Techniques on Tuesdays: Working with Vintage Photos

A couple of years back my grandma found some old negatives in her collection of family photos. I created a way to scan them and we now have digital prints of these priceless photos. Yay! But, even though they are digital, they are still limited prints of heritage photos that need to be properly preserved.

One of the things I find challenging about heritage photos is how to scrap them in an artistic way, without damaging the photos. Afterall, one of the main reasons to scrapbook is to preserve memories in an archivally sound way. For example, in the layout below, I wanted to layer elements over the photos as well as below them.

Supplies: Patterned Papers, Stickers, Journaling Card - Simple Stories; Photo Corners - Recollections; Twine - Unknown; Pen - Sakura; Journaling Spot - Maya Road

Design for The Scrapbooking Studio

So to protect the vintage photos I used a few tricks. First, I used photo corners to hold the photos on the page.

Then, I cut clear acetate to the same size as the photos and slipped them over the top of the photos and into the photo corners in order to protect the photos. That way, I could still layer the ticket stickers over the bottom of the photos to achieve the layout I wanted, while still preserving the integrity of the photos.

If you'd like to use this technique on your next layout, here's what I use:

Grafix Craft Plastic in the .007"



I also incorporated a shopping bag from The Scrapbooking Studio. Even though the bag wasn't acid free, I used Archival Mist to make it safe for use with photos.