Another great technique for scrapbookers is paper layering. It may sound new to you, but it has been used, believe it or not by you in the past and you don’t even know you are doing it! It simply is a technique where you lay a foundation paper of color and design and then overlay it with a picture, a journal, or a 3-D piece. Sometimes paper layering can save you time from formally matting a picture or an illustration you want to add to a page.
For some ideas, try to alternate contrasting paper colors for that "eye jarring" effect. Sky’s the limit in what kind of papers and colors you can combine or layer together with. I have found that making different geometric shapes of different colors and pasting them on top of each other in various patterns make very interesting displays. Try angles, circles, squares, and strips. They all work well together.
We are now going to go over another creative way to decorate a scrapbook page. This technique goes with any theme you may be working on now. Many of you may be already using this method for variety in your scrapbook look. This technique is called "stamping." It is simply a matter of using either store bought rubber stamps with interesting designs on them or home made stamps. Either way, you would either use a stamp pad or colored markers to transfer ink on them and strategically stamp the scrapbook page with them.
This brings me back to when I was a child and made stamps made of uncooked potato spuds. Some of you may remember that! For those of you that do not know about how potato stamps were made, you would take a raw potato and slice it in half. You would take one of the slices and carve an image or pattern in the face of the potato, the starchy side, and then dip it into a stamp pad or tempura paint tray and then press it on a colored piece of construction paper. We would repeat this process until we totally covered the page. It was a beautiful sight!
Nowdays, you can find many different stamp patterns at craft stores, import stores, book stores, even in office supply stores.
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It seems, after doing an informal "poll," that the location where people scrap are many, and quite often unique.
Of course, most scrappers use the trusty dining room table for laying out their pictures, momentos, materials and supplies. Still others are using the living room table. Many have a "corner" of a bedroom or guest room to make their creations. Then there are the unconventional places, such as the bedroom floor, or sitting on the back porch and laying things on their lap! Some scrappers swear that they have to have the radio on with music or even talk shows to get inspired to do their masterpiece. There was another scrapper that refused to work on their scrapbook at home, they have to bring all their materials to someone else’s home or even the library.
Wherever you are comfortable with scrapping, make sure you are organized and are focused on your theme and what materials you are going to use. The place to scrap is as different as the people’s personalities that will make scrapbooks!
Let us know where your favorite place to scrap….
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Here is a letter from a beginning scrapper in Arizona. Please read it and enjoy.
Scrapbooking is a very fun new hobby of mine. I found it a way of expressing myself through pictures that I shot and how I lay it out in the scrap book binder. At first, I felt intimidated and frustrated because I did not know where to start when planning and making one.
I found that it was very helpful in spreading out the pictures. Since I had pictures from many events, such as holidays, family get togethers, and vacation trips, I found it important to sort the pictures first. It is also helpful to date the backs of the pictures to keep the time sequence between them.
As for the work space, my favorite place is the kitchen table. Here is the list of supplies I used when starting a scrapbook.
- Photo album or scrapbook binder
- transparent ruler
- scissors
- paper cutter
- adhesives
- card stock
- colored paper
- die cuts
- decorative edge scissors
Although I feel myself as a beginning scrapbooker, I see my skills at this becoming more refined as time goes by and will enjoy it even more. To all you beginning scrappers out there, get out and take some pictures, buy some supplies and get started!
J. from Arizona
Hello all! I hope you are having a wonderful summer season so far. Thoughts come to mind on vacation scrapbooks. How interesting we would bring up such an idea! Yes, this would be a perfect time to buy your binder and get your camera ready for the summer vacation scrapbook.
Can you see you and your family at the beach? How about Disneyland? The beautiful scenic drive in a rental car? Maybe a picture of the rustic town you are staying at? Well, anything that rekindles a wonderful time in a place far away is a great excuse to start up another scrapbook!
When going on your summer vacation and preparing your scrapbook for this trip, here is a little checklist to be mindful of:
- Make sure you have enough film for your camera, or enough memory space in your memory stick.
- Bring a scratch pad tor remind you where you’ve been so you can make some journaling entries
- Think of how you are going to "theme" the binder cover based on where you visited for you vacation
- Don’t forget to save any momentos during you trip so you can glue them in your scrapbook
- Think of maybe making more than one scrapbook if you choose to share one with your friend or family member
Make it a point to start on your scrapbook immediately when you come home from your trip so your thoughts stay fresh in your mind.
