Some people start an album with a title page - a special poem, favorite photo or journaling that tells what the album is about. This file includes Portrait Albums and Signature Pages. There are also poems in the Heritage and Memories files that are good for title pages.

Title Page Toppers

 Scroll Border Page Idea

I use the scroll border pages as title pages in my albums. On one I placed a child's plate in the center of the page and drew a black line around it (You might try the largest oval in the new CCS). Then I placed heritage ivy stickers and flowers around the circle and drew black dots and squiggly lines between the stickers.

Inside the circle is the title - Jane Doe's heritage album, or The Doe Family Album, etc. I've had customers use the heritage abc blocks instead of the heritage flowers around the ivy for baby books. I also did this on black pages with the gold and silver pens and used the antique white ABC sticker letters.

Grandparents Album

(do in fancy font or calligraphy, center on the page)

Gift Album Title Page

(adapted by Denny from a poem by Kimberly Rinehart)

Grow With Me

(Alison L. - title page for a child's album)

Once I was a baby boy,
A tiny thing who brought great joy.

Time, it passed as time will do.
The months flew by and now I'm two.
Still, my growing has just begun.
Blink and you could miss LOADS of fun.
You say you want to watch me grow?
Well turn this page. Come on. Let's go!

(for a girl change the first two lines to:
Once I was a baby girl,
A tiny thing, a precious pearl.)

from Tapestry

(Carole King)

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the everchanging view
A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

Ribbon Titles

Take a piece of paper (printed paper works well) and, using the wavy ruler and a pencil, mark a wavy line across the paper. (do this going across the narrow width of the paper.) Move your ruler down about 2" and mark another, parallel wavy line. I then cut the "ribbon" out and put a title on it with harmonizing ABC stickers. So, for example, you might use the red gingham paper and write "PICNIC" with the red ABC stickers, green gingham and write, "Joy" in evergreen ABC stickers, raspberry heart paper and write "Ballet" in raspberry ABC letters.

All of This I Am

[Thomas E. Miles]

"All of this I am...And Part of This I Saw..."
Within the next few pages I hope you find the dreams, the past, the future that was and still is you! The corners have been left unturned in some books, and in others the print is barely legible for use. Whether friend or kin, they walked, they cried, they loved, they shared, they had treasure and they left it just for you. It's your heritage rich and true.

Patchwork Quilt

Our family's like a patchwork quilt,
With kindness gently sewn;
Each piece is an original,
With beauty of its own.
With threads of warmth and happiness,
It's tightly stitched together
To last in love throughout the years,
Our family is forever.

Memories

Memories fill this book...
of places we have known,
moments we have cherished,
People we have loved
These are personal riches,
Treasures from our hearts.

You hold in your hands the (SMITH) Family Album.
Treat it with care for it will become my legacy.
Each page is a reflection of the live we led,
the love we shared, the lessons we learned,
and the memories we cherished.
It is a story of everyday existence,
One woman's remembrance of the things that made us laugh,
and those that made us cry.
I dedicate this book to the future,
with the hope that the past will never be forgotten.

Introduction page for an album or section of an album (vacation, wedding, etc):
Use a photo (or photos) of the main people and places involved in the event along with a detailed description. On the rest of the pages you can use a minimum of journaling.

 Portrait Albums

Title Page For Portrait Album

If the album is a portrait album for one child use extras of those little bitty size photos to spell out the child's name on the title page.
If it is more than one child do the surname instead.
If you have thrown away all the little bitty pictures here is an alternate idea:
Use wallet size and cut then into letter shapes and spell out something like "our family".
Or cut wallets size photos in squares or other quilt shapes and combine them with solid color blocks and put a poem in the center.

(CMC Maria) My pacing partner spelled out "The Smith Family: A Professional Portrait" on the title page using ABC stickers.
Down the sides of the page she placed 1" black squares to look like the film sprockets so the whole page look like a giant film frame die-cut. The letters are inside the frame...She used the Dancing Children stickers across the bottom and a few camera stickers across the top.

Portraits Page Toppers

• Just Picture This
• Me, Myself and I
• A Not So Candid Moment
• A Picture Paints a Thousand Words
• Picture Perfect
• Picture This
• Pretty as a Picture
• Portrait of a Lady
• Sitting Pretty
• Strike a Pose
• You ought to be in pictures!

 A Signature Page

Some people like to "finish" their album, or a series of albums, with a dedication or signature page.

This the place where you can take credit for what you have created, and say a little something about yourself and why you created the album. An album is a gift of love, so use the signature page as a place to express your thoughts and feelings.

