Scrapbook themes, grouped by kind, with what each needs
Most scrapbook themes are one of five kinds: a year, a person, a place, a collection or a project. Pick the kind your material already fits, because each needs different photos to work.
A theme is the reason a page belongs in the book. Choose it from what you already hold, not from what would look good on a shelf.
Each kind below has its own gap to watch for. A year runs short in quiet months; a project runs short at the start, before anyone thought to take a photo.
Make a digital scrapbook
Add your photos and keepsakes in tbf scrapbook, then arrange them on the pages.
Scrapbook theme labels to adapt
A year
- Twelve months, one page each
- The year in firsts
- Four seasons at ____
- School year ____ to ____
- One photo a week, ____
- ____, month by month
A person
- ____ at every age
- Things ____ made
- Before you were born: ____
- ____ and the people around them
- ____'s working life
A place
- Our house on ____ Street
- Every home we lived in
- The walk to ____
- ____ before and after
- The allotment, ____ to ____
A collection
- Every ticket from ____
- Postcards from ____
- Drawings by ____, age ____ to ____
- Match programmes, ____ season
- Every birthday cake since ____
A project
- Building the ____
- Restoring the ____
- Learning to ____
- The garden from bare soil to ____
- Training for the ____
A year
Needs something dated in every month or season. Check the camera roll for empty months before committing.
A month with no photos can still have a page: a receipt, a school letter, a calendar square or a weather note gives it a date and a fact.
A person
Needs photos across many ages, and other people's memories to fill the years you were not there. Ask relatives early; replies can take weeks.
Agree with the person, or their closest family, what stays out. Some photos and stories are theirs to decide.
A place
Needs the same spot seen more than once: a front door in different years, a garden in each season. A map, floor plan or address grounds it.
Before and after pairs work best taken from the same position. Stand where the old photo was taken and match its angle.
A collection
Needs the objects themselves, shown the same way each time: same background, same angle, same light. That repeat is what makes it read as a set.
Flat items can be mounted. Bulky ones are photographed. Note where and when each was found or given, because that fact is easy to lose.
A project
Needs a dated photo of the starting state, progress at regular points, and the finished thing. The start is the photo most often missing.
Keep receipts, sketches and plans as you go. They show decisions that the progress photos cannot.
Steps
List three candidates
Write down three possible themes from the five kinds. Next to each, note roughly how many usable photos and items you hold.
Find the gap
For each candidate, name the thing it needs that you do not have, such as two missing months or no starting photo.
Sketch three pages
Pick the candidate with the smallest gap and sketch its first, middle and last pages. If the middle page is thin, the theme is too narrow.
Name it plainly
Give the theme a working title with a place, person or date in it. Use the labels below as patterns and fill the blanks yourself.
Questions
What can you scrapbook about?
Anything with enough dated photos or objects: a year, a person, a place, a collection or a project. The material decides more than the idea does.
Can one scrapbook have several themes?
Yes, as sections. A year book can hold a project section and a place section, as long as each sits in date order with the rest.
What theme works for a school project scrapbook?
A project or a place theme suits most briefs, because both show change over time. Check what the brief asks you to show before choosing.