That's What It's All About!

Previously we discussed how to use scanned photos to create a digital scrapbook album which can be printed into a hard bound book. But what about the originals?

While it is true not everyone can have a copy, originals are still important documents. Be they newspaper clippings, photographs, certificates, drawings, or rationing stamps (got some of those!) the "real thing" will fade and disintegrate over time without proper care. The scans allow you to view the same information indefinitely, but there is something priceless about holding a document handled by others decades before.

Museums and historical archives have been using various techniques for years to preserve artifacts. While you may not be willing to go to the lengths taken to preserve, say, the Declaration of Independence, there are still great options available.

Archival Mist is a product carried in most scrapbooking stores. This spray is a fine, clear mist which coats any paper document and neutralizes the acid. I use it in my daily scrapbooks when I save items, such as a birthday card, not made specifically for scrapbooking.

Individual pockets, soldered from typical page protectors, can be created for any document you wish to protect, as well as handle. By making a pocket the size of a postcard sent home from a grandparents honeymoon trip and attaching it to the front of the scrapbook page you can see not just one side, but two. Proper pin-prick air holes continue to allow dangerous acids to escape from the postcard while the plastic protects it from fumbling fingers.

Most of us have saved snippets along the way. Whether it is your wedding announcement or a child's hospital band from birth, these artifacts will fade and fall apart. But at Designs of Mine, preserving memories is what we are all about!

Preserving Everything

I'm actually doing it. A project I've meant to start for over two years now. I'm scrapbooking my childhood.

Obviously this is a BIG project. My basement stairs are covered in photo albums, sorority composites, grade cards, and hand-written stories from 5th grade. I keep finding more things in the depths of the space that is "under the stairs" and piling them up in overflowing mounds, just asking to be tripped over. I purchased the largest D-ring binder (think 3-ring) available, but I'm just not sure it's going to do the job.

I ran out of adhesive Wednesday, so I'm going to Hobby Lobby today to get more. At the rate I'm going I'll have over $50 worth of adhesive invested in this album. And so far I'm up to second grade...

But it will be worth it. The grand picture I have in my head is of something less "artistic" and more about preserving, well, everything. I'm using mostly 12x12 pages, with 8 1/2 x 11 page protectors for things like awards and drawings of people with no bodies. Scattered here and there are a few 8x8s and 6x6s tossed in to hold stuff like birthday cards and second grade journals.

I can't wait to show it to you!