Through my recent research, I came across a huge scrapbook by Mrs. Cox, a Michigan teacher who taught at more than one school. In her heyday, the One Room School Houses were the norm, as, eight grades sat eagerly to learn from her. She was a popular school teacher in the area too.

This scrapbook is the biggest I’ve ever seen. It is personalized with her name trimmed in gold. I do not believe that one would be able to compile one this size nowadays unless it was procured from an estate sale, or antiques mall. The color of it is a deep brown, and, is longer than most scrapbooks that we utilize today. Inside of it, she breaks it down by the years taught, and, at which one room school house she was working at. For instance, she taught mainly in Canton, Michigan, and, for a short period of time was teaching at the Blaess One Room School House in Saline, Michigan. During this time frame she included memorabilia from that era.

She also carefully places a picture of herself in the scrapbook, and, it is a smaller picture too. It appears that she wanted to document fully her activities as a school teacher, and even includes typed and handwritten notes from students and others.

This scrapbook is put together carefully, and, her mementos are glued onto the pages. There is a lot of space between the items so that the viewer of the book can carefully look at each item as it is not too crowded. For her former students, it is truly a gift as they can see themselves as youngsters, or their parents or grandparents inside of it. If you know of a relative that was taught by this fine teacher, you can view this scrapbook at the Canton Historical Museum in Canton, Michigan.

Now that we’ve hit the graduation season, you may be thinking of a scrapbooking idea. It would be a great idea for you to create your own memory book as a parent or a teacher. For the former, it might be easier to begin your scrapbooking adventure with the onset of the first day of school for your child, and, put one together in yearly increments if you so choose. By doing this, you can create a valuable keepsake for your family, and, then, when the child graduates from high-school he or she will have these cherished memories to pass onto her children later on.

Of course if time is of the essence, you may want to prepare a memory book from a smaller time period such as the upcoming eighth grade graduation, or a high-school graduation. As those times are important to everyone, putting together mementos is a fine idea. Perhaps your young student or child has a personalized autograph book, you can encourage this young person to gather signatures and cute sayings from fellow students and teachers. It truly captures the essence of growth as a student, and, brings forth fond memories many decades later on.

Recycled items can cut down on unnecessary waste when you are designing your treasured book. Perhaps you may even want to design a scrapbook out of non-traditional items that are readily accessible to you. For example, you may want to provide extra support for your photographs in the scrapbook. You can do this by utilizing extra cardboard that you have from pre-packaged materials. Instead of throwing it out, put it into a supply cabinet where you keep the craft supplies. You could designate a drawer for miscellaneous pieces of cardboard that you can trim for your crafting activities and scrapbooks.

Cardboard comes in all widths, and thicknesses. I find this helpful for many projects as I know that I can utilize an item that I already have. This material definitely comes in handy when I am looking to put a solid backing on my photographs. This way the pictures are sturdy when they are placed in my scrapbook. If you don’t have the exact size in your crafting tool box, it is easy to trim them to fit. Most of the pieces of cardboard that I recycle is bigger than an 8 x 10 photograph.

As I have been paying attention to the whole green movement, I’ve checked out other items that you could use as backing for creative projects. When you are done with a sturdy tissue box, you could cut that into manageable pieces for your scrapbook. I know that some scrapbook artists use paper bags to create their own masterpiece, so, why not use another material that you’d usually throw out?

If any of you are researching your family history or that of others, then, you’ll remember that photographs from a hundred years or more were inserted onto a thick piece of cardboard. The way that these photographs were produced in the late 1800′s and through the turn of the century, is the reason that these keepsakes are in good condition today. The sturdiness in the material is quite evident as the quality is apparent even a hundred years after the photograph was printed. The durability of the material that these pictures are mounted on has made it easier for them to survive through the twenty first century.

I am concerned that if we do not try to protect our photographic images today; they may not be around for our families to see in a fifty years or more. We need to be a bit more proactive in trying to preserve the photographs that we carefully place into the scrapbooks we enjoy making for our families.

It seems like the digital age is here to help us simplify the processing of pictures; yet we really do not know what the long term shelf life is for a digital compact disc storing pictures. Would it be so bad to perhaps use a film camera once in a while as a back up? This way, there is a legacy of printed negatives that can be preserved, and, prints can be made at a later date.

I do believe that if scrapbook artists and crafters try to recycle items, not only are they saving money in a tight economy, but, essentially may be working with materials that a great grandparent would’ve been happy to have had back in the day to perfect their own history book!

As you know I’ve been studying a variety of scrapbooks that were made in the 20th century as I want to see what truly makes a good scrapbook from a historical standpoint. Even if the scrap book is called a photo album, more times than not, there is a wealth of information in it that is reflective of the photos and the stories that those people passed on through newspaper clippings, advertisements, and, obituaries.

If you want to learn about the history of a family and an era from our earlier days in Michigan, you have the opportunity to do so by visiting a variety of museums and actually picking up an authentic scrapbook, and, carefully turning each page to see what gem is contained inside.

I believe that there are items of nostalgia contained in them that would inspire our grandparents or older relatives to explain what it was like when Michigan was referred to as the western part of the country. There is so much history contained in the obituaries that I’ve come across in one particular scrapbook, that I am truly amazed at how painful it must’ve been to write them down and publish the deceased life for all to read about their loss.

One issue that I’ve encountered though is the omission of the exact date of a newspaper article which can prove to be challenging when one is trying to ascertain an age of an individual when all of the information is not provided. Many death notices in the scrapbooks do not contain the date of death from the actual newspaper.

