How to Create an ABC Album

An ABC album is both fun and rewarding to make and can be completed fairly quickly and easily.

Difficulty Level: Average      Time Required: Varies

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Here's How:

1. Begin by choosing a theme for your album. It can simply be a basic alphabet theme (apple to zoo) or a specific topic like a new baby (arrival to Zzzzzz), a Disney trip (abracadabra to Zippity Doo Dah) or a day at the zoo (aardvark to zebra).  See ABC lists link below for ideas.
2. Next gather all the photos you already have that will fit your theme. Some creativity may be required and more pictures may still need to be taken to fill all the pages.
3. Make a list (alphabetically of course) of the pictures you have and begin shooting the pictures that you still need.
4. When you have all or most of your pictures, you are ready to begin assembling your album.  Start with a title page.
5. Next, you may want to include the letter of the page either as a sticker, a die-cut or a title on each page.
6. Create simple pages, like the one explained in How to Create Your First Page, and carry a theme throughout the album either with color, composition, or stickers.
7. Add simple journaling and details with scrapbook pens to each page.
8. Finally add page protectors to keep the pages safe from all the fingerprints of your album admirers.  
   

Tips:

1. Remember "hard letters" like V, and X might require a little cheating.  Try "Very ________" or "eXxtra special _________."
2. Keeping the pages simple will prevent you from getting bogged down with the project and leaving it uncompleted.
3. If you have fun, try another theme and do it again; they make great gifts.
   

Related Features:

• An ABC Album: A Gift for Generations, a feature article by your guide.
• ABC Lists, a comprehensive list of links to ABC lists available on the internet.
• How to Complete Your First Scrapbook Page, a guide to simple pages.
• How to Crop a Photo, some quick steps to get you started cropping the pictures for your album.