Journaling

Your scrapbook page won't be complete until you tell the story behind the photos.
Add names, dates, words, or phrases, perhaps written on a stamped scroll or banner, to identify people and places and to help tell your story. Use acid-free pens and markers, available in a variety of colors, to handwrite the information. Or purchase rubber stamp alphabets in a style to suit your theme.

Recollections may seem trivial at the time -- the weather, what you ate, a travel situation, something funny that happened -- but these details will prove fascinating to those who read your scrapbook pages years from now.

Make journaling a family affair. Ask your spouse and your children about their favorite remembrances of holidays, vacations, birthdays, and family traditions, then record them. Identify as many people in your photos as possible, and add specific places and dates whenever possible. Ask older family members for help.

Your heritage album will be an easier "read" if you title the pages (or sections). It's easily done with a family member's name written in a calligraphy pen and framed like the photos.

When recording the information in your family album, use your own handwriting. The warmth of penned notes and labels will give your album a personal touch that can't be generated with computer type