Technique of the Week - Different Albums sizes and keeping all sorts of things

How do we save our memories? For many years people put photos in albums.  Over the years we have learned that the plastic and adhesives were actually hurting the photos.  I have taken my old photos out of those old albums and stored them in safe ways.  Now I must decide what to do with them and how to use them.  The important thing is to have acid free storage.

We have see yellowing and graying of photos and papers that were kept. I want to keep things looking good for a long time.  I am in the process of going through our "kids" (which are now adults) elementary and high school materials and pictures.  I am not sure how to 'connect' the papers and the pictures.  I am not sure how to put them in albums.   Do I use a theme?  Do I actually use their papers and their writings in the background? When you work on albums, you use acid free paper so that the photos will not be affected by chemical reactions.  When you use kid's school papers, they are not acid free.  You can test paper with a pen to see if it acid free.  If it is not there is a way to change it.

I have found that the price has gone up for Archival Mist.  I am looking for a good price and place to purchase more as my project gets into full swing.  The places I purchased it from before no longer carry it.  If you are serious about keeping newspaper clippings or papers from school, this is the product that you will need.  You spray it over the items and it changes them to acid free so they won't yellow.  

I prefer 12 x12 albums sizes.  Sometimes it is fun to just have a small albums of what is currently going on that you can carry around.  These two were from my summer move and retirement.  The second was the birth of our 2nd granddaughter.

The first album came from Artbooking Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge. The pages are paper that was cut. I used the cricut to cut the paper and then put photos and embellishments on it.  The second album is made with the Dimensional Elements of white chipboard from Close To My Heart.  I used the cricut to cut photos and adhere them to the chipboard.  The second one didn't have paper, embellishments or journaling.

I also had on this blog the small album that I made.  I noticed in both of the above albums that the covers were showing wear and tear.  You can add Mod Podge to the outside to give the small albums strength to last and a way not to show the wear and tear.  You need to lay out the album flat and do the back first.  Put it on wax paper when you work and be careful not to adhere the wax paper to the album.  Make sure you have 24 hours to dry.  It may appear to be dry but it really needs time.  Then lay it on the wax paper and first do one inside and then the other inside.  Leave 24 hours for each side to dry.  

Albums come in many sizes.   The Artbooking CTMH Cricut cartridge gives you many ways and many shapes to do small books.  You can use Mod Podge on the outside if you wish or just use paper.  It depends on the use and wear and tear.  The addition of Mod Podge to the covers will help keep them ready to show in a way you can be proud of them.  You can keep many things in different ways.  Explore what you have and what you want to save.  Try different size albums.  Try saving different things in different ways.  As I get the albums together for my "kids", I will share them.  

My plans are to get some filing folders and sort through them papers and photos.  I will then go through all the pages I made and match them up with the photos.  From there I will make new pages and use my old ones.  I am looking forward to looking at the old memories and making new ones.