Keeping your departed loved one’s memory alive is an important way to honor them and help you and others grieve. Memorial scrapbooks and other remembrance ideas for deceased loved ones are helpful ways to keep their memory alive. Crafting scrapbooks and other remembrances can be therapeutic, but it can also be draining.
Translating someone’s entire life into a creative project can take a lot out of you. When you are grieving, sorting through photos of your loved one can mean processing intense and complex feelings. If you attempt to do it quickly before a funeral, it can be an even more challenging task. We have gathered some helpful tips to make creating your memorial scrapbook easier. We also list some other ideas for memorials to help you remember and reflect on the departed’s life.
How Do You Honor a Loved One Who Has Passed Away?
Finding the right way to honor your loved one is essential. There are many kinds of memorialization you can choose. As you search for the right one, think about what would best honor their memory.
Did they love nature? Planting a tree or purchasing a memorial bench is fitting someone fond of the outdoors. Did they love the arts? In that case, writing a poem or commissioning their portrait is a great choice. Were they a social butterfly? A scrapbook with photos of your loved one surrounded by friends and family as well as written memories from those closest to them should capture their friendly and bubbly disposition.
The perfect memorials for loved ones are informed by how they lived their lives. Of course, nothing will ever truly capture the essence of who they were, but it is still worth doing because it will help you and others process this considerable loss.
Why Scrapbooks Make Good Memorials for Loved Ones
Photos are for remembering the past. We take them because we want to remember a moment in time and look back on it later. In other words, they make us feel nostalgic. They also help us commemorate big events. We tend to take photos at social gatherings, holidays, and other meaningful events.
Whether you are interested in a memorial scrapbook for a funeral service or just for yourself, it is a great way to gather those photos of life’s big moments in a meaningful way. The right scrapbook can tell a story and help everyone who views it process their emotions. It is something to hold and thumb through as you process a life well-lived.
What is great about a scrapbook is that it can be in a digital format. There are many tools for putting together a digital memorial scrapbook with minimal hassle. Also, a digital scrapbook allows anyone touched by your loved one to reflect and remember, no matter where they are.
For mourners, viewing a memorial scrapbook can be healing, but making a scrapbook is even more therapeutic for whoever puts it together. As painful as it may be, gathering and reflecting on all the photos can force you to recognize the scope of the loss you have just suffered. Not everyone may be ready for such an endeavor, but you can ease the emotional burden if you collaborate with friends and family to help you put it together.
How Do You Make a Memorial Scrapbook?
If you are making a scrapbook for yourself, you can assemble it at your own pace. However, if you need to make it quickly for a funeral service, it is best to enlist others to help you. Making the scrapbook may be emotionally draining and time-consuming, and if you have to focus on other funeral arrangements, you will need help.
Pick an Organizational Theme
Telling a good story with photos starts with how you organize them. Randomly placing photos in an album can work, but your visual storytelling will be more meaningful if you organize the pictures around categories. You might organize it chronologically by life phases. Alternately, you can arrange it around milestones or by areas of their life (work, hobbies, family, friends). Picking an organizational theme is helpful for storytelling purposes and for dividing up the work. You can assign different sections to trusted friends or family members.
Assemble the Photos
The photos are the focus of your scrapbook, so you want to get dynamic, interesting photos of the departed that give a comprehensive view of their life. You probably have a box or digital file with photos that you will need to go through, preferably with help from others. Crowdsourcing photos is a great way to supplement whatever photos you already have. You can solicit this on social media and asks friends and family to check through their photos. You may be surprised at how many photos you get. Perhaps you will discover a photo that allows you to see your loved one in a new light.
Gather Other Remembrances
Your memorial scrapbook does not have to be limited to photos of your loved one. In fact, adding some other types of remembrances or memorabilia can make the scrapbook more interesting. You can include just about anything that you can adhere to the scrapbook page or scan in a digital format. Other items you can add to the scrapbook include:
- Letters they wrote
- Photos of favorite pets
- Drawings they made
- Event/Concert tickets
- Favorite paintings
- Memorabilia
- Newspaper clippings
Do not feel limited to this list. Anything that helps express the identity of the deceased is the perfect addition to your scrapbook.
