There are sepia toned pages that would look wonderful with the brown toned acid free markers you can buy.

For a pet page, do your journaling in a dog bone shape for a dog or in a mouse shape for a cat. Or make a diecut in those shapes big enough to hold a photo or two or do your journaling on the diecut shape.

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function."
"A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down."

If you miscalculate and end up with an extra page where you didn't expect it, use it for journaling a family story or a more detailed incident. Again, your own writing is more valuable than printing it up on a computer.

Trace a child's hand or foot print and fill the inside with facts about the child. A neat little way to journal.

Journalling includes everything from a page title, to a photo's caption, to your descriptions on a page. Journalling can be done by hand, with a stencil, with your computer or even with die-cut letters.

The best way to journal is with your own handwriting. Remember that as long as your handwriting is legible, it will be appreciated by future generations. If you really hate to use your own handwriting to journal, use clear labels. Pick a font that matches layout and journal away. Fit all on label and then print it. Because the labels are clear, they let background paper or designs show through.

If you are concerned about keeping your journalling straight on the page, several manufacturers make acid-free paper, cardstock or album pages with faint lines printed on them. You can mount photos over some of the lines and journal on the rest. You can also journal on the lined paper, cut it out and mount it along with your photos on a solid patterned background.

Another option for keeping your journalling straight is to draw your own faint pencil lines with a ruler and journal with acid-free pens. When you are finished journalling and the ink has had a chance to dry, erase the lines.

When journalling, don't depend on your own memory of an event or picture. Question other people who were present. Their memories may be completely different than yours. Different perspectives add so much more to your albums. Interview everyone who was in your wedding photos to get some very interesting anecdotes to incorporate into your album.

Do journalling by computer directly on to patterned, acid-free paper. Trim and attach to the page.

Your scrapbooks will mean so much more to you and your family if they are a detailed personal history, not just a place to file a hodge podge of unrelated pictures. Give some thought to the events and milestones that will occur in your children's lives -- first attempt at walking or first day of school. Perhaps your kids have a talent for sports or music. Have your camera at hand to record not just their recitals but the extreme look of concentration on their faces while they practice. Your son and his team members covered in mud after a particularly muddy practice, not just a team photo, that looks so much like the one from the year before.

Family histories are so much more than pictures of birthday parties, Christmas, weddings and vacations. Strive to capture what makes your family members unique by photographing the special and unusual moments in their lives.

Don't just journal on the page -- journal on die-cuts. If you are telling about the first time your daughter drove a car, journal on a die-cut of a car.

Write around the perimeter of a single photograph. Write around the perimeter of the entire page, framing the grouping of photographs.

Draw a shape directly on the page lightly in pencil. Write within the shape, filling up all of the shape. For example, a shape of an apple could be filled in with the account of the first day of school. A fish shape could hold the description of a fishing trip. Erase the pencil line. The journalling remains behind in the shape of the original pencil drawing. You could also just draw around the pencilled shape rather than in the shape.

HERITAGE PHOTOS

Heritage photos are the old-fashioned sepia-toned photos printed on heavy black and white stock. They are usually irreplaceable and negatives are hard to come by.

While it may be harder to layout a scrapbook page, old photographs should not be cut.

Do not glue down old photos on your scrapbook page. Use photo corners or cut slits on your page and slip the corners into those.

Organize all the negatives you can find. It may help you with dating a picture if you can find the negatives and know the date of another photo.

If you find the negative, check with a photo store to see if you can get prints made. If there is no problem getting the prints made, have them made and cut the prints.

A good photographic studio should be able to make a negative from the old print and print new photos.

THIS TIME IN HISTORY

For most of us, the main focal points of our scrapbooks are people that are close to us, places we've visited and events we have attended. Documenting these things along with your feelings about them is very important so that you and your loved ones can remember these thoughts when you look through the book years from now.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind:

When cropping your pictures, don't crop out important information in the background such as a car, house, or sign that shows the time frame of the picture.

