Keeping Your Scrapbook Safe – Helpful Tips
When you put all of the time, effort, and love into creating a beautiful scrapbook for your family, you need to take all of the precautions to make sure that your scrapbook stays safe for many years. One of the first things you need to do to protect your memories is make sure all of the supplies that you use are photo safe. Photo safe products will be labeled as acid and lignin free. These two chemicals can yellow and deteriorate your photos and other memorabilia. Do not assume that because an item is in the scrapbooking department that it is photo safe. Look for the label, or test the item with a acid testing pen.
The next tip to keeping your scrapbook safe is to keep it dry. Humidity and liquids will ruin your scrapbook, photos, and negatives. Always store these items in a dry, sealed container. Avoid placing them in a damp basement or attic where they will be subject to severe humidity. Also, when scrapbooking, keep your drinks away from your materials and photos.
Remember that direct sunlight will damage both photos and negatives. Too much sun will even fade the cover of your scrapbook. To keep your memories safe from fading, store them where they will not be in direct sunlight often. For photographs that you want to display in a frame that will need to be in direct sunlight, consider having a copy made that you can keep in a safe album out of the sun. Having this copy will preserve the photograph even if the framed version becomes faded.
Take care to store your scrapbooks in places where there isn’t extreme fluctuations of heat and cold in the environment. After all, how comfortable would you be living in a damp, chilly basement or a stuffy, warm attic in the middle of August? Excessive heat can warp photos and make pages stick together. Cold can cause pictures and paper to crack and peel. Your scrapbook wants to live where you do, so think of where you’d be most comfortable and store your memories there.
One thing that many scrapbookers do not realize is that the oil from their hands can cause damage to their photographs over time. It is important to keep your fingerprints off your photos as much as possible. You will need to handle your photos while creating your scrapbook, but do so as little as you possibly can. Some professional scrapbookers will wear cotton gloves to work with their photos. Washing your hands frequently will help protect your photos as well.
Remember when you are working with your photos that you are not only creating an album for you to enjoy right now, but you are also creating a keepsake that you can pass on to your children and their children as well. Everything you do in your scrapbook should be done with longevity in mind. Carefully protect your pictures so that many more family members can enjoy them!
By Crafts Editor
Scrapbooks Etc Magazine – Guide to making magnificent memory pages with easy, step-by-step instructions that take you from start to finish and make each of your pages a masterpiece.
