How to scrapbook – a beginners guide

The art of scrapbooking is the preservation of photographic memories or images in the form of a memory book or handcrafted crafted embellished album. The great thing about scrapbooking is that there are no real definitive rules for creating a scrapbook.

Your album and pages can include a variety of keepsakes, such as locks of hair or theme park tickets from memorable days out- things perhaps that you may have ordinarily put in a draw and forgotten about. The creation of a scrapbook means that you can have at your finger-tips a creative archive of your personal memories, readily accessible in a book or album format. For many paper-crafters around the globe, scrapbooking is the ultimate way to have fun whilst producing keepsakes for future generations to enjoy.

As there is no right or wrong way to do it, anyone can have a go at creating their own personal scrapbook, which can then be passed onto family members as a precious memento, keepsake or memory book. It’s a great way to tell a story in a visual format; you can even include journal panels to include comments or sayings that reflect the images in the album. It is quite common for those who scrapbook to create special albums dedicated to their baby’s first year, first day at school, graduation and weddings. For crafters, this is the perfect way to preserve memories and share them with family members. Family scrapbooks that document the lives of grandchildren make perfect presents for grandparents.

In today’s digital age many more photographs are taken now than at any other time in history, but unfortunately they are rarely printed out, instead they are relegated to the computer hard drive or a memory stick somewhere. Occasionally, if we are organised we may even make a CD of our photos, but even then they are rarely viewed and that is perhaps one of the major disadvantages of living in a digital age. Creating a family scrapbook is a great way to display precious photographs and document our lives; and because we can creatively embellish our scrapbooks and add journal notes, we can include pictures that we may not ordinarily include in a regular family photo album.

For example, think about those funny pictures we all have where the camera has caught the subject at a funny angle or moment. Normally we wouldn’t include these photos in a photo album, but by creating a scrapbook you can tell the story behind the photo and recreate the moment.

To start off a scrapbook project you will need some simple tools:

• A paper trimmer
• Some card stock in the size of your choosing
• Common sizes are 12 x12 inch, 8 x 8 inch 6 x 6 inch, but you can create a page or album from the size of your choosing
• Scrapbooking or decorative papers
• Embellishments such as ribbon or buttons
• Some form of adhesive that is safe to use with photographs

 

An album to insert your pages into or a hole puncher with brads to create your own form of binding.

 

 

***It is important to note that materials that come into contact with your photographs should be acid and lignin free as this will help prevent deterioration of your scrapbook photos.

When starting out it is best to create a simple layout with just one picture and choose colours from that photo that you wish to co-ordinate with your chosen scrapbook paper. As you develop more confidence you can create more complex layouts and add embellishments which serve to add more creativity to your layout.

By Allison Galpin

For further tips on scrapbooking visit www.cardtoppers4crafts.com/morescrapbookingtips.php