Scrapbooking Inspiration 

and Solutions

Photos Made Perfect is available for presentations on the subject of "Image Editing" specifically for the scrapbooker in mind.   We present what can be done to restore your photographs, as you see in our gallery and solutions for the scrapbooker's projects that are presented on this page below.  If you belong to any group that would be interested in any of our presentations please call us for an appointment. See, "Guest Speaking" topics.

More Than A Scrapbook

Sources, Ideas and Solutions

A custom or Theme, 12"x12" scrapbook page. 

Some Tips For Taking Photos

Salvaging Images From Poor Quality Paper or Newspaper

Preventing Deterioration

The Digital Age

Books and Bible restorations, leather or fabric see the" The Book Craftsman" established in 1931 Or try PastFinders Fast Binders, call 714-528-4977 or email wynn@finders-binders.com both in California.

A scrapbook is not just a method of recording significant events, milestones and traditions of our lives.  In the process of creating a scrapbook you develop a sense of belonging and history. It builds self-esteem in children and adults by providing a place to display photos and memorabilia that is special to them.  It facilitates memories of the things we value, birthdays, graduations, weddings, vacations, and annual school photos.  It also aids in the healing, to go through the pages and reminisce.

  Scrapbooks give you the opportunity to keep the stories straight with journaling.  Wouldn't you rather write the story, then to have someone else give their interpretation of your character or life story.  You wouldn't want hear say from another relative that had a habit of bending the truth! Scrapbooks can have treasures in them like recipes, letters, keepsakes and more.  

How many of  you can name all 16 of your great-great-grandparents? Or even just 8 of your great-grandparents. Don't wait until you get married or have children to start. When you start early, you will  find yourself planning events more frequently, and taking better photos with your scrapbook in mind. They help you make a personal connection and continuity within your family. 

 Scrapbooks are an heirloom to pass down traditions, values, and who had the foresight to leave a very personal gift with them in mind as they see something of themselves in your photos? You!  Consider how Photos Made Perfect can revolutionize scrapbooking as we provide you with solutions to your scrapbooking dilemmas.  

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Some Tips For Taking Photos

These are samples (taken by amateur photographers) of photos taken with a digital camera, (not scanned photos).  You don't have to be a professional, as long as you do the following:

Don't Shake... you must stabilize the camera while shooting.  Professionals use tripods, you can find something to set the camera on.

Have good lighting so you don't have to use flash, avoiding the reflection of the flash or shoot at a very slight angle, until you don't see the reflection.  Notice even the reflection of the flash can be removed if this is all you have.

Take many shots, some are bound to be good.

When taking photos of people who are sitting or children, take the photos at eye level.

Be sure to check that everyone looks their best (hair out of eyes, maybe glasses off or where to stand so that their in the shot)

Don't forget to include yourself, try using a tri-pod and timer.

Scrapbookers! don't forget to let kids take pictures at events too.  Shoot quiet moments when the kids are winding down.

Especially during the Holidays make your photos special by shooting by candle light.

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Scrapbooking today, is very sophisticated with the digital alternates we now have. Take for instance; if you have a huge portrait it obviously can not go in a scrapbook but you can have it scanned and reduced, now you can include it in the scrapbook.  Maybe you have the opposite problem and have a tiny photo that could be the center of the page or theme but because it's too small it's just not impressive...you can enlarge it. 

You may have a photo of a couple and not one photograph of either of them alone and you would like to make individual books, you can split them up.  You can even make custom pages.  Any image/photo can be made to fit a 12x12 page.  Visit our Photo Gallery Categories to see restored documents and paintings.  

There are Scrapbooking Conventions that come to your city, check your local newspapers, chamber of commerce or browse the internet for local events.  Make sure to wear comfortable shoes there is plenty to see.  Things you won't find at your local craft store.  Conventions have specialty items to die for.  There are scrapbooking stores in your neighborhood with "how to" classes.  More on Scrapbooking History & Background by Tracey M. Boudine.  

Scrapbooks have come along way since the days of cutting up your photos and pasting them on a black page.  Look at this solution.

Scrapbooking

 Solutions

What if you have a photo that's too small that you wished were larger because that photo would be best used as the main theme.  PMP can enlarge it too.

When your working with copies, you won't mind cutting them into shapes to suit your artistic designs for that page.

We have bulk rates for those who want to duplicate an existing photo album.

Scrapbooking today has developed styles of layouts.  Some formal other whimsical.  One of our clients had a beautiful formal scrapbook.  She said every photograph in her scrapbook was in taken in a studio, with except of this one relative. So PMP changed the background, now it's formal too.

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Have your originals scanned and digitally restored and store in a box then use the restored set in your scrapbook.

Find a  Scrapbook Expo convention is in your area.

This link is handy, a convention and events link in your area.

Creative Memories can help you with all your scrapbook supplies and ideas.

Scrapbook Suppliers R US is a good source of ideas for your scrapbook

Go to a site that tells you of the top 50 scrapbooking sites!

The restoration is the focus on these pages not the page design.  

You may want uniformity by similar coloring, more of the image instead of background and consistent sizes.

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Think about this! A custom Theme, 12"x12" scrapbook page. 

This small photo was a newspaper cut-out.  It was scanned and digitally altered to appear as though it had velum paper over it, then printed to archival quality photographic paper, ready to mount your photo on it.  

The subject was a jockey and store bought scrapbook pages with this theme are rare. 

Give the scrapbooker in your family a gift card for restoring family history!

Simply put this saved creative time and money spent on decorating this page to compliment the photo.

Don't forget that even though there may not be anything really wrong with the photo you have... even if it has turned yellow.  You are creating an heirloom scrapbook and you have already spent a fortune on supplies and tools to embellish a page, why wouldn't you go the extra mile to have your photograph be the best it could be.

No matter how you cut it, you must do something with the original photo. There are so many options you really need to talk to us.  After showing you what we can do,  we help you figure out what works best for you.  Depending on the needs of your photo, you do have options.  

We can take away the yellow and and damage like writing and add Sepia tone, which is the least expensive.  We can colorize it, partially or totally.  Look at this 1950s, 8x10 original. 

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Circa 1866. These two cabinet cards found in a bible, were joined to make a more attractive portrait to display (never display originals, unless kept under the best conditions).   This is very popular with scrapbooker's and genealogist.  

  These items belonged to John Evans of the 3rd New Hampshire.  These are the ribbons he wore and the wooden pieces he whittled during the Civil war.  Shadow Boxes are a great way to keep collectible items together.

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Preventing Deterioration:

 If you have your photos in a book like this one...remove them as soon as possible. After years in the attic the plastic was actually breaking down, you could smell fumes and the pages were sticky.  Even though the photos peeled away easily enough they did turn yellow and were beginning to adhere to the plastic. 

Begin a new scrapbook that is acid and lignin free.  The plastic becomes cloudy, sticky and sometimes even has fumes.  

So Now What?

Keep photographic materials at proper environmental conditions. Humidity is the most important consideration in preserving most photographic materials.  High or low temperatures with high  humidity levels will accelerate deterioration.  Conditions of around 68° F and 30-40% humidity are easiest to maintain in enclosed areas, such as an interior closet -- not in an attic or basement. 

Temperature, not humidity, is the controlling factor in the stability of contemporary color photographs. Storage at low temperatures (40°F or below) is recommended. Appropriate enclosures for cold storage are available from various vendors.

Exposure to visible and ultraviolet (UV) light is potentially damaging to photographs. Light can cause embitterment, yellowing and color fading in prints and hand-colored surfaces. Extended display of photographs is not recommended; however if they must be displayed, use UV-filtering plastic or glass in framing. Exposure of color slides to the light in the projector should be kept to a minimum. Use duplicate slides instead.

