How to Organize a Scrapbook

When you choose to organize the photos for your scrapbook album, it is a good idea to decide the theme of the scrapbook. Whether you are telling a story through chronological events or portraying a single event through photos and memorabilia, you are capturing your memories to be shared for years to come. Let your creativeness shine and find a layout that will help you characterize the events and people in your story.

Trips and Vacations Scrapbook Album

  1. Gather elements that pertain to the various trips and vacations that you have been on (photos, souvenirs, maps, brochures, airline tickets, park passes, admission stubs, napkins, coins, etc).
  2. You can purchase a vacation-themed scrapbooking kit or make unique pages of your own. There are a lot of outlets to buy scrapbook pages and embellishments or again, get creative and make/print your own.
  3. Include journaling to capture your memories from each trip. This could be witty quotes, sayings, comments, details, poems, songs, and other interesting things regarding your trip or vacation.

Baby Book Scrapbook Album

  1. Organize photos chronologically by firsts or events, such as birthdays, christening, holidays, haircut, and so forth.
  2. Include embellishments and add details and words that will remind you of your child at that certain age and that tell a story through your pictures. Embellishments can be purchased at a craft store or you can make your own. Some excellent examples are diaper pins, bottles, candles, ribbons, and buttons.
  3. Most of us have kept a journal and/or baby book chronicling baby's first steps, haircut, first tooth, smile, etc. Add these to the album with the pictures and keepsakes that you have of the precious moments. Pouches and small envelopes, purchased at scrapbook supply, dollar stores, or craft stores, are especially helpful in keeping small items in, such as hair from first haircut or first tooth, in your album.

Heritage, Generation, and Family History Scrapbook Albums

  1. Create a family tree album by gathering photos, names of all family members, places you and they have lived, homes, and neighborhoods that you want to include in the family scrapbook album.
  2. You can preserve the look of your old photos by making black and white copies. Use decorative scissors to edge your photos, or simply tear the edges to achieve the torn look, which enhances the heritage display that you want. Another great trick is use the sepia setting in a photo editing program to age more recent photos so that they 'fit in'.
  3. Include pictures of family heirloom items that correspond with the generation that it originated from. You could use photographs of toys, books, musical instruments, table settings, and furniture.

More Scrapbook Album Ideas: