This is the cover of a theme album I did on my mother. It is very
nostalgic because it is about our last Easter together. I like
theme albums because they tell a story and are easy to carry
around when visiting. They aren't as bulky as those big albums.
People won't groan when you take it out because they don't have
to wade through hundreds of pages.

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I love making tags. Here is an example of two tags I am very proud of
They are for a theme section on camping at Yogi Bear.
We did that for about ten years.
Then we went back after our son was grown.
It wasn't the same. I felt sad without him.
My darling son realized how important this was to me.
The next time he joined us with his then girl friend.
We camped together, played games, cooked outdoors.
It was a wonderful way to celebrate the good old times.

Children's Theme Album

Projects to do with Kids

When I stayed in NY with my sister I brought a project in to work with my 8 year old nephew. It was a small version of a scrapbook. I highly recommend this type of project to do with your kids.

I gathered up all the photos I could find of him through the years. I put them on 8 1/2 x 11" paper and had it copied at Office Max on photo paper for $1.25. I got about four photos per page and did 6 pages.

I bought stickers on things I knew he'd like like cars and also included birthday theme, baby theme and others that related to the pictures.

I brought in acid free glue stick and scissors and some rubber stamps and stamp pads.

For the background for the photos I cut out various shapes such as circles and squares. This protects the paper from the acid in the photos and helps to prevent the photos from changing color over the years.

I wound up with 40 photos for he and I to work on. We had so much fun putting them together. He added some drawings and journaling (He's a good speller). He was so proud. He kept showing the pages to any one who was around.

This can be a project you can do over the summer. Kids have a short attention span so you don't want to spend too much time on each page. A couple of pages is fine and put it away for a few days. At the end of the summer the kids can take it to school for the usual, "What did you do this summer?"

The kids love it and so do great aunts like me and grandmothers.

Preserving    your    photos    from    disaster

Preserving your photo memories

What would happen if a flood or a roof leak damaged your photos and

scrapbooks? Would they be ruined forever or could they be salvaged?

      A noted Library Conservator, Gary Frost, of the University of

Iowa has some tips on repairing the damage.

1-Within two days of the damage use your vacuum cleaner and fan.

Vacuum off any dirt and debris and dry your items with the fan.

2-If it is warm dry weather you can dry the items outside in the sun.

3-Run the water damaged photos and scrapbooks under water again. This

time to remove oil, mud and other things that might be on them.

Let them dry either with a fan, or out in the sun.

4-If all else fails, wrap the items in paper and freeze.

They will dry inside the paper.

Another tip is to keep your photos and scrapbooks out of the attic

or basement. In the house keep them from sunlight.

More scrapbook links

My Scrapbook Home Page: Scrapbook links, ideas, articles, graphics
Scrapbook Zone: My favorite place for free patterns and ideas