Even if the album is not a gift the signature page is still important. It can be used to give closure to the story itself (or to a segment of the story). A signature page can tell who you are and why and when you created the album. It may indicate your feelings more than your actual presence, but no matter how you do it; it is your final chance to finish the story.

Here are some things to think about when doing a signature page:

• Include a photo of yourself while you are working on the album. Be sure the photo clearly shows a page from the album.
• Include important dates. For example the date the album was started or finished, the date it was given as a gift, the date of the event the album depicts - if the album was created for a certain event. Also remember to sign your name.
• If the album was created for a special occasion such as an anniversary, wedding, family reunion, etc. the signature page is a good place to add your best wishes to the one you made the album for.
• Some people use a photo on the signature page that shows the ending of the event the albums was about. For example ending a wedding album with a photo of the bride and groom driving away from the reception or, for a vacation album, a photo of people getting off the plane back home.
• You could duplicate your favorite photo from the album or use one that you didn't include in the album. Journal your thoughts and feelings about the photo or the person in the photo.
• Write a personal message to the person who is to be the recipient of the album. Explain why you made the album or why the events or people depicted are important to you.
• Write a personal message to each of your children, your spouse or other important people featured in the album. Include things that make them special at that particular moment in time or be more general.
• If this album is expected to be handed down to future generations tell something about yourself and your relationship to the people or events in the album.
• Create a mosaic or collage with leftover or duplicate photos
• Some people make a family tree that they put on the back page of each album. Usually it is some form of tree that not only shows relationships but also tells a little about the person. If the albums are mostly about just immediate family members or you have a small extended family you can just list the people and put a short summary about them or the time covered in the albums. The advantage of the list is you can include friends as well.
• Depending on the type of album and how big the page is you can combine one of more of the ideas above.
• Some people like to coordinate the decorative elements or layout of the signature page with that of the title page.
• You could make a sort of "time capsule" on the last page that shows what the world is like at that time. For example the prices of things, fads, favorites, etc. Go to the Adult Birthdays file and you will find a list of sites for "This Date in History" type of info that will help you if the album you are doing is for past years. If the album is current you could use part of one of those "year end summary" articles most newspapers have in December or January.
• Use the title "It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times" and list the best and worse things that happened during the year - both from your family and the country.
• In a family album where you have an ongoing story you can use the signature page as a transition from one album to another. You can mention the main people in the album and their relationships to each other or recap the changes in the family due to birth, marriage and death.
• You could end the album with a page of photos of everyone in the family sleeping or photos of New Year's Eve.
• People who write a family newsletter at Christmas find this a good way to end an album because it usually summarizes the things you have done during the year.
• I write a love letter to my family telling them how much fun I had working on those pages and which pages were my favorite. I also write the dates (even though they are in the scrapbook itself) of all weddings, deaths, births and baptisms for easy reference. (Michelle in MI)
• I use the last page to "clean out my purse", I actually dig out the grocery receipt, ticket stubs, grocery list, etc. and put them or photocopies of them in my album. It shows how much things cost and a brief snapshot of what thing are like in my world today. (Dars)
• I collage sample pics from the next album if it's one in a series. I wait to do this page until I'm at least half-way through the next album and then I do a "See what's next in daughter's life" page. One time I did pics of my daughter looking at her next album and you can see some of the layouts. (txscrappinmommy)
• If it is a trip album, it is a picture of a sunset I took along the way. (Joanne)
• When I did my cruise album I ended it with a picture of my daughter and husband asleep on the airport floor. I thought that was a fitting picture AND it was the last picture I took on our trip. (kaesmom)
• Our Disney album ended with a picture I took of all our souvenirs. I layed them on the couch and took a picture of everything. (kaesmom)
• A pocket on the page for Xmas Cards from friends and family. (Elaine in AL)
• For 50th Wedding Anniversary Album for my parents...The title page was one that had the castle die cut and ivy and flowers...It said "Once upon a time..." and had pictures of them when they met. On the last page, I put a picture of them now with the same castle, ivy and flowers (arranged in a different style from the title page)with the words, "And they lived happily ever after!" (dee)
• I put random pics...I had one of kids waving goodbye, one of Shamu waving his tail out of the water, one of my kids climbing a jungle gym and all you could see were their rear ends (yes they had clothes on!) and one on the last day of school that year, and titled it "The End". (scraphappy)

Most of these ideas came from posters on the Stampin' and Scrappin' message board.