They say the best way to learn a subject is to teach it.

Well then, OK, the mission of this site is to chronicle my journey into scrapbooking as I learn and share ways to archive memories. My ultimate desire is to document my family’s life somehow. Through this undertaking I want to engage others who are experienced in scrapbooking, or who would like to learn with me through my experiences.
Jay Lynch

My name is Jay D. Lynch, in this photo my wife Sandy joins me, as well as Soda, the dog. Yep, he’s the dog, but he doesn’t know it. He’s always with us wherever we are around the house. Our son, Preston, is the photographer. He’s a wonderful, hard working young man with a bright future ahead.

I’m a man who knew very little about scrapbooking prior to building this site. I’ve never really had an interest in scrapbooking, even to the point that the thought of organizing our family photos left me cold. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t treasure the pics or wouldn’t love to have them neat and orderly with descriptive journaling (that’s a new word I’ve learned: journaling) on each. My procrastination stems from my uncertainty about how to go about it. I don’t want our collection to be preserved in an inexpensive photo album with adhesive pages that don’t hold the pics in place, or the sheet protectors that stick to the photos. We’ve got a few of those albums now, but I want our collection to be attractive and personal to preserve some of ourselves and our heritage for future generations.

Speaking of sorry photo preservation, I was so glad when I found this video that shows how to remove photos in an album wherein the plastic sheet covers cling to the photos to destroy them, just as ours have. Watch Anna in the video below and you, too, can learn how this problem is handled at the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Because of experiencing the loss of family members over time, as we all do, or simply the leaving behind of “the old” and moving on to “the new,” the value of having physical items to commemorate various times in our lives has taken on greater significance.  I know I’m not alone in realizing the importance of keepsakes and indicators, I guess you might call them monuments, some as simple as the date a picture was taken or an explanation of the event being commemorated. Often these simple functions tend to be overlooked.  How many times have you struggled when trying to remember the particulars surrounding a photograph or keepsake that was obviously important to you at the time?  This is why preserving memories in an effective way is important.

I trust you will find something on this site to help you preserve your heritage; it’s certainly helping me see the possibilities.