Vintage Heirloom Scrapbooking
Creating Scrapbook Memories while preserving family ancestory for future generations
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Years of storage can damage your valuable photographs of treasured memories. Avenue of Design bring your memories back to photos that you would love to share.
With great care, Avenue of Designcan take your photos, scan the originals, and work only on a digitally saved copy. Your original photos are safe and secure, once scanned we don't touch them again until they are sent back to you. Avenue of Design
Begin your heritage scrapbook project by gathering together as many photographs as possible, from boxes, attics, old albums, and relatives. These photos don't necessarily need to have people in them --- pictures of old houses, automobiles, and billboards in the towns are great for adding historical interest to a family history.
At the heart of most heritage scrapbooks are the photos - pictures of your grandparent's wedding, your great-grandfather at work in the fields, a family Christmas celebration. Family mementos such as birth and marriage certificates, report cards, old letters, family recipes, clothing items, and a lock of hair can also add interest to a family history scrapbook. Smaller items can be incorporated into a heritage scrapbook by placing them in clear, self-adhesive, acid-free memorabilia pockets. Larger heirlooms such as a pocket watch, wedding dress, or family quilt can also be included by photocopying or scanning them
Heritage Tip - If a photo that you wish to use in your album is torn, scratched, or faded, consider scanning in the photo and using a graphic editing program to repair the cracks and clean up the image. The restored image can then be printed and used for your heritage album.
- Select 2 or 3 colors to complement the colors in your photos. One of these may serve as a background page, and the others for matting photos. A variety of papers, including patterns and textures, are available which can serve as beautiful backgrounds and mats for heritage scrapbooks.
Heritage Tip - Even better you can create your own background papers by photocopying precious family heirlooms (such as a bit of lace from your grandmother's wedding dress) or a quilt made by grandmothers own hands. If using patterned paper or a photocopied image for the background, then it is usually best to mat photos with plain papers to help them stand out from the busy background - Crop Pictures Cropping templates and cutters are available to help you crop your photos in a variety of shapes. However, you may prefer using a pair of sharp scissors to trim away cluttered background and other objects in your photos. You may want to keep cars, houses, furniture, or other background images in some photos for historical reference, while highlighting just a specific individual in others. Decorative-edged scissors can also be used to trim photos.
Heritage Tip - It is best to make and use copies of any precious heritage photos which you wish to crop, rather than cutting and possibly destroying the only photo you have of a deceased relative. Cropping can also cause crumbling edges and cracking emulsion in older, fragile photos. - Mat Photos Mat Photos - A bit different than the traditional picture mat, matting to scrapbookers means to glue a photograph on a piece of paper (the mat) and then trim the paper close to the edges of the photograph. This creates a decorative "frame" around the photo. Different combinations of decorative-edged scissors and straight scissors can help provide interest and help your photos "pop" from the pages.
Heritage Tip - When including original heritage photographs in your scrapbook, it is always a good idea to attach them to your page with photo corners rather than glue or other adhesive options. in case you need to remove them or make additional copies. - Arrange the Pages Begin by experimenting with possible layouts for your memorabilia and photos. Arrange and rearrange until the layout strikes your fancie. Be sure to leave room for titles, journaling, and embellishments. When you are happy with the layout attach to the page using acid free adhesive or tape. Alternatively, use photo corners or a corner slot punch.
Heritage Tip - Always assume that memorabilia is acidic, rather than finding out the hard way. Use a deacidification spray to deacidify book pages, newspaper clippings and other papers, and enclose other memorabilia in acid-free sleeves
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