Wanderlust World Wanderlust World There are many backgrounds that can be used for immigration theme scrapbooks. Use paper backgrounds with images and themes from the country being left and from the United States. For patriotic, American-theme papers, look in the Fourth of July sections of scrapbooking stores or catalogs. Travel backgrounds also will serve you well. Look for background images of transportation, travel tickets, luggage, postcards and individual U.S. state themes. Discount, craft, hobby and scrapbooking stores carry wide selections of scrapbook papers.
Scan and print all completed documents from the governments of both countries involved. These documents can be resized on the computer. Use the documents in miniature, or increase the size and use the documents as background paper in the scrapbook layout. One idea is to scan the envelope the documents came in as well as the document. Size the envelope front and document to about the size of an index card and print. Use a solid color background paper for the scrapbook layout, and adhere the "envelope" (add a triangle to make it look like the envelope flap is open) slightly over the document on the page. Make color scans of your visas and passports, and print miniature versions for three-dimensional layouts that allow you to open the little booklets. Scan the passport stamps from various countries, and print the stamps out on adhesive labels to use as page stickers.
In making an immigration scrapbook, it is important to scrap the country of origin in addition to the new country. Use stickers or images of the former country's flag and other cultural images and colors. For example, a person coming from Mexico can use the red, white and green of the Mexican flag as a color theme for page layouts reflecting on the country of origin. Postcards, travel brochures, airplane tickets, pamphlets, hotel brochures, stationary and road maps can be incorporated into page layouts around or beneath photographs. A photo of the person leaving one country at the airport and arriving at the new country's airport can form a page layout.
Images of the Statue of Liberty, the American flag, the U.S. seal, the text for the Pledge of Allegiance, the actual miniature fabric flag presented at your citizenship ceremony and photos can make up page layouts for a citizenship section of an immigration scrapbook. Interview the person or family, and use their words describing their emotions and thoughts about becoming a citizen of this new country in the journal portion of the scrapbook. Photographs and thoughts about the former country and flag compared with the photographs and thoughts of the new country and flag can form" before and after" page layouts.