Creating an Ancestry Scrapbook from Your Family Tree

Scrapbooks are fun and easy to make. You can make a meaningful and fun ancestry scrapbook using your lineage from your family tree. Ancestry scrapbooks are a great way of teaching kids about your lineage, and remembering your genealogy.

To get started on your ancestry scrapbook you are going to need a few supplies. You will need a large scrapbook or photo album with blank pages. You will also need to collect any pictures and article that you will want to include. Mounting paper or colored papers will help your ancestry scrapbook look more polished. You can also look for stickers or emblems that go with your family tree theme.

First you should customize the outside of the album. Since this is an ancestry scrapbook I sometimes like to put a letter initial on the front. My family's last name starts with "G" so I got a rub on letter "G" and affixed it to the from of the album. Depending on the cover of your album you can use a sticker, fabric, or a pen. You could also spell out the family name, or use something other than a picture that you like. It is really all up to your taste, and as long as you like it you can't go wrong.

When creating an ancestry scrapbook I like to start with the oldest members of the family tree first, and work your way to the current family members. I use one page per person, and I start by putting their picture on the page. You can mount your picture on mounting paper then place it inside the album. Next you want to add the name, you can do this with stencils or with letter stickers. If you have nice penmanship feel free to do this freehand. Next you are going to want to personalize this page for the person. If you have any news clippings or memorabilia you can attach it to the page. If you mount each piece of memorabilia to the same or matching color mounting paper it will give your page a more cohesive look.

Often you will have more then one picture of an ancestor that you would like to use. One way to make several pictures look nice without looking jumbled is to use one main picture that is larger, then several smaller pictures. Make sure you capture the persons personality in the pictures. Posed pictures are nice but candid photos bring life to the people on the pages.

Another really nice touch in an ancestry scrapbook is to journal on each page about each person. If the person is still alive you can put answers to questions you ask them. You can also just put memories or a little bit of information about the person. The more detailed and honest your writing on the page is the more unique and personal your scrapbook will be. It will be nice for your children to look at your writing years from now and see memories that you had of your grandmother or great grandmother.

Next you just repeat these steps for each page that you do. Your scrapbook will come together in no time. Just remember if you want your ancestry scrapbook to look cohesive and polished it is best to stay with a certain color theme for the mounting paper and the stickers or embellishments. Go wild make your ancestry scrapbook and make it special.