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Scrapbook Your Holiday

Preserve Your Holiday Memories

Scrapbook More than Your Holidays to Preserve Precious Memories

Scrapbooking your photos puts the life back into them.

Taking photos during the holidays is a tradition for most families. Typically the photos get looked at once or twice, then stored away in some box or, at best, arranged in a photo album.

Years later, people will look at them and wonder who some of the people were. Were they relatives? Were they family friends? What kind of people were they?

The connections the people in your photos shared, the wonderful times they had together, the emotions that were so vibrant at the time will be lost to history.

Photos are static things. They are – well – snapshots of moments in time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could make them come alive again?

Well you can. Put some of the life back into your photos with the art of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is a beautiful way to capture more of the moment than a photo alone can do.

With the development of affordable digital cameras, it’s easy to record more than just the holidays and life’s major events like weddings and graduations. Digital cameras are compact enough to take with you to capture the special moments of everyday life.

But still, they’re just pictures that will lose much of their meaning over time unless you “flesh them out”.

The primary differences between a photo album and a scrapbook are journal entries and other ephemera or embellishments that add character to a scrapbook page.

Journal entries can simply provide a recap of what each photo is about; but they can also express your emotions at the time. If you have writer’s block or just don’t believe your writing or spelling is good enough, here are a few tips to help you.

• Free associate – just jot down words that the photos bring to mind. Scrapbook journaling or word art does not have to be in sentence form.
• Quote what one/some of the people in the photos said – either on that particular occasion or a saying that typifies them.
• Look for famous quotes that relate to the subject. Just search a few topics adding the word “quote”. For example “Wedding quotes” or “Baby quotes”. I have the classic Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations on my bookshelf and pull it down frequently when I need a little inspiration.
• Imagine you are telling someone what happened in the photo and write it down. If you are nervous about your spelling or grammar, do this in a word processing computer program that has grammar and spell checking.

As for embellishments, they can be actual items or digital.

Actual items can be real things from the photo event like ticket stubs, report cards, name badges, pressed flowers or greenery, small charms, place cards, invitations and other cards (or just pieces thereof).

Embellishments can also be items manufactured specifically for scrapbooking or found items like brads, decorative pins, ribbons and swatches of fabric.

You could lose yourself for hours browsing through the embellishment aisles of craft supercenters. You name it and some company has made a tiny replica for you to add to your scrapbook pages. [By the way, browsing the scrapbooking aisles is also a way to find inspiration for your pages.]

There are many exciting and fresh ideas available for layouts that will help you design the perfect scrapbook. Digital imagery has made it possible for you to edit and crop any picture so you can have the “perfect” photo for every event.

Don’t let any more family gatherings or everyday special moments fade away because no one thought to bring a camera.

Capture the moments in photos. Then bring them back to life on a scrapbook page.

You’ll not only preserve precious memories for generations to come; but also share a bit of yourself with everyone who views your pages – your scrapbook art.

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Recommended Reading

These books are excellent resources for scrapbookers. They contain lots of new and original designs and ideas.

Outstanding Scrapbook Pages: 250 Of the Best Pages and Techniques from the World's #1 Scrapbooking Magazine Kerry Arquette

Special-Effects Scrapbooking: Creative Techniques for Scrapbookers at All Levels (Crafts Highlights) By: Jill Miller

Creative Memories : The 10 Timeless Principles Behind the Company that Pioneered the Scrapbooking Industry By: Cheryl Lightle

Scrapbooking Your Family History
By: Maureen Taylor

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