Making Heritage Scrapbook Pages

Edited by Lynda Hill and Mary Margaret Hite
Published by Hot Off the Press

Making Heritage Scrapbook Pages prepares readers for designing and completing one of the most difficult and most rewarding categories of photos and scrapbooks--heritage pages. Scrapbookers want these pages to be particularly beautiful and interesting, as they usually focus upon people dear to us who are not with us anymore and on beloved ancestors. Yet how to create pages that are respectful and lovely, while also doable in small chunks of time has eluded scrapbookers. Now, this new resource from Hot Off the Press promises to help.

The book begins with a chapter on researching your family history; this makes the process easier, but gives you plenty of ideas to include this information in your scrapbook pages for the benefit of future generations. The worst that could happen would be if this information was lost. Next, we read about gathering family photos, how to preserve those photos that have been housed in hazardous situations and save them from decomposition. Readers also learn about the best ways to store and preserve these photos until they can be scrapbooked. Then, readers learn about tools and supplies that will make the process more enjoyable and easier, and make the final product much more intriguing and informational. Chapter Four covers the basics of scrapbooking for those readers new to the art, including the importance of acid-free/archival materials, layout principles, and more. There are also some useful and interesting examples of journaling that will make your heritage pages that much more rewarding for the future. The final chapter explains how to combine all the elements--photos, stories, and more--into a cohesive, attractive, useful whole. With an eye towards specifically heritage-related elements, readers will see a host of examples and learn how to create something meaningful and wonderful.

The book also contains a questionnaire that will be extremely useful in creating and keeping those family stories. The questionnaire can be copied and given to family members whose photos appear in the scrapbook, or filled out by the scrapbooker himself. Two pages long, it contains many questions that will greatly enrich the scrapbook, but which might have been overlooked or taken for granted by a new scrapbooker. This is a wonderful detail for the publishers to have considered.

There is also a glossary of terms useful for new scrapbookers, such as “lignin” and “cropping.” People who have never “journaled” before will want to read this page of terms first.

Finally, the book closes with a huge collection of wonderful and beautiful patterned pages, designed specifically to look nice with aged photos, that are acid-free and photo-safe. The colors tend to be rather dark or muted, making them the perfect accompaniment to sepia-toned, black-and-white, or just aged photos. There are pages appropriate for all ages of photo subjects, from children to grandparents, as well as for both genders and multiple subjects. Some of these patterned pages could be cut up to create text blocks or simply used as a background to a spread of photos--whatever the artist in you decides.

All in all, this is a fantastically useful and attractive book that is well-worth the cover price. New scrapbookers and old hands at it alike will be able to use the advice and samples in this book. It is almost guaranteed to get those creative juices flowing and to motivate you to make time for this most important of family duties--preserving the past and the present for the future. You’ll be so glad that you did.

Grade: A

Review submitted by Dindrane