Memorial Day provides an opportune time to tell your children stories about their grandparents and great-grandparents while you work as a family to create a Family History Scrapbook Page about a relative or friend you'd like to honor. You can use photos and other mementos that are appropriate to the pictures featured on your scrapbook page. You can make your memorial craft about whoever is important to you.

Materials

• scrapbook paper (a few sheets)
• family photos
• mementos and keepsakes that you want to include
• permanent markers

• stickers appropriate to theme of your page (optional)
• double-sided tape
• straight-edge cutter (or ruler and scissors)
• photo frame or shadow box to adorn your completed memory page (optional)

Instructions

1.
Coordinate scrapbook paper with your photos, and any other items you'll be using on your Family History Scrapbook Page. The layout shown in the images here features double-matted photos (meaning that two colors of scrapbook paper showing behind the photo) you can also do a single mat, or even a triple mat. Before cutting or taping anything, make sure you have thought carefully about the layout of your page.
2.
If you plan to use a frame or shadow box, cut the background sheet of scrapbook paper to the appropriate size for the frame.
3.
Make some notes with your children on who's in the photos or the story behind the photos. Make the notes neatly on a small piece of coordinating scrapbook paper, or cut it down to size after you've written the notes. You can add the notes to your page, or add them to the back of the page for safe keeping and future reference.
4.
Make a preliminary layout with the photos and keepsakes. Lay things out and decide how you'd like the page to look when you're finished, but don't fasten anything down yet.
5.
Cut the first matt for behind the photo with a straight-edge cutter (or using your ruler and scissors), so there is a ¼-inch border of the paper showing all the way around the photo. Do this for each photo you want to matt.

6.
Repeat the process for the second color if you're double matting. Make the second layer show ¼" all the way around the photo and the first mat.

7.
Use double sided tape to secure the cut-to-size scrapbook pieces to the backs of the photos.

8.
Make a final tentative layout of your completed scrapbook page to ensure you like it before taping anything down.
9.
Once you have settled on your layout, tape or glue everything to the background sheet of scrapbook paper or card stock.
10.
Coordinate scrapbook paper with your photos, and any other items you'll be using on your Family History Scrapbook Page. The layout shown in the images here features double-matted photos (meaning that two colors of scrapbook paper showing behind the photo) you can also do a single mat, or even a triple mat. Before cutting or taping anything, make sure you have thought carefully about the layout of your page

11.
Put the page into your frame or shadow box.