Saturday Tip/Trick: Family History

Hi everyone ... Amy here to chat a bit about something that I love - family history! Many people seem to struggle with capturing their families history on their scrapbook pages yet it seems to be something that a lot of scrapbookers want to do. As family history and genealogy happen to be topics that I am semi-obsessed with, I thought we could talk a little about the resources that I've found out on the web that might be able to help you begin to think about capturing your family history in scrapbook pages.

Obtaining the Facts and Details:

One of the most critical steps in creating pages about your familiy history is to obtain all of the factual information that will help you to identify your ancestors and the details of their lives. There are quite a few genealogy sites on the web but here are a couple that I've spent time at and can definitely recommend:

1. Ancestry - There is so much information packed into this site that I definitely recommend you check it out. You can search for information, begin to create family trees, and connect with others also searching for information. They also have a fantastic learning center that can walk you through how the site works, how to find specific types of information and more.

2. Family Search - This site is newer to me but I've really enjoyed exploring their site. Their website states that they are the largest genealogy organization in the world. The site is a service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There is a great deal of information there if you spend a little time there.

Thinking about the Scrapbook Album Design:

Once you begin to collect some data and find some family photographs, you'll want to begin thinking about putting them together in either a physical scrapbook or a digital scrapbook. I've decided on a digital scrapbook that I can print down the road for other family members. I also like this option because I am planning to create some pages about our family history that are more about my thoughts and feelings. Those aren't pages I'll want in an album that I'm sharing with other family members. However, if you are creating this album primarily for you and your children, a physical scrapbook might be something to think about.

There are a lot of resources out there that can help you as you begin to think about your heritage album and how you want to design it. I've listed just a few options below for you to check out as you start working on your scrapbook.

1. The Paperclipping Roundtable podcast did a recent show all about this very topic - you can find that particular episode here. It was a fantastic show that gave me a lot to think about! 
2. Family History Album Class 1 at Jessica Sprague's site - this is a self-paced class that will help you create a 20 page album about your family. There are templates, a digital kit, journaling prompts & more included in the cost of the class (around $45). 
3. Family History Simplified is a self paced class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking that is just $10 and looks fantastic!
4. An article at ancestry.com that might be helpful - The Legacy of Heritage Scrapbooks

And last, but not least, don't forget to check out the My History kit and the other items in the collection over in the WM [Squared] Designs shop!  It is an amazing family history/genealogy kit!

 

 

 

I thought I'd share a couple of my own heritage pages (both created with goodies from WM [Squared] Designs to give you an idea of how fantastic it can be to scrap about your family's history! The possibilities are endless ...

 

Have fun searching out more information about your family and creating new scrapbook pages to celebrate your family history!