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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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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We are proud to present our first scrapbook submission from an avid reader of our scrapbook classroom blog. June from Arizona has two wonderful grandchildren and has dedicated her scrapbook for them. We have a great scrapbook page submitted which features the children during the Christmas holidays.
As you can see, these pages are very effective at conveying the mood and the cuteness of the holiday! There is great use of space and color. Care was made to glue down the photo so that there were no "lumps" so that the picture set on the "frame" would be perfectly flat. The picture was cropped perfectly and the "journal" caption was a great touch!
Feel free to submit your favorite scrapbook page and we will gladly post them here!
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One of most often questions we get asked, is the journaling part of a scrapbook. For those newbies to scrapbooking, journaling is the "story" we tell along with the pictures or momentos on each scrapbook page.
As we all know, pictures tell a "thousand words," but sometimes, we have to help the casual reader with a text caption, just what the scrapbook page or scrapbook is all about! There are several ways to come up with great text content for your scrapbook.
First thing you can do is act as a TV news reporter. When looking at the picture you are about to mount in a page, pretend that you are interviewing the person whose picture it is and ask what happened here or where was the picture taken at. What was the reason for the people or place to be on that picture? You can go on to "ask" what kind of fun did you have? What adventure did you go through at that place? You get the idea.
Another great idea is to look at the picture and write a poem about it. You do not have to be a Robert Frost or Ernest Hemmingway, but simply, be yourself! The words do not have to ryhme, or even make sense! Just some short prose can liven up the picture at hand.
One last idea is to write a "letter" as if you were sending this scrapbook page to someone in an envelope. Remember at Christmastime when you received "picture" postcards in the mail? It would be on photo paper describing what plans they would have at Christmas, or a paper letter enclosed in an envelope with a photographed attached and the letter would be a brief description of what the family has been up to and what they intend on doing during the holidays.
So, when choosing each picture to add to the scrapbook, make sure you have a good idea of what you want to say. Remember, there is no rule that you have to comment on each and every scrapbook page, only enough to keep a "flow" going throughout the book.
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Next to making sure the photos you choose for your scrapbook will enhance the whole book, matting certainly comes in a solid second in the most important aspect of scrapbook design.
Once you have lined up all the pictures in your scrapbook theme, you should concern yourself with the type of matting that will be used to surround your pictures. Matting for years was used in painting, especially oil paintings, to fashionably "frame" the picture to give it more added value to the viewer. Some of the mattes were very ornate, others were simple and understated. Some blended in so well with the painting, that you didn’t even notice the matte was even there!
A good rule of thumb for matting your photos is to make sure the color of the matte, complements the picture and not over-powers it. In other words, say you are displaying pictures of a lake or body of water, a nice matte color could be a nice neutral blue color. Don’t forget to pay attention to scrapbook mattes that have a pattern in them. The pattern should complement the pictures as well. Use your good judgement on the color and pattern of your matte.
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Glue stick: Glue sticks are a cheap and easy way adhesive to use with photos, patterned paper, and colored cardstock. However, they can be somewhat messy. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up with unsightly adhesive smudges on your layout.
Mounting squares: Mounting squares are a great adhesive to use on your photos, because they leave none of the messy residue associated with glue sticks.
Photo corners: Often used in heritage albums, photo corners are a good way to ensure that you’ll be able to remove photos from your scrapbook at a later date if necessary.
Liquid glue: Since it provides a strong and permanent bond, liquid glue is a good general purpose adhesive for scrapbooking. It works on photos, paper, and most lightweight embellishments, although it can take often take awhile to dry completely.
Glue dots: Glue dots are available in a variety of sizes, making them a smart choice for almost any type of dimensional scrapbook embellishment. If you want to use them with vellum, however, make sure you read the label carefully. Only certain types of glue dots are made to work with this transparent material.
Foam adhesive: If you’re interested in making customized paper piecing scrapbook embellishments, foam adhesive squares are an easy way to add dimension to your designs.
Double sided tape: Special double sided tapes designed for scrapbooking, such as Wacky Tac, are great for adhering beads, glitter, and other fine embellishments to your pages.
When buying adhesives, make sure they are acid free and archival safe. You would not want an adhesive that turns color, gets brittle or loses its "stickiness" with age.
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