Setting Up a Scrapbook

Want to start a scrapbook? Classes, magazines and books are a good way to get started. Sticker Planet in Santa Monica and Memories & More in Tustin offer classes and supplies. Magazines to check out are Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers and Memorable Impressions. Dee Gruenig, owner of Posh Impressions, has a new book out, “Decorating Scrapbooks With Rubber Stamps” (Sterling, 1998).

Some pointers from the experts:

* If your photos are in nonarchival albums or boxes, get them out now. Store them in archival boxes--found at camera stores or through catalogs like Light Impressions or Exposures--until you are ready to put them in an album.

* Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of pictures you have. The conventional wisdom says to start with just a few photos. Choose the most current ones and work your way back.

* Scrapbook themes can be about anything, says Michele Gerbrandt of Memory Makers magazine. Pets, home remodeling, a new career or the first year of college are all great ideas for an album.

* Lisa Bearnson of Creating Keepsakes magazine is big on writing in albums. “Write down what’s happening in the pictures, who is doing what. Don’t just write the names and the dates, include what you were feeling at the time. If you were outside on a fall day, write what it smelled like. Sometimes people don’t like their own handwriting, but that’s what [future generations] want to remember.” Encourage others to contribute some words.

* To crop or not to crop? If you’re going to cut your photos, make sure you’ve got the negative as a backup, or cut up a color copy. The kitchen floor tile or the family car may seem like boring backgrounds now, but they can bring back memories years later.

* If children want to make their own album pages, give them photo reprints or color copies, and let them loose.

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Here are some telephone numbers of stores and resources:

* Exposures (800) 572-5750

* Light Impressions, (800) 828-6216

* Memories & More, (714) 669-9400

* Sticker Planet, (310) 393-6569