We have added a video here that talks about simple techniques to enhance a photo page within a scrapbook. Very interesting on how you can make a photo glimmer, and also give it a 3-D look. Enjoy.
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This is a very cool scrapbook video I happen to catch while “surfing” the internet the other day. I wanted to share it with you scrappers! I love the alternative rock song that goes along with it. Never mind that there is no narration for this short scrapbooking ditty. This is for pure enjoyment!
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It the USA, it is customary about this time of year where we have literally back to back holidays from October through December.
We start with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and then New Years. It seems that time will literally stand still as we prepare from one holiday to the next!
For us scrapbookers, it is also a busy time. We may have to buy 4 scrapbook binders and work on them all at the same time!
In either case, make sure you go to the art store or scrapbook supply store early to select your embellishments. Many other people are going to be buying up the holiday decorative accessories in advance to beat the rush at the stores and also to be well prepared to use these items in their scrapbooks!
In the next posts in our scrapbook blog, we will be going over the best tips for getting your scrapbooks done fast! You don’t want to be left behind or even procrastinate on getting these out! Good luck.
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One of the most popular embellishments that is used in scrapbooks is floral shapes, especially in 3-D, you know, the ones that appears to "pop up" off the page. There are many places you can get these pre-cut at your neighborhood scrapbook stor
e or art store. Or, you can use a die cut machine with a floral template attached to it. There is no limit to the size and color you can apply to the shapes.
Often, floral scrapbooks are made for females so this flower shape will be perfect for them! It is fun to make repeated floral shapes. There are so many ways to display them. They could be piled on top of each other and make a very raised effect. You could make one flat floral layer and fill the page to make a textured page. You could also overlap the flowers to make a virtual "flower bed!"
So when making a floral scrapbook page, go wild and make up as many different patterns as you can!
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Scrapbooking is catching on around the world, but no where is it most popular right now as with the seniors. Since they have much more time to spend with this project versus their children or younger counterparts, this is a natural hobbie for them!
To start out, seniors have so much life experience that it is no problem trying to find topics of interest or the people in their lives that they can dedicate a scrapbook too.
The only thing that may be a challenge is the budget. We went over that with an earlier post regarding scrapbooking on a budget. There are plenty of knick knacks around the house and of course tons of pictures in boxes and and everywhere at relatives houses and such. The first thing a senior should do is pick an obvious topic for the scrapbook. Do you know what we are thinking at the top of the list?? Grandkids!!
There is no end to how many pictures there have been taken with the grandkids, especially from the time of birth at the hospital. What senior does not have pictures of the grand children from at least their first several birthdays. So, gather the pictures first. Next, comes the theme of the scrapbook. It could be the "growing years" or the "next astronaut." or the "future rock star." If these young ones show any aptitude for any musical talents or dancing, or "brains" answering each city name in Africa, the themes are endless.
Once set on a theme, you should get embellishments and other scraps to complement the theme. Going to a scrapbook store near you could give you so many more ideas of the page design, embellishments, and other material items. I would suggest not to plan for a very large scrapbook because it could get so bulky that it will be uncomfortable to lug it around.
If a senior has never done a scrapbook before, it is wise to buy a beginning book in scrapbooking. Make sure it has a lot of pictures. The less words the better! We want the seniors to have fun while learning.
Along with the advances in technology, comes digital scrapbooking. This is an online version of your "table top" way of doing things. Consider the the savings of not having to buy expensive binders, specialty paper, bulky and often times hard to find embellishments, and so on. You can go to a website like www.smilebox.com and sign up for an account and simply upload your own digital photos into their custom made themed pages and voila! An instant virtual scrapbook that you can email to anyone in the world.
Now, although there are advantages to this because you dealing with just a computer interface to make all your pages, there is a small piece of real sentimental feeling that is missing when you sit down at your kitchen table and, with the help of your kids or relatives, get "down and dirty" on real artifacts to paste into a real binder. Call me sentimental, but you can never replace a real binder and scrapbook that you can hold in your hands versus something that you can email and save to disk!
Some computerized scrapbooks now can add video and audio to parts of the digital pages which is a nice touch. Whichever way you want to go, make sure you keep the same intensity of creativity when making layouts. Keep your themes consistent and most of all, make sure the person or people you are dedicating the scrapbook gets a good vibe and can feel the emotion that went into making the scrapbook! You cannot hide the care and love that went into any scrapbook! Scrapbooks are truly a labor of love!!
