When Less is More in Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a wonderful and creative means to be able to preserve memories and share them with other people. To make a scrapbook, one should be able to create a visual and tactile delight by showcasing photographs along with other “scraps” or bits and pieces of something that when put together tells a complete story of that particular slice of life depicted in the particular photo.

For instance, a photograph of a person hardly tells a story especially if the photo has no other particular merits or characteristics other than it containing a face. Creatively making a layout of it in a scrapbook allows you to tell the story behind the photograph. By adding other elements from different mediums, you can explain the photograph and the memory behind it without using something as blatant as actual statements.

The challenge of scrapbooking is in being able to utilize various elements to enhance a photograph while being limited to a finite area. Sometimes, in our zeal to tell a story, we tend to clutter and create a busy layout for our scrapbook. While there is no right or wrong way to layout a scrapbook, it may be important to note that sometimes, less is more.

Perhaps it is important to remember that when we do scrapbooking, the inclusion of “scraps” or other creative elements into a layout is done to enhance a photo and tell a story that the photograph simply cannot do on its own. Our layout of the elements we incorporate however should not take away from the photograph. Remember that they are there only to improve its capacity to convey a thought or memory and not steal the show entirely.

This means that although there are no set rules in scrapbooking, it may be a good guideline to maintain a clean and simple layout for scrapbook projects. Although it is easy to get lost in the project and with all the items and “scraps” commercially available for use in scrapbooking endeavors, we must always keep in mind that a clean and simple layout may be more manageable to create and maintain.

By a clean and simple scrapbooking layout, we don’t mean that you necessarily use less materials resulting in a Spartan like or anemic look to your scrapbook pages. A clean and simple scrapbooking layout simply means that you incorporate more synergy and symmetry in your layout instead of a haphazard collection of images, textures and colors.

The look and feel of a scrapbook is subjective to the viewer, which makes it even more important to maintain a clean and simple layout in scrapbooking. What looks like creativity to you may look too chaotic to another. This is why, being guided by trying to achieve a clean and simple scrapbooking layout is a good way to ensure that your scrapbook and memories can be easily shared and enjoyed by yourself along with your friends and loved ones. A clean and simple layout for scrapbooking cannot be achieved by curtailing creativity. Instead, more creativity should be exercised so that you can craft a better visual layout.

If however you are new to scrapbooking or you may not be sure about what clean and simple scrapbooking layouts mean, you can use ready made scrapbook layouts or use a software for scrapbooks. You don’t necessarily have to convert your scrapbooks into digital forms but you are sure to be able to get wonderful ideas from these computer layouts.

The Gift that Keeps Giving

Gift giving can be a very tedious process. It can be very difficult to figure out what type of present is appropriate and useful enough to endure and convey the entirety of your intent. For instance, when giving a gift for our children or our friends’ children, it can be very difficult to think of something that boasts both of novelty and usefulness.

Sometimes because of this, we either sell out and give the most generic item or end up not getting our loved one anything at all when faced with the challenge of gift giving.

Luckily, there is a gift item that is very personal, novel and ideal for babies-a scrapbook!

Scrapbooking is a novel way of maintaining lasting memories while creatively recounting the stories and the wealth of emotion behind each snapshot. Anyone can scrapbook. All one needs are the regular scrapbooking materials and one’s creativity will unleash itself. This way, a scrapbook makes the perfect gift it’s personal, handmade and relevant. The best thing about it is that when you give a scrapbook as a gift, the person who received it can continue the scrapbook project on his or her own.

For instance, you can give your friend who is a new mom a baby scrapbook. You can enlist the help of your other friends to collect snapshots dating as far back as the wedding up until the time she gives birth. You can make a chronicle that will make your friend happy every time she goes through the baby scrapbook because it tells a very wonderful and precious part of her life and she can recount and recall it every time she looks through the baby scrapbook.

What’s more is that other people will enjoy this particular baby scrapbooking project of yours as well. You see, a baby scrapbook is something to be enjoyed by the whole family. The parents of the child will surely appreciate the wonderful baby scrapbook as a gift and eventually, the grown up child will be delighted to see her own baby scrapbook. In fact, this baby scrapbook may spawn the family to continue to the storytelling and expand the scrapbook onto the different stages of one’s life.

While a personally made baby scrapbook is a wonderful present to a friend who has just given birth or for a godchild that can finally appreciate seeing his or her story told by a wonderful baby scrapbook, or even for an expecting mother, don’t forget that your own children will benefit from a baby scrapbooking endeavor.

Even if your child or children have long grown up, it is never too late to begin a baby scrapbooking project that you can give to them as a present. They are sure to enjoy the present of their very own baby scrapbook at whatever cognitive age they may be at. It would probably be an even better idea to give this present to your child when he or she is expecting to have his or her own child.

This way, the recipient of your baby scrapbooking project will be able to reminisce about his or her own infancy as they expect their own baby to be born. The story from the baby scrapbook then becomes even deeper and makes sort of a closed loop that will perhaps encourage them to embark on their own baby scrapbooking project for their own child. This is something that they will enjoy making, which, will be eventually enjoyed by their child when he or she grows up.

So You Think You Want to Scrapbook…

Learning to scrapbook will take some commitment and it is really like a piece of art. When you learn the techniques to scrapbook you will be able to enjoy, however, you will have to get to know a few basic tools, supplies, and learn some skills before you get started. You will want to create albums, but it will take. Projects are difficult, but it can be very rewarding when you end up with something like a family heirloom. It can be enjoyable to do and then the memories that you gather can be passed down to your grandchildren.

To get started, you first need pictures. Everyone has boxes filled with pictures, but you may notice that some are discolored or warped because of the poor storage. The world around us in our homes is full of acid and moisture, which breaks down the chemical balance, used to produce photographs and causes them to change appearance. With scrap booking, you will want to use acid free supplies so that you can preserve the pictures for many years and decades to come.

There are some basics tools that you will need to get before you start your voyage of scrap booking. Every good scrap booker needs a cutting tool. You will need to get sharp scissors and specialty scissors that will cut scalloped edges, but you may also want something that will cut a straight line and circles. You will also need some form of adhesive. Beginners may find that the easiest products to buy are photo mounts, which are tiny pre-cut pieces of tape, and glue dots, which are pressure-sensitive strong spots of glue to hold larger embellishments. Beyond a cutting tool and adhesive, you really don’t need any other tools to get started, but if you want to create fancier pages, many options are available including rubber stamps, paper crimpers, and punches. Start with a few smaller items and increase your inventory as you learn more and more scrapbooking skills.

You will also need a few basic supplies before you begin, the most important of which is the album itself. Make sure whatever you purchase is large enough to hold all the pictures you want to include; two to five pictures will fit on a standard 8 ½ x 11 page with cropping, with the most balanced layouts having three pictures. You can also choose from larger or smaller albums. Really, the only other supply that you will need to get your scrapbook album started is some paper. Most albums come with a white piece of paper in each sheet protector, but there are many colors and designs to choose from to help spice up your album. Other supplies that add interest to your pages include paper dolls, stickers, die cuts, and three-dimensional elements.

When it comes to the skills that you will need, you can find it to be creativity and you’ll learn how to do things that you see in a magazine or online and mimic it in your art. If you would like to again some skills the fast way, you will want to attend or join a scrapbook workshop or club. As for the workshops, you will be able to attend many workshops when you check out the craft schedule at the local stores. You can also go to a local craft store and ask them how to start the scrapbook and you’ll be able to learn and master the process of scrap booking.