After you have invested time and energy, as well as your whole heart into the beautiful layouts that fill your scrapbook album, what do you do with it?
I would hope that you would place the albums somewhere handy and accessible so that others might enjoy your work as often as they like. A bookshelf in the living room, or on the coffee table. Perhaps you could purchase a special basket to put under the coffee table with your albums in it. Regardless of where you decide to keep them, there are a few things you need to remember.
Keep them away from moisture
Although one would think this is explanatory, many scrapbookers forget this rule. It’s not that they intentionally set out to get their albums wet, but storing them in the basement or attic is a huge no-no. I wrote an article about what happened to one scrapbooker, called A Scrapbooking Related Disaster.
Avoid direct sunlight at all costs
Another one of those explanatory things, but the reason behind this is because the sun will fade pictures and paper over time with direct exposure. You want to avoid the sunlight so that you are preserving your memories for longer.
Protect them from dust
Dust is quite honestly always floating through your home. Regardless of how often you dust, there’s some in the air right now. Dusting your albums regularly keeps them clean, makes them last longer and nobody will be sneezing while they are looking at your albums.
Keep them upright
Storing scrapbook albums upright is important. It helps eliminate stress to the binding of your albums. With our lumpy bumpy pages and the fact that we often find the need to stuff as many pages into one album as we can, the album is already stressed enough. Storing the albums upright takes the pressure off, so to speak.
Consider a sleeve or case
Many scrapbooking album companies are selling sleeves and cases to store your album in. They help with each thing I have mentioned above. A sleeve is going to keep as much moisture out as it can, keeps the album protected from direct sunlight and keeps all those little dust bunnies at bay. You might wish to consider some type of sleeve or case for your albums.
Backup your memories on CD
Last, but certainly not least on the importance spectrum, create a back up. Backing up your photos is imperative. If you are using a film camera, something can happen to those negatives and then where would you be? In addition if you are using digital, what if your computer crashed? You’d lose all your precious photos. Back them up to CD periodically. Another more common practice is to scan, or photography your layouts and create a back up CD of those too.
Rest assured that if you take the precautions mentioned above, you will undoubtedly keep your albums protected and have them last for generations to come.
Visit the scrapbooking blog or my own blog to see many more great articles about scrapbooking!