Atmospheric pollutants, particularly sulfur compounds, will cause black and white images to fade and discolor. Gas by-products given off by fresh paint fumes, plywood, deteriorated cardboard and many cleaning supplies may cause accelerated image deterioration. Storage in non-acidic containers is recommended.

Handling Photographic Materials:

If photographs are handled improperly, they can suffer damage, including tears, cracks, losses, abrasions, fingerprints, and stains. Avoid touching fragile photographic materials; salts in human perspiration may damage surfaces. Wear clean cotton gloves if possible when handling negatives and prints.

Storage of Photographic Materials:

House photos in protective enclosures to keep out gritty dirt and dust which can abrade images, retain moisture, and deposit contaminants. Avoid and/or remove materials such as acidic paper or cardboard, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, rubber bands, paper clips, and pressure-sensitive tapes and rubber cement. Suitable storage materials should be made of plastic or paper, and free of sulfur, acids, and peroxides.

Paper enclosures must be acid-free, lignin-free, and are available in both buffered (alkaline, pH 8.5) and unbuffered (neutral, pH 7) stock. Storage materials must pass the ANSI Photographic Activity Test (PAT) which is noted in supplier's catalogs. Buffered paper enclosures are recommended for brittle prints that have been mounted onto poor-quality secondary mounts and deteriorated film-base negatives. Buffered enclosures are not recommended for contemporary color materials. Paper enclosures are opaque, thus preventing unnecessary light exposure; porous; easy to label in pencil; and relatively inexpensive.

Suitable plastic enclosures are uncoated polyester film, uncoated cellulose triacetate, polyethylene, and polypropylene. Note: Photographic emulsions may stick to the slick plastic surface at high relative humidity (RH); the RH must remain below 80% or do not use plastic enclosures. Plastic enclosures must not be used for glass plate, nitrate, or acetate-based negatives.

Prints of historic value should be matted with acid-free rag or museum board for protection. Adhesives should not touch the print. Matting should be done by an experienced framer or under the direction of a trained conservator. See Handout: Guide to Preservation Matting and Framing.

Store all prints and negatives that are matted or placed in paper or plastic enclosures in acid-free boxes. If possible, keep negatives separate from print materials. Store color transparencies/slides in acid-free or metal boxes with a baked-on enamel finish or in polypropylene slide pages. Commonly available PVC slide pages, easily identified by their strong plastic odor, should never be used because of their extreme chemical reactivity.

Place early miniature-cased photographs, including Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes and Tintypes, carefully into acid-free paper envelopes and house flat; keep loose tintypes in polyester sleeves, or, if flaking is present, in paper enclosures.

Storage of family photographs in albums is often desirable, and many commercially available albums utilize archival-quality materials. Avoid albums constructed of highly colored pages. Never use commercially available "magnetic" or "no stick" albums for the storage of contemporary or historic photographic prints in black-and-white or color. These materials will deteriorate quite quickly over time.

Prepared by Debbie Hess Norris, Photographic Conservator and Assistant Director, Art Conservation Program, University of Delaware/Winterthur

[Excerpts of text taken from Caring for Your Collections: Preserving and Protecting Your Art and Other Collectibles, The National Committee to Save America's Cultural Collections; Arthur W. Schultz, Chairman. Published in 1992 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York.]

The preservation procedures described here have been used by the Library of Congress in the care of its collections and are considered suitable by the Library as described; however, the Library will not be responsible for damage to your collection should damage result from the use of these procedures.

Revised 12/98

As it relates to our site, this entire page was taken from The Library of Congress, click here to to see original source  for more information on conservation.

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The Digital Age

What Photos Made Perfect 

Can Do For Your  Scrapbook

This client posed as his father did.  Instead of just putting each photo side by side taking up two pages he had his father's photo added to the background slightly faded.

Father 1930s

Son 2003

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Table of Scrapbooking Dilemmas and Solutions