A scrapbook allows you to preserve special memories of your daughter's childhood and growth. Depending upon your daughter's age, you can either create a personal scrapbook or a special gift album.
Step One: Decide What to Include
Dividing your scrapbook into sections will help make your project more manageable. The sections you include will depend upon how old your daughter is. For example:
- Introduction: Create a special introductory section in the form of a letter to your daughter. You can use this page to talk about how proud you are of her accomplishments and to express wishes for her future.
- Family history: A family tree makes for a special keepsake in your daughter's scrapbook, especially if certain family members passed away when she was just a baby.
- Holidays and family traditions: Every family has unique traditions and rituals that bond them together. Create a section in your scrapbook to share some of these memories. Include any related memorabilia, such as special recipes or postcards from a particularly memorable family vacation.
- Early years: Including your favorite photos of your daughter as an infant or toddler is sure to make your book a cherished keepsake. Add journaling that shares humorous anecdotes, developmental milestones, or other special memories you wish to share.
- School years: Document some of your favorite memories from your daughter's school years, including photos of her posing with friends and favorite teachers. Consider adding hidden pockets to store memorabilia such as report cards, drawings, essays, and newspaper clippings.
- Life as an adult: If you're making a scrapbook for your adult daughter, you'll want to include photos from her wedding, the birth of her children, and any other special milestones.
- Conclusion: You can end your book with an assortment of photos that don't fit in any of your other sections. Add quotes, song lyrics, or a special poem that you feel describes your relationship. Good Morning Quote has some suggestions you might find helpful.
Step Two: Choose an Album
The two most popular sizes for scrapbook albums are 8 1/2 " x 11" and 12" x 12", but 8" x 8" or 6" x 6" albums are often used to make small keepsake albums. The size you choose for your album will depend upon how many photos you wish to include. If you snapped 100 pictures of every milestone in your daughter's life, it's likely that you'll easily be able to fill a large 12" x 12" album. If you only took photos on special occasions, a smaller size album would be a better choice.
In addition to being available in different sizes, scrapbooks come with different binding styles. A postbound scrapbook is the most common, since it allows the pages to lay flat with no gaps between them. However, a D-ring binder style album would be more appropriate if your daughter is still very young and you plan to add more pages to her album as she grows. American Crafts and We R Memory Keepers both make attractive D-ring albums that are easy to add pages to as needed.
Step Three: Create Your Pages
If you're a novice scrapbooker, using scrapbook sketches to determine the placement of your photos and journaling will make the process of assembling your album much easier. If you're using a sketch that requires your photos to be cropped, use a paper trimmer and ruler to make sure your cuts are straight.
When you're making a scrapbook as a gift, it's best to choose a few visual elements that will tie together different pages. For example, you might want to use your daughter's favorite colors as the color scheme for your album or embellish each page with a pretty butterfly if she's collected butterfly statues since she was a young girl. A Cherry on Top and Scrapbook.com both organize their scrapbook supplies by theme to make shopping for items that reflect your daughter's interests a snap.
If you're on a budget, using rubber stamps and paper punches can be an affordable way to repeat elements on each page of your scrapbook. Paper punch flowers would be especially appropriate for a daughter's scrapbook and can easily be made from leftover scrap paper from a past project.
Digital scrapbook supplies are another great option to consider. For example:
- Free Scrapbook Paper to Print: Download patterned paper collections in a wide range of color schemes.
- Free Scrapbook Cutouts: Use these hearts, flowers, leaves, and buttons to add a decorative touch to your layouts.
- Free Printable Journaling Cards: Use these decorative cards to add visual appeal to your journaling.
To avoid damaging your precious photos, use acid-free adhesive for your pages. If you anticipate wanting to remove the photos at a later date, photo corners would be the best option.
A Keepsake to Cherish
Scrapbooking provides a creative way to organize important photos from every stage of your daughter's life. A handmade scrapbook full of memories is a keepsake your daughter is sure to cherish for many years to come.
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