Another thing that is important is "dating" your book. By dating your scrapbook, you document facts about the year that will be interesting in the years to come, such as prices, incomes, fads, movies, songs, news items and sports headlines. Keep receipts and ticket stubs to show how much it costs to see a movie or concert, how much your rent is, how much you spend on groceries.

Document current fads by taking pictures of your kids in the latest styles or if you don't allow your kids to wear the ripped up jeans and spiked hair, take pictures of kids in the mall. That way, ten years from now, you can say, "Aren't you glad I never let you dress like that?"

WRITING YOUR PERSONAL HISTORY

Tell your story plainly and with directness. Write truthfully. Include uplifting, inspiring experiences and occurrences or feelings that made you sad. Remember to include the "everyday" which you might take for granted. Humor helps to make for easier reading. Include news clippings, top songs or movies from the particular time and which ones you liked, disliked, or thoughts and feelings on them.

Your ancestors: your impressions of those you knew personally; a general sketch of those you did not know or perhaps stories from other family members.

Your parents' lives before you arrived: where did they grow up, how did they meet, what was their day-to-day life like?

Your arrival: when, where, surrounding circumstances and conditions.

Your childhood: playmates, trips, brothers and sisters, health, unusual happenings, visitors, visits to grandparents/relatives.

Your brothers and sisters: their names; dates and place of birth; accomplishments; your relationship with them - growing up and now; occupations; names of spouses; their children.

Your school days: schools attended; teachers; special activities; friends; achievements; report cards; humorous situations; who/what influenced you to take certain paths or to do things that you wouldn't have otherwise done; graduation.

Your activities between school sessions: vacations; jobs; hobbies; tasks at home; funny situations.

Further schooling: colleges, courses, or vocational schools attended after high school; friends; activities; why you chose certain subjects.

Your courtship/marriage: special dates; best and worst dates; meeting your partner; first impressions; how the question was popped; marriage plans; the wedding parties, showers, and receptions; gifts; honeymoon; meeting your in-laws; what influenced you most in your choice of spouse.

Settling down: your first home; activities in your day-to-day life; making ends meet; joys and sorrows; your in-laws.

Your vocation: training for your job; promotions; salaries; achievements; your own business.

Your children: names, dates and places of birth; feelings and thoughts when you first found out, who you told and how they reacted; how father felt; firsts; growing up; accomplishments; schooling; accidents; sickness; marriage.

Celebrations of your life.

Your political/civic activities: interests; positions held; services rendered; clubs; groups you've belonged to.

Your interests: hobbies; sports; travels; favorite songs, movies, books, writers.

Your plans and hopes for the future.

Your encouragement and counsel to descendants: your hopes for them; family traditions and activities; your feelings about them; ideas and values that you hold dear.

THE BACK COVER

It is one thing to make albums today and preserve them for tomorrow's history, but what about the history of making the album? Have you ever asked your friends how and why they put their albums together? Or have you ever looked at an old family album and asked questions about its making? Well, now is the time to include a page on the history and making of your current album. A great place to incorporate the history of the making of the album is on the back cover.

Some questions you might ask yourself before you go straight to the back cover might be:

Who is this album for? Is it a dedication for a loved one, a birthday or anniversary present, a family heirloom album for yourself, or will you pass the album on to your children when they grow up?

Where did you get the photos and other pieces of memorabilia for this album? Did you write letters requesting information? Were you handed down the photos and other pieces of memorabilia?

Who has helped in making this album? Your family, relatives you have never seen before, history archives, your friends?

What about pictures recording the making? Having photos showing your work in progress truly preserves the making process of the album.

Now that you have some idea of items to include on your back page, the next thing to do is to begin writing. Practice writing on scratch paper before you go to the back cover. If you have access to a computer, a printed page could be easily attached to the back cover. Include a photo of yourself along with your own signature to finish off the page like an artist signing his work of art.

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