Family History

I have started scrapbooking my past history of myself and my family but at present time like every other projects, it's in the box to complete.  I will get back to complete my projects in the future before my aunties die.  Well it's abit hard to ask my grandparents as they have long gone before scrapbooking was here.

For for people who haven't started, it might be a good time to start now. Here's some interesting tips I have found elsewhere to help you get started.

Scrapbooking your family history is a great way to be able to pass on information from one generation to the next.  Also, depending on the information you’re able to gather, it can become a valuable tool in identifying common family traits, health history, etc.  The following provides suggestions on how to create family tree scrapbooks that will be appreciated for generations to come.

Determine your starting point.  How many generations?
The first step in scrapbooking your family history is to decide how many generations you want to include.
Are you thinking about creating an album of you, your spouse and children, or hoping to go back a generation or two?  Putting together family history scrapbook layouts can be overwhelming if you decide to include multiple generations.

Chances are you’ll find old black and white photos that don’t have names and dates written on them.  You might also discover that even though you know lots of stories about Uncle Fred, you don’t have any photos of him.  Thus, if you’re going to scrapbook multiple generations, be prepared that you may have little information on some of your relatives.  That’s okay.  Include whatever information you’re able to find.

Gather photos and information.  Document the past.
If you plan on including past generations as you work on family history scrapbook ideas, begin by sorting out your photos  Place maternal-side photos in one pile and fraternal-side photos in another pile.  As you sort through the photos, use post-it notes and write down information about each photo, such as full name, relation to you, age of person in the photo, etc.  Attach the post-it-note at the bottom of the photo.
In preparation for scrapbooking your family history, use a downloadable family tree or one that you design by hand, to list the relatives on your mother’s side of the family (i.e. siblings, parents, aunts, uncles).  For each relative, on a separate sheet of paper, write down as much of the following information that you’re able to gather.  You might need to contact relatives to find out some of the information.

• Full name, Was the person named after anyone in particular? Any nicknames?
• Date and place of birth, Education, Marriage
• Relation to your mother
• Diseases and health concerns, special honors or awards, special memories of that person
• If deceased, person’s age when he/she passed away.  Burial information. 

Once you’re through gathering information about the relatives on your mother’s side of the family, do the same with your father’s side of the family.

For the initial history family scrapbook layouts, design a family tree.  Include a circular cropped photo of each family member/relative along with his/her name.  Depending on how many people you’re including, this might be a spread (side-by-side) layout, or it may need to be done in two layouts.

Once your family tree layout is completed, create a page layout for each family member/relative.   Include a photo when possible and the information that you gathered about the person.  You might want to consider typing the information and using a pretty font.  Embellish each page with vintage items, such as old buttons, an old coin, stickers of antique toys, a partial love letter, an ID tag…anything that fits in with the information about that person.  At a craft store or online, you’ll be able to find background paper with a family history theme.