Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is the art of preserving and presenting photos in a manner that will preserve both the physical photos and memories in the long term.

I'm sure many people have photos in one of those 'magnetic' (actually sticky adhesive plastic) albums which are discolouring, falling out or getting lost. I actually lost a valued photo of my sister sitting on a lion statue in Brisbane's King George Square because the gum gave out. I had wanted to scrap it with a photo I had taken of her son sitting on the same lion in the same position. Likewise, its interesting to see how 1970 wedding photo stored behind acrylic at a friends house has now turned green.

So why did I start? Peter and I spent almost a month in New Zealand on Long Service Leave. In that time we took over 13 rolls of film, sent 3 parcels of 'stuff' (maps, tickets, etc) home, and filled a travel journal.  I wanted to combine all these things into one collective resource so in 30 years time, I can pull out an album where the photos are still crisp and clear, the journaling tells the story of the photos, and the memorabilia is still in one place.

I started by attending a class at my local scrapbook store. They taught me the basics of photo conservation and how to layout and present my photos in their best light.  Since then I have participated in a couple of scrapbooking Yahoogroups, mainly Memories and More and The Scrap Heap, and scrapped as many personal pages as often as possible.

Over time I hope to include some articles here on techniques I have found useful. So please keep watching.