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Album Title & End Pages

Ramie Ahlstrom - Crew Relations Manager

How do your scrapbooks begin? Is there a title page? A dedication page? Or just a layout that comes first in succession? Are the ends of each book simply the last page you could squeeze in? Or are they conclusions with an end to the story?

The answers to each question above will definitely vary among every scrapper, and every album! Some will have nicely "composed" albums with title pages, filler pages, and a conclusion. Others will just be layouts that weren't two page spreads, or happened to fit in that location within the album. Some will be wish lists for upcoming years, or maybe a time line of things that happened over the course of a past year. Or maybe you have nothing at the beginning and ends of your albums?

This month, as we cruise around in the Gulf of Mexico, and sail the seas off the Texas Coast, we'll discuss some of the options for making your albums feel more like coffee table books, with a distinct beginning and end!

Since it is warm and sunny down here this time of year, grab your sunscreen, your chair, and call over the cabana boy (with a fruity drink in hand, of course!)!

First off, let me mention that prior to writing this article, only 3 of the 18 albums in my possession had distinct beginnings and/or ends! (And I didn't even make one of those-it's in a Girlfriends Album, and was made by our very own Cap'n Dawn a few years back!) I am using this month's article as a true "challenge" to myself. I determined that at least some of them should have pages that tell the readers a little about what is coming up, or concludes what they've just finished looking at!

So, now you want to know why we should have a beginning and ending pages? Well…it's all a personal preference really, but they are especially "necessary" (and I mean that lightly) for theme albums. If you've got an entire album devoted to Christmas pages, why not have a shiny page at the front that tells the readers (including future generations) what is in that album, and the dates? This page will be at the front of an album I'm making for my daughter that will be filled with calendar pages about each month of her life. To read more about calendar pages, see my January article.

Another theme album I'm doing is an entire album of floral layouts. I LOVE to take photos of flowers, especially since mastering the use of the Macro function on my digital camera. I hope that someday this album will be full of flower pictures from around the world, and that I can put it on my coffee table for all to see. Here's the first page in it.

I've recently taken on another addiction-digital scrapping. I use the computer, as well as some fun software from HP, to create all digital layouts. I'm switching over to digital scrapping for some of my pages, but not all of them. I love paper scrapping and the hands on cutting and pasting too much to give it up completely! Although my digital pages may never get printed, I plan to create "albums" on disks, so that they can be shared on a computer, similar to paper albums being passed around. Here's a title page to my 2005 digital family scrapbook.

A more obvious beginning page could be a birth announcement for a baby's album, or a first day of preschool or kindergarten picture for a school album. Adding title pages to your everyday albums is just as important as having them in your theme albums! Don't forget that individual albums may some day get separated from the group, so having a title page or end page may help future generations understand your life and memories! Dedication pages are also popular for the beginning of an album (or even at the end).

Scrapping an ending page for your scrapbook can be as easy as a poem or letter to the subjects of your album, or as complicated as a "recap" of the events within the album.

A simple poem to the recipient scrapped with a photo or two of them, or the album creator would be perfect for ending an album. There are poems all over the internet that would work perfectly. For example, TwoPeasInABucket and DMarie have several that are specific to scrapping on their websites. Here's a layout I did with a poem from the internet. The layout is at the back of one of the many volumes of my daughter's everyday scrapbooks. The poem reads:

This memory book
That I have made
For all the world to see
Was created from my heart
forever my family's to be

Each photo inside is a
memory, a dream,
to cherish for years to come
A walk through the good times,
the sorrow and pain
The laughter the joy and the fun!

My family's legacy goes on
Our memories now cherished
The history preserved
Never will perish.

--by Marianne, TwoPeasInABucket

Another end page idea came to me when I found these great dimensional stickers representing Spain, where we are currently living! In my September 2004 article, I created several layouts about things and places we like in Spain. I intend to add several more layouts to this album while we are over here, so created this page to go at the end of the book.

My favorite album end page is a simple one! It's simply a favorite photo double matted and added to a very simply adorned page. A poem, from the internet, and some plain purple brads adds the perfect amount of pizzazz to a special photo!

Here's a few more ideas just to spark your imagination:

Birthday invitations make a great title page for a birthday album.
A list of goals might be a fun way to start a new album for a new year.
A "fun facts" page would be a good way to start an album all about you.
A fun first page for a school album could include a photo of the student, the facts about the school, as well as height and weight, and a sample of the student's handwriting.
A Christmas card centered on some beautiful Christmas paper would be a fantastic way to wrap up an album full of year long memories.
A collage page of photos taken throughout the year would also make a great end page.
A pocket page with memorabilia from a special trip or vacation would be an easy way to end an album about the trip, and a perfect way to keep those treasures with the photos.

I hope I've given you some ideas on how to start and end your albums, and I hope you've had a great time sailing the Gulf of Mexico!

Until next month,

Ramie Ahlstrom
ramieahlstrom@ssreflections.com
Scrapping Deck Cruise Director
S.S. Reflections, Inc.

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