Get the Materials
You want your memorial scrapbook to last a long time. Even if you are making it for the funeral, you will want to look at it again and again as you work through your grief. You probably want your scrapbook to last a long time. That means selecting quality materials that will last for years or decades. You will not want to look through a book that is frayed and tattered. For your scrapbook, you will need:
- A scrapbook album
- Scrapbook paper
- Sheet protectors (optional)
- Gluestick or scrapbook adhesive
Pick something that has an aesthetic that you enjoy but also feels like it reflects the taste of your lost loved one. You also want the materials to feel good in your hands. Additionally, if you are new to scrapbooking or are pressed for time, you might opt for a scrapbook paper collection with pre-designed layout patterns.
Choose a Design Layout
If you opt to design your own layout instead of selecting pre-designed paper, it is best to keep it simple. You might add a few labels with dates and locations to contextualize the photos. Whatever design you choose, the primary focus should be on the pictures and memorabilia. That is the best way to ensure that the focus is on your loved one’s personality.
Tips for Creating a Digital Scrapbook
A digital scrapbook is ideal for funerals. No one has to crowd around a book to see the photos. They can be projected onto a screen where everyone can get a good look at them. Plus, there’s no risk of damaging physical photos, and you can update the scrapbook over time.
Creating a digital scrapbook starts with finding the right tool. Common software programs like PowerPoint, Google Docs, and Microsoft Word can create a digital scrapbook. Other scrapbook creator tools like FlipHTML5 or Shutterfly can help you easily put together a digital scrapbook in a short amount of time, even if you have limited tech skills.
Other Remembrance Ideas for Deceased Loved Ones
If a scrapbook is not right for you or you are looking for an additional way to remember the deceased, we have a few ideas to help you find the perfect way to remember your loved one.
Commission a Portrait
Photos of those we have lost help us grieve, but nothing can capture their personality quite like a portrait. A painting is about more than conveying someone’s likeness. Paintings create mood or atmosphere, adding meaning to the painting and making it more than just a realistic depiction of their appearance. This is why, if done well, a painting can capture your loved one’s spirit like nothing else. It can have a vibrancy and liveliness that you may not find in photos.
Start by finding an artist whose work has an aesthetic that you enjoy. To get the best results, tell the artist what feelings, moods, and thoughts you want to have while viewing the painting and the sense of mood and atmosphere you want it to create. It’s essential to be clear about your expectations so that you get a painting you enjoy looking at whenever you want to reflect on your loss and remember the departed.
Planting a tree is a wonderful way to honor their memory if you are memorializing a nature lover. The tree is a visual reminder of their memory and love of the outdoors. You can commemorate the tree with a plaque that lets everyone know that the tree was planted in memoriam of your loved one. It can be reassuring to know that the tree provides shade and improves the environment, and you can visit it whenever you want to feel close to your departed friend or family member. Another alternative is to create a garden.
Purchase a Park Bench
Just like a tree, a park bench is a perfect way to remember and reflect on the loss of a nature lover. It can be reassuring to know that you have provided park visitors with a place to relax in the outdoors. You can visit the park and sit on the bench whenever you want to feel the presence of the deceased.
Write a Poem
A poem is a beautiful gesture that can help you and others grieve and remember your loved one. You can express your grief in a more abstract way, helping you make sense of the loss. You do not have to be a poet laureate to write a poem that honors the departed’s memory. Simply express your feelings. After all, you knew your loved one well, so there is no one better to write the poem.
Make a Blanket Out of Their Clothing
What to do with your loved one’s clothes is a decision that can be daunting. Some people keep the clothes, donate them, or give them away to friends and family. There’s another option: use the most meaningful clothing items to make a blanket. That way, you can hold and be comforted by the blanket whenever you miss your loved one. The clothing items can inspire you to reflect on all the good times you shared.
You do not have to limit yourself to a blanket. You can make pillows, teddy bears, cloth-covered frames, and more with clothing, so you have lots of options. Memory quilts are also a popular choice.
Make a Book with Their Life Story
A book offers a more permanent way to tell the story of your loved one’s life. If you have already made a scrapbook, you have a kind of “first draft” to work from. It is an opportunity to take your time and focus on more comprehensive storytelling. You can include written memories from friends and family members that help complement the photos you have selected, and the written memories combined with images can help tell a more complete, detailed story. If you want to share the book with other people who loved the departed, you can order multiple copies.
At The Gardens of Boca Raton, we know that there are many ways to memorialize a loved one. We are experienced with finding customized ways to convey the unique personality and life experiences of those who have passed. Our funeral directors understand the importance of coping with loss. We work with you to help create a memorial service that best memorializes them. We are experienced with assisting mourners in finding the best ways to translate the rich life of the departed into a meaningful service, including memorialization in the form of scrapbooks and other remembrances. We want to help you create the service that best honors a life lived to the fullest.
