Featured Page - Sisters

This heritage layout goes into my mom's biography scrapbook. It features her and her sister as kids. I used acetate as the base paper. I used Hero Arts stamps for the green flowers on the acetate, as well as to add flowers to the center of my K&CO flower shaped tags. I also used a Hero Arts stamp for the card that the title is on.

Family Tree Diagram Papers

I recommend using Family Tree diagram papers to help keep your scrapbooks organized and to help tell your family story. Here are some you might choose from:

Deja Views Kit:


Ancestry.com Papers from K&Co:


Bazzill Basics Papers:


My Mind's Eye Papers:

Karen Foster Kit:

Shopping for Supplies

I had a rare Saturday off from work today, and spent it shopping with my mom. We hit up a lot of different stores that carried scrapbook supplies.

First, we hit Archivers, which is a scrapbooking chain store. I saw some great new products from Making Memories: Vintage Findings kits. These kits contain great random "vintage" items such as buttons, keys, ribbon, paper, ticket stubs, etc. If you're interested in ephemera pages, these kits are for you. Check them out at MM's website.

I also saw great products for genealogy scrapbook pages from Tim Holtz and Jenni Bowland, such as chipboard buttons, vintage papers, distressing supplies, and more.

Next, we hit a few bookstores, looking at their Genealogy section. I was disappointed in the selection, with both Barnes and Noble and Borders having only a few books each. Oh, well - I'll have to get them online.

Later, we ended up at Hobby Lobby. I picked up some K&Company die-cut cardstock tags. What's great about these is that you can easily create an album that flows and carries a theme. I plan to use these on my census pages to add titles and captions. Also, these tags are made by the same company as those that are used in Ancestry.com's My Canvas publishing. So, if you created a digital scrapbook with My Canvas, you can create a traditional scrapbook that carries the same theme.

Also at Hobby Lobby, I saw these great mini-book overs from 7 Gypsies. They really look like antique book covers and photo album covers. I didn't pick any up because I don't have a project to use them for - but I love that they are available.

Getting Started with Heritage Scrapbooking

For genealogists who want to start "Heritage Scrapbooking," there are many helpful products available.

Ancestry.com has partnered with K&Company to produce a line of products. These items are available in a number of places online (Ancestry, K&Co, Scrapbook.com, etc), as well as in stores such as Target, JoAnn, and Archivers. For beginners, try this kit, which has just about everything you need to get started.

Other brands, such as Karen Foster, Deja Views, Making Memories, Tim Holtz, etc., produce products specifically for scrapbooking your genealogy. Items include papers, stickers, alphabets, brads, embellishments and more. Try browsing Scrapbook.com's online store for terms such as "family history" and "heritage" to see what else is available.

Before you start shopping, browse around and see what sort of style you like. The genealogy products are often in a neutral and "old fashioned" colors and themes. If this doesn't fit your style, there's still a world of products available outside of the genealogy section. Planning ahead on what sort of pages you want to create will save you from buying a lot of products that you end up never using. Perhaps, go ahead and pick out a few photos that you'd like to start with and buy items specifically for those photos.

Also, if you're brand new to scrapbooking, make sure you've gotten together your beginner's kit!