Concept driven scrapbooks are creative way to tell family stories

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 5, 2006

One of the hottest scrapbooking trends right now, says Wendy Smedley, creative editor for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, is the concept-driven mini-album.

A lot of scrapbookers, she says, “are reactive. And there’s nothing wrong with that. They go to the zoo, take pictures to document the trip and put them in an album.”

But, she says, another approach is to “think of the story you want to tell and then go take the pictures. It’s fun to see how different stories can be told with pictures and words.” And they can be done very simply, she says. Here are some of her ideas that can all be done in 6×6-inch or other small albums:

Interview album

Come up with a set of questions to ask your kids: What is your favorite color? What is your favorite thing to do? What do you like best about your mother? Your father? Your sisters or brothers? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite book? What is hard for you do to? What do you like about school? What don’t you like? And so on.

Then, put a picture of each child by a summary of his answers, and you have a fun record of your children’s views and attitudes.

Flip book

Think of a subject that has two sides. Have each child write their opinions about each subject. Start at the front of the book and put in a picture of each child and his opinion on that subject. Flip the book over and do the same for the other side of the issue.

For example, Smedley has five boys. She asked them each to write the things they like best about having four brothers and the things they like least.

Other topics could include: What I like best/least about winter or summer; What I like about my coach/what I like about my team; What I like about the beach/what I like about the mountains, etc.

Lullaby gift book

This a perfect gift for an expectant mother. Smedley found lyrics for 12 different lullabies. She put the words for one song on a page, and on the opposite page left a space for a picture of the mother and her baby that could be added later, and so on throughout the album. All the mother had to do was add the pictures later.

You could do the same thing with favorite love song lyrics for a wedding or find songs and poems about families or other topics.

One-day book

Document one day in the life of your baby or child. Take pictures at various times throughout the day, recording the times. Use one page for each picture, with the time and perhaps a simple explanation.

Gratitude album

This is a great activity for Thanksgiving but could be done at any time of year to encourage feelings of gratitude. Make one a year, and over the course of a few years, you’ll see how attitudes change, says Smedley.

Select some pre-made picture frames with patterns and colors you like and have them spiral-bound so you have two frames facing each other with a blank page in between, then more frames, etc. Then have children (or everyone at Thanksgiving dinner) write what they are thankful for on a small card. Snap photos of all who participate. Glue each photo on a left-hand page and that person’s corresponding gratitude card on the right-hand page. Glue frames to the pages, and you have a nice little “thankful” book.

Artwork book

A big challenge for families is saving all the artwork projects kids do in school, says Smedley. She got some divided plastic pages (the kind made for storing baseball cards), went to the copy store and made reduced color copies of the artwork to fit in the page pockets, wrote on the back a little description of what it was and when it was done on each and added ribbon tabs so they could be easily pulled out.

She put the pages in an 8×11 loose-leaf notebook, so more could be added, and mixed in pictures of the kids at the ages they did the work — and now has a record of art projects that is easy to look at and preserves the work in a nice way.

You could also reduce the artwork to fit the pages in a 6×6 or other size album and mix it with pictures.

Accordion-fold book

Buy a pre-folded book or make your own. Decorate each fold with a picture or a pre-printed definition tag or other embellishment around any theme you want. Smedley likes to use some big pictures as well as lots of 1 1/2-inch square pictures for variety. A great gift for grandparents.

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