Album Storage Tips

Here’s a common dilemma; you have invested hours of your time and poured heart and soul into creating a beautiful, one-of-a-kind scrapbook album, but now what do you do with it? Where do you store this little gem so that it’s not only easily accessible for viewing, but safe from harmful UV rays, moisture, and dust?

The most damaging elements to your scrapbook are found in every home, but luckily you can easily store your precious albums safely by keeping the following tips in mind when looking for a permanent home for your albums.

Stay away from moisture. The most harmful element for your albums is moisture: actual water dripping from pipes or dampness on the floor as well as humidity in the air. This will not only warp pages and cause ink to run, but will also lead to mold and mildew issues. The easiest way to avoid this is never to place your albums on the ground, and to choose a cool, dry location to store them. Garages, sheds, and attics are not the best choice to ensure the longevity of your albums. A much better choice would be a book shelf in an office or other interior room of your home.

Avoid direct sunlight. UV rays from sunlight will cause fading of both paper and photos. This problem is easily solved by choosing an area inside your home to store your albums that is away from direct sunlight. If you notice fading of any kind it means you need to move the location of your album storage farther away from the natural light source in the room.

Protect from dust. Dust will leave small scratches on your photographs. Maintain dust-free album by routinely taking your albums out and giving them a quick view. You can gently dust the jacket or slip cover and page protectors.

Keep them upright. A simple tip to remember is to never store your albums laying down. Always keep them upright as you would a book on a shelf. This will help keep the lumpy, bumpy embellishments we all love so much from denting facing pages. It also helps keep your album structurally sound.

Consider a case. One attractive way to keep albums safely stored is to choose one with its own case or storage box. K & Co., Scrapworks, Colorbok, and SEI all have albums that come in an attractive storage box or case of some sort. These albums are doubly protected from any harmful influence by their acid-free and lignin-free cases.

Backup your memories. Finally, as a last precaution against loss I highly suggest that you create a backup of your album on a CD. You can scan in or photograph your layouts, save them, and burn a CD on your own, or you can contact Bound2Remember.com or MyscrapbookCD.com for help. These sites make backup albums for you either in hardback (Bound 2 Remember) or on a CD. Backup versions (especially those on CD) can then be stored in a small fire-proof safe or a bank lockbox for the ultimate in safekeeping.

So fellow scrapbooker, no need to fear! Feel assured that your works of heart can be safely stored and handed down for generations simply by keeping these easy-to-remember guidelines in place when choosing a permanent home for those albums you’ve so lovingly created.

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