Heritage Scrapbooking: Baby Layouts

Since this week wraps up the Treasure Chest Thursday Challenge of Baby Items, I thought I would share  Story Pages based upon babies. This particular layout does not feature an artifact, but it does feature my father as an infant.

My family history collection includes my father's Baby book. My grandmother Helen Zumstein Geiszler great care in recording the facts of her only child. The book was so helpful in creating a scrapbook page for inclusion in my father's heritage album.

I chose this layout because it lines his church nursery roll certificateunderneath two photos of him as a young baby. Since this page featured his birth, I also included the aged newspaper clipping announcing his birth in the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. 

Baby Page for Heritage Scrapbook

For the journaling, I shared information obtained directly from the well preserved baby book. I added additional comments based on things that are easily obtained on a birth certificate. For instance, my grandparents were living with my grandfather's parents. So, I can now picture just how many persons are in the home that my father was born into.

I also loved how my grandmother described the infant Robert Geiszler as having dark blue eyes, dark brown hair, golden brows, eyelashes and a golden tan complexion. I can now imagine the colorized version of the black and white photo I included on this page. Having grandma describe her son is such a treasure and I included it in the journaling.

Simple elements, strategically placed, adorn this page. One brown element directs your eye to the clear image of the infant who is probably about 3 months old. I'm supposing the age because my children were smiling and happy at 3 months but unable to sit up until about 6 months of age.

Green ribbon accents direct your eye down the page to the newspaper announcement. The weight of the photos keep your eyes at the top of the page, so the ribbon pulls your eyes to this little gem.

To keep drawing the eye down the page, a second ribbon was placed beside the cradle roll certificate. The third embellishment fell within the rule of threes when placing embellishments on a scrapbook page.

I hope the inclusion of this heritage album page shows how you can use your records to develop journaling. Additionally, you can see how embellishments can complete the layout by adding function and aesthetics to a page.

To learn what additional pages you should include in a family history scrapbook, purchase the eBook Create a Family History Scrapbook Digitally in 12 Simple Steps at Amazon.com.