Archival Owl

Scrapbooking is a word many of us associate with a mid western tradition of sitting and creating themed books from pictures and memorabilia using varieties of paper and embellishments to make each book unique and certainly one of a kind.

But there is a new way to scrapbook that has caught the attention of thousands of non traditional scrap booker’s. Digital scrap booking appeals to a broader market because of its broad scope of available design elements, that traditional scrap booking does not so largely offer. Digital Scrap booker’s have the ability to create seemingly endless designs that do not need to be manufactured just digitally copied, offering the largest number of themed choices. The main reason digital scrap booking has become so popular is the ease of creating beautiful books. The tedium of placing photographs and embellishments with photo corners and adhesives and no way to reproduce the same book, tends to turn creative, but time strapped individuals away from traditional scrap booking. Digital scrap booking, using digital photos and embellishments that can be moved and manipulated with the touch of a mouse offers some forgiveness when you want to change your mind about where something has been placed. And when the book is complete you can print copies of the same book with no extra effort for many others to share.

Creating a digital scrapbook can also be a shared experience between people who are not in any proximity to one another. Simply share your files through e-mail or on disc using regular mail. This way the hobby can be shared with anyone not living near by. Imagine a close friend who has moved away being able to help in the creation of a scrapbook even though they can’t sit right next to you while it is being worked on, and in the end you can both have a copy.

Here is some information on how digital scrapbooking is similar to traditional scrap booking and how it is different, as well as some tips on getting started.

The similarities to traditional scrap booking are that you can create a beautiful themed scrapbook with templates from software that is available or from web based templates available on various sites. Most embellishments found in traditional books are available digitally and can be positioned and repositioned by simply clicking ones mouse. Although not three dimensional, the look can be the same. Various fonts can replicate even the nicest handwriting. Also archival quality pens and markers can add a personal touch after you have printed your book. There is no reason that books cannot be created with a combination of traditional and digital means. One may prefer to add photos or embellishments and writing after the book is printed. One disadvantage of digital scrap booking is that physical momentos such as ticket stubs or hand written notes can not be placed in without scanning or until after printing takes place. But this seems like a small inconvenience for most of us time crunched individuals who want to create our own memory books.

The differences with digital scrap booking vs. traditional is simply that there are no supplies or boxes of photos, no gluing or tedius positioning of materials on the pages. Everything is stored on your computer or on line. Select your photos from your files, place in templates or design your own page layout and print your book. The ability to be able to make multiple copies or to replace a copy that has been ruined is an obvious advantage. Even the fact that our own hands don’t touch the materials can be helpful in preserving our books longer due to the fact that unseen dirt and oils from our skin when handling materials the traditional way, can compromise the integrity of our photos and pages in our scrap books.

To get started, check out some web sites that have become popular for their selection of templates and tools to do the work. Here are some places to start, (paperwishes.com) , (scrapgirl.com). Also check out software programs at retailers such as Best Buy, Target, Staples, Comp USA, and Circuit City. Check out digital scrap booking kits that include the album, pages and software. The ideas are endless and can range from super simple to dynamically detailed, you decide.

Your child’s first birthday,a once in a lifetime vacation, these are just a couple very special memories we capture in our lives.

Tending to memories is something many of us have good intentions about. We save mementos of special occasions and of our children as they grow hoping to one day sit down and relive some of the wonderful moments that came our way during our very busy lives. But because life became so busy our photos are in shoe boxes hoping to get into albums, more photos sit on our hard drive’s waiting to be printed and shared, children’s masterpieces boxed but unprotected. Think of all the photos of others you have taken along the way with the words I will get you a copy. Those people would still love to see those photo’s (now a blast from the past) and especially in an album as a keepsake of their own.

The market is filled with creative ways to share and save all those wonderful photographs and mementos. The question is, are the products used to share your memories protecting them or actually doing more harm than good? Just because a photo is in an album doesn’t make it safe, it can easily fall prey to off gassing from certain papers and adhesive’s. Also some plastics that shield photos from finger prints can be the culprits causing color fading and image degradation of your photos.

So what is a person to do? Some home work! And think archival quality materials. There are many beautiful photo albums that are high quality and archivally safe. To be archivally safe means to be stored in a manner that the materials used in that storage do not contribute themselves to the degrading of any materials being stored. The paper must be acid free and also (and this is less known) lignin free. The plastic has to be polypropylene. Then there is the storage itself. To much heat and to much moisture can also help to ruin stored materials . One should think of themselves as the curator of their own “memory museum”. Curators of museums must use techniques that support housing works of art for centuries, and if they did not we would be far less culturally rich as a society. Caring for your memories is important to you now, but be thinking about that video of your daughter’s or granddaughter’s first birthday when it’s her great granddaughter watching it a hundred years from now with a wow on her face. This long term care of your memories and keepsakes should be your goal. Yes good materials are worth every penny. Check out (“conservation/preservation.com” : http://palimpest.stanford.edu/bytopic/genpub/) for more information and education.

We at Archival Owl invite you to take a moment and look at all our archival quality product options to see if there is one to suit your needs. Stop back anytime to get more ideas and information as we continue to update our offerings and share more ways to protect all life’s precious moments.