This is a fact that I believe many overlook when they are compiling their own historic scrapbook, or one of memories from an individual’s life. If you do have a collection of obituaries that you want to include in one of your scrapbooks, try to see if anyone knows exactly when a relative passed away so that you at least have a month and a year to work with. Finding the exact date of death might be easier after you’ve compiled that information. The internet and genealogy websites have a plethora of search engines that can help you to pin down the missing data.

Some of the obituaries that I’ve read from the turn of the century are very detailed oriented from a person’s birth up until the time of the death. One wrote about how long the family would be in mourning and how difficult it was for the family to deal with the loss of a loved one. This was quite apparent when the deceased was a young child, or teenager. The published notices provided a peek into what that person loved most, and, painted a lovely picture of how he or she made the most of life.

If one of your family scrapbooks is missing some of these items, you can create a special section inside of it so that the scrapbook will have more detail relative to the story being told. You’re family will be pleased that you took the time to add your special touch to this scrapbook!

The scrapbook itself is large and multicolored with shades of brown in it. It appears as though it was put together sometime in the early years of the twentieth century. That type of scrapbook isn’t readily available today. Of course, if you are extra thrifty, and are looking to go bargain hunting for an older type of scrapbook, you may find one at an antique shop, or even a thrift shop!

The scrap book artist in the Bird family didn’t fill up all of the pages. It appears that it was put together to share some information on this family with the general public. The photographs utilized were antique and were a little bit faded with time. The small pictures were put in the various plastic slots throughout the huge scrapbook. Because of their size, the photographs were a nice focal point inside of it. The color of the interior of this scrapbook was a light shade of beige.

There were documents or certificates inside of the huge plastic slots, and, each one fit inside of it snuggly. The paperwork included inside of this scrapbook was clear, and the bold print stood out. I didn’t want to touch the items, so, I can’t tell you whether or not the documents were original, or, photocopies.

Perhaps you have some important family history in your bloodline, and, you’d like to put together your own historic scrapbook. There is a way to do this without using the original documents and photographs. You want to preserve the authentic photos, and, not handle them too much either.

Obviously it would be basically impossible to make a copy of your old photograph from an original negative unless one of your relatives was a photographer. With many photographs from the 1800′s using sepia tone for their artistry; it is possible to recreate that color schematic today. What the printer or photo processor will do, is scan your authentic photograph into a scanner where you can adjust the color and see how it looks. If you see that there are any splotches, or age spots, some of those can be lifted off of the newly made print, and, the reproduction will look much cleaner.

If you utilize a photo processor, make sure that they do use the correct color so that your photograph looks authentic. I’ve scanned old photographs from the 1800′s and, have printed them in black and white and sepia to see which looks better. One photograph that I used for a project looked better in black and white as the age spots disappeared somewhat.

Perhaps it is time to take a trip back in time and visit your grandmother and see what hidden treasures she has for you to sort through. As mother’s day is approaching, it’d be awesome for her to receive a scrapbook with her favorite photographs nicely laid out inside of it!

Nowadays scrapbooking is the latest activity that has become a business.  There are a lot of scrapbooking stores near you.  Some of these stores even offer scrapbooking classes to help you perfect the craft.

Even those who haven’t put together a complete scrapbook are able to purchase supplies to make cards and other activities for those they love.  It’s a craft that anyone can do.  In addition to creating a scrapbook full of memories for yourself, you are enriching the life of your friends and family when you share them with others.

If your budget is tight, it is best to try and use materials that you already have.  For example, you may have shopped for some school supplies last summer and have an extra three ring binder packed away.  This binder has a front cover pocket where you can insert a picture or a memory related to the inside of your scrapbook  On the back cover, you can put another photograph or an ending to your scrapbook.  These features will come in handy when compiling your simple scrapbook.

I’ve found that some of the most enticing scrapbooks that are compiled in a binder, have a flavorful cover and back page on it.  It can be set up like a book to read. The attractive cover and back cover engages the person who is looking at it.  They are more likely to open it and flip through it to find a page or pages that truly interest them.

What I do with a binder scrapbook is fill them up with my words and photographs. I purchase clear plastic filler sheets that are easy to use. If you want to maximize the space, you can put two items in these sheets.

Otherwise, you can put your photograph or memory on one side, and handwrite or type more information on the backside.  Some scrapbook artists may prefer to only use a few pages per book, and, that works too.

If you want to include a lot of information about yourself in a promotional scrapbook inside a binder format, you can put information on the cover about your awards, and, anything else that would be of interest to the reader.

If you attended an awards ceremony for your recent photographic win, you could put that announcement on the front cover of your binder.  If it is a bit larger than the front cover make a copy of the original announcement. Then, use the copy for your binder.  Make sure to trim it so that it fits perfectly inside of the plastic binder slot on your scrapbook cover.

The allure here is that it shows something about you and gives important information about your accomplishments.  The colorful display that is inside of the scrapbook will be a creative gem that you’ve designed.

By Cheryl A.Vatcher-Martin

Take a terracotta pot, some paint ribbon, and your cut out shapes with the Cricut machine.

Here is the article with the full item list and instructions.

So where do I get tags? Tags can be found in many places, office supply stores are a good source. Many times cool tags will come with shipments you might receive.

Another great kind of tag are the metal rimmed tags. These can also be decorated or changed with stickers or ribbons to customize.

Once you start looking you will start to notice different types of tags in everyday life. Normally you would probably just toss them without a thought, but now you might see them a bit differently!

Have you found some cool tags? Please share them with us by leaving a comment below.