Creating a "memorial" scrapbook???

My Mother recently passed away and I have considerable related "stuff" such as her obituary, sympathy cards, written copy of the eulogy, etc. I thought it might be nice--as well as therapeutic--to put it into a memorial scrapbook.

However, I never seen or heard of one. Has anyone else or does anyone have any ideas of how to create one?

Thanks in advance for any infor/advice.

I don't have any specific rules ro ideas necessarily but I did make an album about my best friend who died. It was very hard to do but also very theraputic. It took 3yrs in total to do!

What I did was collect all the pics I had that were important to me and then I journaled a little something for almost every page/pic. A good memory or a letter to him or just a quote or anecdote. Then I put the pages together. I did 8.5X11 because I didn't have enough pics to fill a 12x12.

I'm sorry about your Mom, but this is a wonderful idea. I hope I helped a little!

I'm sorry for your loss. I agree it can be very theraputic. Last year my aunt passed away suddenly so I did an album for my uncle. Because it was for him I focused more on her life. If you would like to look at it it's in my gallery in it's own album Debbie. I was rushed with mine because he wanted to have the album at her memorial picnic (she passed in late March and the memorial was in mid-June). Good luck with your album and just take your time and let yourself take breaks from it if you need to.

My mother in law passed away one year ago in Feb. The family had a memorial for her in the summer when everyone all over the country could get together. I made a scrapbook for her bring to the memorial for everyone to enjoy. Her daughter gave me some pictures combined with ones I had of her when she was young, married, children, grandchildren, things she loved, parties....etc.. Some of the pictures are very old yet I used them because I didnt want to put them back in the box.
Basically, I started from the earliest pictures and went to the last pictures I had.... It didnt take me very long....but also I was on a time schedule. A few months.
Of course us addicted scrapbookers are very critical about our work. However, I received so many wonderful comments....and you will too! Very therapeutic with the healing process of loss.

Thank you ladies, for taking the time to respond. I'm glad to hear that you all found the process therapeutic. I figured it would be. (My Mother was an avid doll and toymaker, doll "fashioner," and collector and has an exquisite collection. Since her house, into which I've now moved, is in a lovely small town on MD's Eastern Shore, I plan to do some sort of exhibit of her collection for the historical or art society to honor her incredible skill and creativity and so others besides me can enjoy it. I figure that will also be very therapeutic. (I enjoyed the scrapbook for Debbie, BTW. Very simple and heartfelt. Lots of cutsie would have been distracting, at best. Seemed just the right tone. Thanks for sharing it.)

I realized that I can actually use the scrapbook I made Mother for Xmas of her life as part and simply add new pages for the last part. She really enjoyed it so that seems fitting and makes the most sense. The only problem is that the book I used is beyond full (60 pages, already) and can't really be expanded anymore.

Are there books (8 1/2 x 8 1/2) that expand to 4" or so? Where do I find them? I haven't seen dimensions by depth--only width and height. Any suggestions?

My girldfriend lost her sister to cancer a couple years back. She did an awesome album decdicated to her sisters memory. She was so happy she did it when she was done. A little painful while she was creating it but very fulfilling.

I've thought about doing one of my mother. She passed away last April, and would have been 75 Thursday. The last time I saw my mother alive was one year ago today.

I think the album would be extra special. And maybe you could create a section about the dolls to display with them.

• Rosita Said:

God bless you, Rosita.

A friend of mine gave me a journal for Mother's Day 2003 and I began writing about Dad's fight with cancer. After he passed in July 2003, I wrote about the funeral and included the funeral home card, the obit from the newspaper, the ribbons from the floral arrangements from my sister and me and my daughter, and the eulogy I gave (I also wrote the eulogy in the journal, but tucked the loose leaf pages in it as well). There was a memorial service at the hospital about a year later for all families who had a family member pass away at the hospital. I put that into the journal as well. Those things I'll keep in there. What I do now (and I haven't done for a couple years) is write letters to Dad in the journal. It comforts me and allows me to still feel close to him.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. May your memory book be a comfort to you.

