Common Mistake: Cutting Original Prints for Scrapbooks

For more than a century, people have been using their family photos to design creative scrapbooks. In the early 1900s, black paper scrapbooks with lots of hand-written notes were prevalent.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was popular to design creative scrapbooks like this example from the Creative Memories company.

Unfortunately, many original photos in both of these types of scrapbooks were cut into irregular shapes, glued into place, and/or combined with 3D embellishments and overlays. Such designs are visually interesting, but difficult to scan and thus preserve the included photos.

If you plan to use printed photos in scrapbooks or other creative projects, do yourself a favor and use a copy instead of the original. If you’re working with digital photos this is easy because you can make as many prints as you want from the same file.

If you’re working with physical photos, make sure to scan your photos first, then use reprints instead of originals. This way you can enjoy your complete Family Photo Archive and still create custom photo scrapbooks.

Interested in working with Chaos to Memories?

If you’re near Chicago and ready to get started to work with a professional photo organizer, come visit our Wheaton Studio Monday – Friday, 10-5. Please bring your memories with you.

If you live outside the Chicagoland area, we’re happy to send you a Project Form and Contract, along with shipping instructions, so you can get started on your project.

Contact us for more information.