There are as much variety of embellishments that you can put into a scrapbbook as your imagination allows! When we talk about embellishments we are talking about any "non photo" materials that make your scrapbook come alive in 3-D. Some items that are embellishments can be:
Stickers, beads, silk flowers, fibers, stamps, clips, shells, chipboards, buttons, charms, chains, coins, newspaper articles, greeting cards, show tickets, locks of hair, ribbons, pinwheels, washers, and braids, just to name a few.
When you insert embellishments, you should be very selective in positioning them as not overuse them and make it balance the overall design of the page.
In the next several posts, we will show some of the uses of embellishments.
People have a natural curiosity about the world, things and people. What better way to discover more about yourself though your family tree! Scrapbooks have become popular with people who want to know where they came from, their culture, and who they may be related to. Although it is a lot of work to research, it can be very rewarding when it is complete, especially when all the information is gathered in one place.
To get you started, of course, the internet is best place to do so. Here are a few links to go to:
- Ancestry (www.ancestry.com.au)
- Family Search (www.familysearch.org)
- Genealogy Database Network (www.genealogy.com)
- World Gen Web Project (www.worldgenweb.org)
- Surname Web (www.surnameweb.org)
- The National Archives and Records Administration (www.nara.gov)
When starting a new scrapbook on this topic, remember to make sure they are acid & lignin free, especially if you chose to use original photos in your work. There will be many older pictures that you are going to put into this binder along with any old news clippings or other items that have discolored with age.
Because you are dealing with past history of people that you may not have actual memorabilia from, it is wise to design illustrations, copy and paste of articles that are gotten from the internet or other sources. If you are lucky enough to trace one of your past relative ties, you may want to request some memorabilia from them.
Even if you did not get any memorabilia from anyone in the family tree, quite often you can recreate past news clippings of that period in which your past relative lived through. Of course, journaling is a must to explain who and where about your past relatives.
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Having scrapbbooks of your children, whether one or many can be of such sentimental value to the family. Children grow up so fast and every single minute, day, month and year has its classic moments that can be captured in photographs, and words.
Start your first scrapbook with your baby. You can start with journal entries during the pregnancy and moving up to the delivery day followed by pictures of the baby arriving at home. You can attach items like, a copy of the birth certificate, foot prints, locks of hair, baby shower invitations, baby greeting cards from family and friends, and pictures of the baby in the crib at home. Pictures of first steps, first words, and many other firsts are the most appropriate for a scrapbook.
Next, you can do a toddler scrapbook. In it, you can include the cute smiles, the way the child shows their one of a kind personality, and socializing with family and friends. During this period, quite often it is when the child is very active and getting into everything they can! You could not keep up with the child in what they are exploring. Take many photos!
The next phase is the elementary school scrapbook where the child experiences many parties, graduations, story telling, achievements and awards in school, and art projects to name a few. We would suggest your child get involved in actual making of this scrapbook since they are very creative and can often enhance it in a very unique way.
Lastly, there is a double value in making a scrapbook when your child attends high school and into college. It is a scrapbook that will serve as a great momento to share experiences and moments for both the parent and the child, and someday for the child’s offspring.
One would think that scrapbooking is only for "grown ups" but did you know that many kids make scrapbooks along with their mom and dad? Yes, this craft hobbie is truly "family friendly." When starting out, make sure you go over all the safety concerns at the table, such as; the proper use of scissors, keeping the table neat, making sure that ink and stamp pads…etc. stays in the containers. Kids love to get messy so make sure you only put out only the items that will be worked on for that moment.
Start with the pictures, one page and a binder first. It is so important to choose the pictures that will be needed with the child so they can concentrate on only a few pictures at once. Keep them focused on working on one page only. After the kids choose their pictures, get out some colored construction paper, some stickers, and other small embellishments and watch how creative they get in positioning everything! Of course, you will need to assist them with adhesives and gluing things down, but overall, you can certainly praise them for their achievement!
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Did you know that there are an unlimited amount of custom fonts that you can download and add to your scrapbook? Yes, there are many free shareware and font sites out there that you can use, from art deco to newspaper style, and many more. Here is a link from the site "about dot com" that has many decorative font styles for you to download for free.
For some ideas, you could print out a journal or phrase and print it out on brightly colored construction paper and cut it and paste it next to a photo or item. Some scrappers have been printing out individual letters and making headlines on pages or scrapbook binder covers.
Another great creative idea is to download and print out the "ding bat" style fonts. Ding bats fonts are smal clip art style shapes that you can use for just about any type of themed scrapbook. They come in many shapes, such as geometric shapes, animals, people, faces, holiday themes, and many more shapes. Of course, your computer can make your ding bat shapes into any point size depending on your need.
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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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