I am making one of my grandma. She has been @ the rainbow bridge for 5 years this month and I was just able to start actually doing pages this past winter. I have collected things since she past. As I gathered things I thought about her and how I was going to scrap them. I have one of her gloves she used to wear all the time. I want to scrap it. i wore those gloves for 3 years until one got lost. then I put the other one away and told myself I will scrap it. It has been theraputic doing this but sad at the same time. each time I thought I could start working on it I would pull the stuff out and start looking through it all and I would get all freaked out and I had to put it away...... then one day I decided to get it out again and I told my self I would just pick paper to go with some pictures... well it worked because I ahve made a few pages. Haven't done all the embellishing on them but I did put paper and pictures together and got them started.. good luck

I have an album that I did for my grandfather that just passed away...it is in my gallery, here is a link...
Papaw

I made this the weekend of the funeral so that my family could have it at the visitation and pass it around, my aunt wanted to make sure that we documented his life for everyone to know about...I stayed up really late working on it with my cousin and it was so hard to make it while I was going through the greiving process, but I am so glad that I did it, and now my grandma has something to look at everyday!
Good luck making yours.

• mghairgirl Said:

I called my mom's dad Papaw and my dd called my late daddy Papaw.

I have a bunch of pages in my gallery right now. I am doing the same thing. My father passed on 2/15

I'm doing it almost like a heritage album. I found his mother and grandmother death certificates and am putting those in with his. I have his Army Induction/Discharge papers. Photos of me and him when I was little, etc. And I journaled ALOT.

My dad passed away in 2006. I started a metal keepsake box by Basic Grey . It looks like an old school lunch box and has tabbed dividers and insert sheets. So far I've only done about 6 layouts, because it is hard not to get emotional when doing one. But it is great therapy. Good luck with your project, and I am sorry for your loss.

I just finished a memorial album for my Mother who passed away a few years ago. I am really done but might add a page or two when her great-granddaughter's is born soon. I started from her being a small child and up to right before she died.

When my father turned 80 we had a birthday party for him. My sister and my aunt had the great idea of putting together a photo album for him. We stayed up late the day before the party putting photos and a silly description onto each and every page - even the ones we accidentally found completely photoless in the middle of the album after we were all done (that was the blizzard of 1976 BTW). He loved it. He would take it out and stare at it for hours. Mom had to steal it away ocassionally to protect it from damage. Unfortunately, it was put into a magnetic album and three years into it, all the photos had to be taken out and redone before the acid got to them. I volunteered to do that and turn it into a bonafide scrapbook - as my mother wanted. It took me a year, but we gave it back and he seemed to love it even more - if that was possible.

When he died at age 85, we were able to show it to friends and family at the wake and funeral. And now my mother has it and won't let it go and stares at it for hours and has to put it away ocassionally so it doesn't getted damaged.

So, a little while back, I decided it wouldn't hurt to make one for her too. She isn't in the best of health either. That one too is incredibly appreciated and loved.

Anyway, my point so long as it was in arriving... making a life album is even more enjoyable and valued than waiting to make one for the sad times - especially if is connected with the memories of them enjoying it too. Do this if you can. I am glad that you are adding on, sachetm, to the one you've already made for her (that she too apparently enjoyed so much). It makes the album even more special with the happy memories connected to it too.

I cannot show examples of mine because I can't borrow the albums that long...

I'm very sorry for your loss. My godfather passed away last year about three months before his birthday. For his birthday, I did a memorial scrapbook for his mother. You can check it out in my gallery. It was very difficult to do, but it did provide some closure. Hope this helps, and good luck!

My daughter passed away more than 40 years ago. She was 17 months old. About two years ago I found the only pictures I had of her and set out to make a scrapbook in her memory. Aside from pages with her picture, of which there were only a very few fading black and white polaroid pictires, I included a page where I wished her a happy birthday for all the years we had missed together. I still cry thinking about it. I also put a running theme throughout the whole book. I took a sentence or a phrase from the Robert Service poem "The only one" and begining on the first page, placed a sentence...second page another and so on until I had included the whole poem. I made each from the same paper, ink and font so it would be clearly a theme. There may surely be a peom of short story that might apply to others of you who are pulling a memorial book together like a favorite hymn. (I love Twila Paris' Lamb of God.) And act of making a memorial book is cathartic. Keep tissues nearby. God Bless all of you who have had a loss. AlamoJo

What a wonderful thing for you to do for your daughter. I think no matter what the loss, making a memorial scrapbook is a wonderful way to honor them. I wished I had made the one for my Mom when she was alive but at that time I was too busy caring for her. She was disabled the last few years of her life. I know she would appreciate it now.

God Bless you
Pati

I love the idea of doing these. I can see how it would be painful, but also cathartic.
I especially like the idea of having some sort of pocket in the album for you to continually write letters to your loved one who has passed away.

I ama 26 year old mommy, I lost my son to SIDS when he was 28 days old, Our little boy became an angel on august 26,2004. I am also wanting to do a memorial scrapbook for him any ideas?

