After a few years, the acid will damage photos in magnetic albums, and if you try to remove the pictures, you might find they re stuck to the page. Your pictures are better off in a shoe box than in a magnetic album, Ingram said. For preserving newspaper clippings, graduation programs or other paper mementos, a spray is available that neutralizes acid and stops yellowing. Use clear pockets made of Mylar for storing documents or other items, Ingram said. They come in various sizes and can be placed in a binder or adhered to a page.
Many people take a creative approach to scrapbooks, using specially decorated paper as a background.
They cut their photos into shapes and add stickers or stamps to the page. But if you re not so artistically inclined, you can use ready-made templates or plain paper. If you don t want to make a book right now, you can store pictures and information in a box, Ingram said. Just make sure everything in the box is acid-free. We tend to forget the details as time goes on, Ingram said.