Memorabilia and Final Advice - From Karin Dean
R: What other kinds of things would you recommend including in our albums?
K: Your family story isn’t limited to photos and family trees and cold, hard facts. Include lots of other information in your album through writing, photographs of heirlooms, or photocopies of items. Some ideas: family traditions, sketch out the floor plan of a house you once lived in, include color copied certificates or diplomas or dog tags or news clippings, or heirloom jewelry, or a handmade quilt or blanket, the bodice of an heirloom dress, or pictures of old hand tools from your carpenter grandfather, a map showing where the family originated and moved around.
R: Absolutely! Color photocopying is an excellent tool for adding items that may be hard to store in the album otherwise. I have seen beautiful background paper created by copying heirloom fabric from baby clothes or wedding dresses. Also, several companies have created wonderful products for storing memorabilia in albums. 3L Corp has mylar memorabilia envelopes, Deja Views has 3-D Keepers, Plaid Enterprises makes Keepsake Keepers and Sonburn and What's new, Ltd. both market memorabilia windows. Look for these items in your local scrapbook store. Whenever you are unsure of the safety of an item, just make sure to enclose it to protect the photos and paper around it.
K: That's correct. Memorabilia can also be used instead of photos when absolutely necessary. If you do not have any photos of a relative, Make a page for them anyway and include any memorabilia you have, photo copies or photos of something the person made.
R: Karen, if you had one piece of advice to give, what would it be?
K: Keep it Simple! That’s one of the best pieces of advice about scrapbooking I can give you. That doesn’t mean that your album will look boring or be plain. For instance, keep your color coding simple. Keep your embellishments simple except for the occasional absolutely beautiful, stunning, or meaningful picture that you want to put special emphasis on. Keeping it simple means keeping the focus on the photos and on the journaling. And keeping it simple means that you’ll get your album finished and into the hands of your family and friends who will be thrilled to see it.
R: What a perfect statement to end this interview with. Karen, it has truly been a pleasure working with you; thank you.
See page three for great color samples and page layout ideas from Karin.
Next Page>Heritage Layouts and Color Idea Samples>Page 1, 2, 3