• sachetm Said:

What kind of album did you use? If you used a post-bound book, you can convert it to a snap-load book. You can make your book really fat with those. I've made 12x12s about 2.5-3" thick but could go much much further with the straps. The 12x12s were just getting really heavy that thick so I stopped.

Hi

I lost my Mom back in January and I'm going to do a memorial album for her next weekend when I have the house all to myself. I saw a friend's who did one but it was all about the death of the person. I think I'm going to gear mine as more of a celebration of her life. My brother and I haven't had kids yet so I want it to be a way that future kids would get a glimpse of who their grandmother was. So far my plan is to MiMi c a presentation her office put together for her memorial service. They did a power point for all the things she loved. So I'm going to do a page of pictures of her growing up and then pages about her love of music, knitting, her family, her church, reading, her career and all the other things that she loved.

Check the Gallery and search topics such as memorial, baby, etc. for ideas. I found one a while back and wish I had saved the link. If I find it, I"ll let you know.

I just did one for my grandmother who passed this January. I did the pages of the last few weeks of her life and how the family was as she passed and marked it. My favorite pages are some of the lessons I've learned from her (in her life and through her passing).

It's a small 8 X 8 album (pink - her name was Rose). I have more pages (papers) picked out for her life but I do not have the pictures yet (my uncle has piles of them, I just want to go get them from him so I can scan them and then everyone will have them.) I learned more about her in those 7 days of traveling and formalities than I could have ever imagined.

This album is for me - it's in my point of view looking back. I just showed it to my mother (it was her mother that passed) and she started crying - she's the only one who could understand and appreciate it. And as everyone mentioned - it is painful but very healing. I've always seen my scrapbooking as a way to deal, process and heal from the events of my life.

It's in my gallery - I was very hesitant to post it but received a lot of comfort by the comments people left.

• Crystal Lullaby Said:

Thank you for sharing your beloved Bachie with us.

I know the task of scanning old photos. I just scanned a bunch of my dad's old photos (with help from my uncle--his older brother--I was able to label most of the people in them). I am thinking of doing a memory book for my Dad (maybe a few for my mom, sister, me, and one for my daughter of her Papaw). Soooooo many ideas, so little time (can I have about a 5 yr sabbatical to do these?). Now, Mom and I have to go through hers and do the same (sort, identify, scan.... ).

Still, I love the idea of a separate book for each loved one.

I lost my 11 year old daughter 4 years ago this week. It just so happened that the day of her accident I was just a couple of layouts short of having her individual scrapbook caught up. I think I did 2 more 2 page layouts to finish the book to have at her visitation and added maybe 3 more in of pictures that were being processed when she died. We just about wore that album out the first few weeks after she died.

I decided I didn't want all the stuff from her death and funeral in her album with everything from her life. I ended up using 2 12x15 albums to put all the memorial stuff in. We received hundreds of sympathy cards and memorials so it took a lot of pages. I included the newspaper clippings about her accident, hand written letters, the lists that people made out as things were brought to our house, all the fronts off the memorial (money) envelopes, obituaries, and pages and pages of condolences off the internet from scrapbooking sites I was a member of at the time. Most of the first pages in the front of the album are embellished. I had so many cards that most of those are just adhered to the page. I had to make a few pocket pages for cards with notes written on the back so that I didn't "lose" those words of comfort.

For about 3 months after Jeana died, my oldest daughter Joni worked on a 6 x 6 album of her own. It is all of Joni's favorite pictures of her sister, poems etc. We chose a denim album and used iron on words on the front in a paisley print material. Joni keeps it beside her bed now and I catch her looking through it often.

I hope this helps. Doing these types of scrapbooks are always hard but very therapeutic. I catch myself going through the albums of cards every once in a while to remind myself how lucky we are to have so many friends that care about us and keep us in their thoughts even now that it has been 4 years.

I have no words, except on all the albums, and I completely agree with your quote in your signature. With your permission, I would like to lift it and if it is yours, I will give full credit.

Hi I am just writing for the first time, and I to just recently have done a scrap book on my mother. Only it took me a long time after her passing to do this. I found it very therapeutic, but I must admit I focused mainly on the things that made her happy, her home, my father, me (I am an only child) and my family. My only advice, go with your heart.
Margaret

You will never for a second regret doing this. I would caution you on one thing, though. Either use duplicates or have copies made of precious things where you only have an original. That way in the event of fire or flood (can you tell I'm from Iowa?) you'll have your precious originals safely stored somewhere. Be sure to scrap some of the fun memories as well as the memorials (see my "nose bows" gallery page). And if you happen to have a letter from him or even something with his signature, that makes a nice page as well.