Scrapbooking: Where to Start

Ever since I took a photography class at the University of Maryland as a journalism major many moons ago, I've been "that girl" who always has a camera in her purse and happily snaps photos at birthday parties, reunions, holiday get-togethers and on vacations—even when nobody wants to pose for the pictures.

Yes, I press them to smile and , and yes, my reluctant "models" are always glad later that I did. I love to share my photos with the people in them, and flipping through them myself when I'm in the mood for nostalgia can keep me smiling back at their frozen images for hours.

Yet for years I kept those treasured 4-by-6s in an uncategorized scatter in shoe boxes under a bed or on a top closet shelf or in the unused drawers of a spare dresser in the guest room.

Then, in 2005, while I was visiting my stepmother in California, I was mesmerized by  the stack of "year-in-review" albums that my sister Katie had put together to share her own family's story at Christmastime. It was there that I discovered the art and magic of scrapbooking, and since then, I have created dozens of my own with those carelessly stockpiled photos, now liberated from their hiding places and displayed on colorful pages embellished with paper flowers, shiny stickers and painstakingly  chosen words that put their images into context and will forever remind me where I was and who was with me during those happy moments that wind up in these beautiful books of fond memories.

When I show off my scrapbooks, which have steadily evolved from simple photo albums with words to over-the-top storybooks so stuffed with mementos and embellishments that the pages barely fit into even the largest album covers, my friends so often say they would like to create their own. Some do, but most say they don't know where to start.

Like me, they've hoarded hundreds of snaps over the years and can't remember where most of them are or feel overwhelmed by the prospect of cataloging them into a historical order that will lend itself to the sort of "year-in-review" book that my sister loves to make or into logical themes for a scrapbook about elementary school years or vacations or holidays.

So I'll pass on to you the advice an experienced scrapper gave me when I fretted over where to start my delightful journey into chronicling my ongoing life story: Start with the photos you take today.

Take loads of pictures while you're on your vacation this summer, and create your first scrapbook about that trip. Or tote your camera to a summer wedding and snap plenty of shots of the happy couple, of the people at your table, of the wedding cake and of your spouse or family. (And hand your camera to someone else who can take your picture, too.) Pick up small souvenirs: a postcard of the hotel you stayed in; a matchbook or business card from the restaurant where you ate; a napkin with the names of the bride and groom. You can include these in your book to add context to the photos.

Make your first effort at scrapbooking easy: Choose a single theme (this year's vacation; your nephew's wedding; the summer block party for your College Park neighborhood; your family reunion at the Inn and Conference Center). Don't worry about those dusty photos under the bed—just yet.

Once your first scrapbook is complete, your ideas for using those hundreds of old stills will begin to crystallize. Organizing old photos won't seem like such a chore once you see your new ones in a forever book that made you happy as you worked on it and that makes you even happier every time you open it to show it off to others or to reminisce about this summer's good times.

I'll be writing a regular column about scrapbooking for College Park Patch—with an eye toward what's going on for avid scrappers in College Park. I'd love to hear from you about crops, make-'n'-takes and scrapbook parties in your College Park neighborhood.

Sharon O'Malley is a devoted scrapbooker who has lived in College Park for 12 years.