FAMILY MEMORY BOOK

A family is a blessing
It means so many things
Words could never tell
The joy a family brings.

A family is a bond of faith
That even time can't sever
A gift to last all of our lives
A family is forever.

So many non-scrappers struggle with Volume 1 Chapter 4 when they have to make a Family Memory Book, so I thought I'd add a page with some help and ideas on this section, I hope you find it useful.

I'm a scrapper but decided to keep the Family Memory Book really simple so that I could get it finished, it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles (though I LOVE to do those kinds of pages!) Our book is created with my children in mind, so all the journaling therein is written in a way that seems like I'm talking to them.

I started out with a top-loading 8 x 10 inch scrapbook from Wal*Mart. Top-loading means you slip the actual scrapbook page into a plastic cover. I prefer this for this particular scrapbook as I can do the pages out of order and re-arrange them as necessary. I chose the 8 x 10 instead of 12 x 12 scrapbook size so that I can make color copies, bind them and send a copy to our family members. The scrapbook I got isn't anything fancy, but it has a two-tone leather look to it, which made it nice for a family memory book, not very expensive, I think it cost me about $14.00. Someone on the list also suggested just using acid-free page protectors in a binder, that's a great idea too!

Aside from the scrapbook, you will also need the following items, most of which can be found in the scrapbook section of the Craft section at Wal*Mart:

A black acid-free journaling pen
Good pair of scissors
Acid-free photo mounting tabs and/or scrapbooking glue
Acid/lignin-free paper in the colors of your choice that will fit in the scrapbook of your choice
Photo corners (optional)
Acid-free markers (optional)
Letter stickers/die-cuts (optional)

That's really all you need for a basic scrapbook page! You will want anything you use in your scrapbook to be acid (and where possible, lignin)-free to protect your photos.

Here are some samples to show you how my scrapbook is set up, I have blotched out some details to protect privacy:

First and second pages of my youngest daughter's section.

I have a die-cutter, so I could cut her name out with it, but this can also
be added in with acid-free markers or letter stickers/die-cuts.
Then I gave her a piece of scrapbook paper and asked her to draw our family.
She drew hubby and me :) I added the names and the date to it and added it to her page.

I used the black photo corners on her second page because I didn't have doubles
of those photos. That way I could use the photos, but also remove them again
to make copies if necessary.

You may need to "crop" some photos by cutting them smaller so they just have the section
you want to include. I did this with the first photo of Keelynne, I cut out all the greenery
around her. Use a ruler for straight lines :) If you are planning on doing more scrapbooking
in the future, then a paper trimmer is a very valuable tool, available from Wal*Mart, or buy
it at Michael's using your 40% off coupon in Sunday's paper if available in your area! This is
wonderful to use to trim photos and have a perfectly straight line.

I used photo mounting tabs for Keelynne's photo and artwork on her first page - these are
easy to use, they work like double-sided tape, just place in a few spots, peel off
the tape and stick your photo or whatever in whatever spot you like. You could just
use glue too, just use it carefully as it can get messy :)

For all my children I used 3 photos - a recent photo,
a baby photo and then their dedication-day photo, as well as a small piece of either art or
writing from this unit. I added information about where
they were born, anything interesting that happened when they were born and then
what they are like today (likes/dislikes/interests/etc.)

For Grans, Granpas, Aunts, Uncles etc. I have four pages:

First page - Family tree section that shows that person's Grand-parents, parents, spouse and children

Second page - First page of questionnaire, all the other questionnaire pages are tucked behind the first one

Third and fourth pages - photos of person, spouse and children

Now up above is my hubby's sister, Beth, I don't have separate pages for her husband Joss, as his info and
their children's info is already on these pages. I included any interesting information I could think of about them.
You can see I added an orange triangle piece of paper behind one photo just to tie in the heading color
and add a little color and interest.

For the family tree page, I have a family tree program (Family Tree Maker) that you can use to print those out.

There are templates you can use to fill it in by hand too. You can buy an older (but still very good!) version
of Family Tree Maker for about $5.00. Look in places like BestBuy and Wal*Mart where they sell software
really cheap, in CD covers only, not in a box.

My children just LOVE looking through this book to see their family members and make a connection as to
who belongs to whom :) They love their pages too, and some of the information I added on those they
didn't even know about. They are not too interested in the questionnaires yet, that will be more for when
they are older. I only received 3 questionnaires back out of a possible 15, so we just made do.

Then throughout the scrapbook I have added any artwork or stories that my children did during this
chapter. My little boy is in K, so he drew the "Mile of Smiles". I gave him a strip of blue paper about
1 1/2 inches wide by 10 inches and he drew the smiles on there - I used it as a border on his page.
They really love to see their artwork included in this book, how awesome that mom thinks his/her artwork and/or writing
is valuable enough to include in this important project! This is also great to use as fillers for the missing questionnaires.

Yes, the scrapbook is going to be more something for you to do, especially if your children are
younger, but they will love to have their work added, and will look through this book again
and again, no matter how young they are!

~ Petal ~ (added 10/24/2004)