Restoring Old Photo Albums into Pocket Page Scrapbooks (Part Three)

Hello, welcome to part three of the series Restoring Old Photo Albums into Pocket Page Scrapbooks. If you've missed either part of this series you can find them here Part One & Part Two.

When we left off at part two we had a pile of photos that had come out of the old albums and were ready to be put into brand new pocket page protectors.

I wish that I would have counted the number of hours that it took for this entire project. I know it hugely exceeded the time frame I had initially planned.

I am, however, so happy that I took this project on and I really appreciate all the help that I got to finish it. A recently I made the trek to visit my grandparents and show them the albums. I should have taken a video of my grandpa's reaction. He was thrilled. I spent a couple of hours sitting at the table with him. We listened to stories he had to tell about the photos that we had put into the albums. I wrote a lot of them down. I can't wait to spend more time with him going through the albums.

Here are a few of the finished pocket page spreads:

 These pages were done with the We R Memory Keepers Farmers Market journaling cards. This is the perfect collection if you're doing a vintage or heritage project. The colors are perfect for vintage photos. I love that they're made with a soft color palette so that vintage black and white photos stand out.

This page was made using the We R Memory Keepers Captured line. I used these cards for the colored photos. I loved how the bold colors complimented the photos that were taken in the 70's and 80's. 

You'll notice a lot of blank journaling cards. I will fill those out when I can visit more with my grandparents. I'll write their stories on those blank cards.

I don't know how to express to you how amazing the We R Memory Keepers Albums are. They are worth every penny. They're absolutely beautiful and their quality is unmatched. These are the only albums I will be buying in the future. 

When we were finishing up with this project I made a list of things we learned while doing this project.

What we learned:

• Each photo needs to have a name (first and last) and a date. Nowadays it's especially important for digital files. Name your files with the person's name who is in the photo. We found many photos that had just a first name and so so many that didn't have a date. I don't put a first and last name on every page I create but I do keep them in albums by person (I have an album for each member of my family).

• Don't write on the photos! Don't write on the front (or the back) of the photo. The ink will most likely bleed and become unreadable. If you really need the information permanently attached to the photo write or type the information on an archival quality label and then adhere the label to the back of the photo.

• Don't permanently adhere irreplaceable photos. We used hundreds of photos on this project. I wanted to make sure that the photo could be taken out and then replaced if needed. I also wanted to make sure that if there was any information or handwriting on the back of the photos that it could be seen if needed.

• Use archival quality products as much as possible. Nowadays most products are archival quality. You'll see a lot of them that say "acid free" those are the products you want to use. The old "magnetic" albums from the 80's are the ones that have glue that are made with acid. That's what was ruining my photos. You do need to be careful with some of the embellishments that are popular today.  Wood veneer and cork are not archival quality and shouldn't ever touch your photos.
• Write your stories down! Write your own stories down, even if there are not photos to go with the stories. My grandparents told so many stories that didn't have photos. The memories were sparked by a photo they saw in the albums.

Thank you for following along with this series. I hope that somewhere along the way you're inspired to take care of some of your old photos.
 
Here is a list of supplies I used for this project:
We R Memory Keepers Farmers Market
We R Memory Keepers Captured 
We R Memory Keepers Albums  
We R Memory Keepers Photo Sleeves
Photo, Slide, and Negative Scanner

Waxed Dental Floss 
Project Life Journaling Pens

We R Memory Keepers Journaling Cards 

Self Adhesive Photo Corners
band-aids