Incorporating Memorabilia into Layouts

I come from a family of hoarders -- bad for my storage space, but fabulous for family memories!!!  For instance, I have every single one of the letters my father wrote my grandparents from Korea -- and he wrote everyday!!!!  I also have a background as a historian, so perhaps that is why I feel so strongly about incorporating memorabilia into my scrap pages, whether heritage or current. 




This is a layout I did of the recent paint job on my house --
 I scanned the estimate and used it and
 the paint chips of the colors used. 



This heritage layout includes a copy of a letter from my great grandfather
 to my father planning this fishing trip.  The letter tells my father to make sure he
 has some boots for the adventure, so I cropped a picture of his boots to use in the layout.



This two page layout of my great grandmother features a picture of one of her dolls still in the family and a scan of her funeral card.   



This is my grandmother's wedding portrait -- the tiny album features scanned, much reduced newspaper articles about the wedding and tucked in among the flowers in the upper right hand corner is a small piece of lace from this dress (which I have in a shadow box) tucked in a protective envelope.   One day I hope to remove this bit of lace and incorporate it into a memento for my nieces to carry at their weddings!

Everyday presents us with memorabilia that can be used in layouts -- from concert tickets to small shells from a beach trip.  If you have vintage/heritage photos to scrap and don't think you have memorabilia to use -- think again.  It is relatively easy to find things like census records online these days and the census record of one of your ancestors makes a fabulous addition to a heritage page!!!  Try incorporating memorabilia into your pages -- I think you'll love it!