If you have any summer scrapbook idea you might have, please feel free to submit them in comments here!
Have a great summer vacation…
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It happens to the best of us…."scrapbook mind block!" You pulled out all the photos, materials, tools, and you had the main theme in mind, and…..you stop dead in your tracks because you either forgot what you were going to layout or plan or mount in your scrapbook binder. It can happen in any hobbie or even at the workplace.
First things, first….walk away from the work table all together. You need to collect your thoughts. Grab yourself a nice cold ice tea and sip for a while. When you get your frame of mind back, return to the work table and take out a scratch pad and pen. List the theme, layout your photos, layout your materials, and make an "informal" table of contents in your scrapbook. Take the photos and lay them out in page order, then spread the materials next to each photo and lastly, compose the journaling you would add to which pages. This process is similar to "story boarding" that world famous film producers and directors would utilize. Simply put, you get a clearer "view" of everything when you lay it out and in the order you want. This also gives you time to reposition things. Take down, in your scratch pad, the order of your photos and materials in case you have to pack things up again to work on it later.
So, next time you get scrapbookers "block," step away for a moment!
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Did you know that there is no set rule that you have to use photographs in your scrapbooks? Most beginners think that the main focus is on photographs since this is all about capturing the memories of something. Well, do you remember the "autograph" books that you signed when you were in high school? Do you remember making "pop up" books in elementary school? There are literally so many ways that you can make a complete scrapbook without a single picture in it.
Just think of the possibilities…you could use ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, jewelry, hair berettes, stickers, buttons, stamps, beads, construction paper, small toys, scanned diagrams, paper clips, ribbons, origami, etc. the list just goes on and on! You could combine many pages of journaling to describe what each item represents in an event or refer to someplace or someone. Actually, making a scrapbook is only limited to your imagination!
You will find that visiting your local art store will yield many ideas for the "non photo" scrapbook. Why don’t you try making one now…
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Have you enjoyed Scrapbook Classroom so far? Feel free to post your comments, both good and bad. We are in the developing stages of bringing you some excited content related to the scrapbook field. We have taken our mission seriously in providing you with interesting things to attract both the beginner and seasoned pro.
Coming soon this summer, we will be holding a scrapbook idea contest in which we will be offering a $50 gift certificate to giftcertificates.com Contest date and rules will be posted near the end of June, so stay tuned.
We are still taking in scrapbook page submissions of your creations. We would like to hear from you on the best ideas in making your scrapbooks.
In our next post, we will touch on a fairly new type of scrapbook….the digital scrapbook.
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Another one of our visitors has submitted a page from her scrapbook of when she took a trip to Mexico. Notice the fantastic pictures she took of the sunset! It sure brings the feeling of tranquility and a yearning to be there right now!
Notice the contrasting colors on the photo matts, a great touch. She also made a great journal describing the joy of seeing the unfogettable sunset. She made good use of the palm tree cut outs and the little 3-D flowers holding the palm tree illustration on the page. The blue page color gives the feel of the water.
Keep your scrapbook submissions coming!
Since the month of June is just around the corner, thoughts are turned to the couples in love who are making a "June" wedding. This is a good time to plan for a wedding themed scrapbook. Although you can never plan too early for your next scrapbook, the wedding scrapbook has a special place in our memories. This is a once in a lifetime event that has a tremendous impact on the bride and groom as well as both future in-laws, to say the least. What better way to memorialize the event with a scrapbook, possibily making two of them!
When you take a look at all the planning that goes into the wedding, what comes to mind is the various rituals and venues that will be captured with photographs. There is the bachelor and bachelorette parties, the trips to the stores and tux rental places, the trips to the caterer or hotel to make sure all is well there, the rehearsal party, the actual wedding, the reception, and so on. It would appear that your camera is going to get a good workout, so make sure you plan for each page in your scrapbook accordingly.
Make sure you spend enough on a nice "designer" type of scrapbook binder because many of the photos will be taken by a professional and you want the quality of the binder to be consistent with the quality of the pages within and the whole look. In the weeks to come, we will be going over reviews of the best places to shop for all your materials and supplies regarding your next scrapbooking project.
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