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We have covered just about every holiday during the calendar year. As you can see, there are endless ways to start a scrapbook. There is another scrapbook site that has a boatload of scrapbook pages submitted from the readers there. In this post, we will be featuring the site, "Scrapbookingwith love.com"
You must visit that link at http://www.scrapbookingwithlove.com/scrapbookidea.asp
If you are at wits end trying to figure out what theme your next scrapbook will be about, check through all the pictures of different scrapbook pages there. Click on the thumbnail pictures and you will see a large picture of one page of each scrapbook. I guarantee, that after checking out this site, you will never run out of ideas!
This site is owned by a family who operates a scrapbook store in Tampa Florida, USA.
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Here’s a new concept. Why not make a storybook scrapbook?? What is that? Scrapbooker and writer/photographer, Denise Gormish, has been writing articles for scrapbook sites and enjoys being a full time photograper. Her love for scrapbooking along with photography resulted in a merge between scrappin’ and telling stories with photographs. Hence the "storybook album." Here is how it is laid out.
It starts out with journaling. Journaling on a layout provides information and details about the event or person in the layout. It reveals a feeling for an event or person that is featured on that page. Journaling can be limited to one page or extensively cover an entire mini-album.
Story-oriented journaling can be limited to one page, but it can also cover an entire album. A storybook album is an entire album centered around one event told in a story format.
Choose a story. Any good book starts with an idea. A good story would involve some conflict and some final resolution to the conflict. The more conflict, the better the story. Consider situations in your life that had to be overcome or an event that was filled with conflict. When writing my storybook "The Misadventure," I remembered a time when we were hiking and a few unusual things happened including getting lost on the trail. These conflicts could create tension and a good resolution for my story.
Write the story. A storybook is different from other journaling in the way the story is told and in the words it uses. Often a story is told from the third person point of view, and often through the eyes of the main character. Like a fictional book, it will depend on a central character and the actions and thoughts of that character. Another similarity to fiction is the use of words. Active description and details are used. Not everything is necessarily really as it happened. While the event may be real, the dialogue may be invented or something may be described differently than reality. A storybook mixes the real with a bit of fiction to make a story. It could be entirely fictional as well.
Merge the story and illustrations or pictures. Now it’s time to get the story and the illustrations or photographs together. Just like any other scrapbook page, you assemble them in your favorite scrapbook style.
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It seems that time waits for no scrapper! Once you get going on a scrapbook for a particular holiday, another one is soon to follow! Time management is an important factor here. I know how long some scrapbook projects can take because you may be looking at a load of pictures before choosing the right ones to go into the binder. Then, it can take a while to think of the embellishments and journaling to add to it, let alone what kind of binder you are going to put everything in!
With Easter, you think of the religious connotation it has and it is not hard to shop for embellishments. It is fun too, because we blend in the religious significance with the American tradition of the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs, and so on! The key is to combine both so that neither "over powers" the other.
Now is the time to get out to your local crafts store, your local grocery store, and your local stationary store. Between all three of these places, you have all your embellishments covered. Be careful to shop smartly. Quite often, some products you can get are cheaper at any of the other stores mentioned here. If you saved some Easter celebration pictures from last year, I suggest you grab some of those to insert in your scrapbook. If you are waiting for some fresh Easter celebration pictures, then wait until the holiday comes and goes. Then you can sort out which of the pictures for this year you can put in the scrapbook. Now is the time to think of the journaling entries you want to include as well. This scrapbook does not have to be really thick. Remember to keep your pictures in air tight bags so air does not get to it.
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The perfect scrapbook to do for a family is a memoir scrapbook for grand-parents. What is great about this topic is that there no shortage of pictures. Grand parents have so much rich history to tell with their pictures from when they were children to their teens and adolescents and finally young adults. They went through the war time, saw many of the modern appliances develop, the invention of the automobile, the first man on the moon, and so on. It is literally a "time machine" of memories!
Care must be given to the older pictures which may have faded over time. You want to get those old pictures behind acid free picture protectors as soon as possible. You may even find it a pleasant experience when interviewing your grand parent on what happened to them during each particular picture. They may even go off on a tangent and tell you about other life awakening stories that you can include in the journaling part of the scrapbook.
For embellishments you may find some heirloom objects that they are willing to part with so you can inlcude them directly into a scrapbook page. Old love letters, badges, certificates, even baby shoes! Somehow, you can find a way to attach them to the scrapbook.
Make sure, when doing the journaling, that you are putting everything chronological order. The most compelling memoirs are the one’s that can have consistency from the beginning of one’s life to the present.
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