Crafts Articles

The Rules of Scrapbooking

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by Tracy Spice

I must stress that there are some rules when it comes to how to preserve your precious photos. Use papers that are Acid and Lignin free. Acid free means a PH of 7. Lignin is a substance in wood pulp used to make paper. If your paper contains Lignin it will turn your pages or photo's yellow.

Most stores, be it scrapbooking, craft or department stores now sell scrapbooking papers that are both acid and lignin free. Using these papers will not accelerate normal deterioration of your photos. Many of the photo albums on the market today are not safe for preserving your photos. They actually speed up the deterioration process, leaving you with the yellow, faded pictures that we all love from years gone by.

We all spend so much of our money on the best camera's, film or memory sticks, and developing, only to place the photo's in an album, show a couple of people and then put them away for years to come. Why not extend on these investments by actually preserving these memories for not only our children but our children's children's children. As we have not only preserved these photo's we have journalled the who, what, and where, and the generations to come will not be just looking at photo's of people, not knowing who they are. I know when I look at my parents photo's I do not know any of the details. This only makes the photos less meaningful.

So once you have followed the rule of the technical part of scrapbooking, the rest is just your own personal creativity. It is also a great way for your children to preserve their own photos and use their ever growing need to do something crafty.