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October 7, 2009

Scrapbooking – Themes

Filed under: Scrapbooking — Tags: , , , , , , , , — @ 1:16 am

There are  a number of ways you can approach scrapbooking themes just to mix things up a little. You have your standard approach to scrapbook pages in your family album. You can create personal scrapbooks that journal your life, a trip, a period in your life such as baby years, teen years,  school or sports or a scrapbook of birthdays adding a page each year.

Themes like these can take a bit of work and some do require forethought and planning but what a wonderful gift of memories they create. Done correctly they will be a treasured memento or heirloom for generations to come.

The great thing is you don’t have to limit yourself to scrapbooking only in books. Keepsake boxes are great for baby memories they can be made from a simple wooden pencil holder, personalised and used to hold a few treasured trinkets.

A nice idea I heard once is to get a large suitable jar, box or container and decorate it with coloured paper, ribbons, photos or whatever suits. The idea is to fill it with positive messages or loving notes to yourself or family, and read one each day. Add photos of family members or special times.

Sometimes we can lose some of our creative inspiration for new ideas and ways to present all of our much loved photos but don’t worry when in doubt keep it simple, remember your theme and make a start.

Have a great day :)

October 6, 2009

Scrapbooking – Birthday Gift .2

Filed under: Scrapbooking — Tags: , , , , , , , — @ 12:19 am

Well my sister’s birthday came and went and did I finish her scrapbook gift? No!

So what now? Well I’m not giving up, life does get in the way sometimes doesn’t it!

Still, let’s carry on. Moving on from baby to toddler we’ve only been able to find a couple of photo’s so the layout needs to display these as the focus of the design. So if you just want to use or only have one or two photos you’ll want to show them off  effectively. One thing you can try if you have a picture that shows more than a head shot, use the whole picture and then zoom in or crop  one or two parts of it and print those up as well. Add them to the page in a small frame and add a decoration or descriptive word or two.

Your scrapbooking can also take the form of a journal adding stories or significant facts or events. This is great to do when a baby is born if it can be carried on through the years to make a great momento on an 18th or 21st. One page per year for this kind of thing is enough. Some events to consider apart from the obvious birthday of course are christenings, first day at school, toddler, teen, best friend, hobbies or anything else you can think of. Do give it some thought though and have a guiding plan.

Well I’m going to carry on using some childhood pics, I’ll be back and let you know how it went.

Keep Scrapping :)

September 13, 2009

Scrapbooking – The Birthday Party

Filed under: Scrapbooking — Tags: , , , , , — @ 5:52 am

What a great theme for a birthday party.

My daughter went to a friends 11th birthday party today with a scrapbooking theme. They all had a fantastic time, there was glue and glitter everywhere but there were some fantastic results.

The girls where all given a scrapbooking kit that consisted of a variety of twelve page mini scrapbooks (152mm x 152mm/6 ins x 6ins), printed page spreads, 72 alphabet stickers, 4 tags, 4 mini frames, 4 large frames and a variety of embellishments. The hostess added a few more things onto the table like glitter, ribbons, stickers  and stamps.

The kids all brought a bunch of their own photos some themed, others not but there was no shortage of creativity. The kits at this party were bought but making your own would work just as well, use a 6 in x 8 in gift bag to hold all the goodies.

These little kits are great for making keepsakes also and the possibilities for those are endless. Babies First Year, Favourite Things, People I Love, Things We Love to Do are a few ideas to get started with. Make some notes that help to explain the pictures and what they mean to you. Anyone who has lost someone close, will understand when I say, if you had something like this as a memory it would be very special.

Go and be creative :)

September 12, 2009

Scrapbooking – The Teen Years

Filed under: Scrapbooking — Tags: , , , , , — @ 7:33 am

Progressing throught the years we are now up to the  awesome teens. Again you don’t need a lot of crowded photos you want to try and capture a little bit about who they are. A single photo can work beautifully especially in the right setting.

Depending on the effect you want and  the era of the teenager you might want to use black and white or sepia photography. Old photos can be scanned onto your computer and touched up using a photo shopping program. If you scan on high resolution you can modify the image by cropping, removing unwanted backgrounds or foregrounds. Using a clone stamp tool you can remove marks or blemishes.

Decide on your theme or setting that has a connection to the teenager, for example a memory page. What were/are they into at the time, what were/are their hobbies or past times?   Choose a colour scheme or style to match the personality look around for ideas in magazines and ask yourself what your objective is with this stage. Use words to describe the person, their personality or their interests, ask friends or family for help.

So everyone knows a scrapbook is more than a photo album, it can also be more than a photo album with decorations, it can be a window to who we are, a cherished gift to ourselves and the people we love.

Enjoy :)

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September 11, 2009

Scrapbooking – School Days

Filed under: Scrapbooking — @ 7:30 am

If the baby and early childhood pages are all in place your next pages could be school days. Now remember this book is a jouney through time so we’re just looking for enough photos for two pages so depending on your layout that could be any number from two to twelve as an example.

Working on a school theme obviously will involve some numbers and letters and maybe some pencils and books. School themed scrapbooking stickers can be bought from most craft supply stores or you can create your own using cut outs from magazines.

I have used a variety of papers to decorate this part of the scrapbook and cut out various shaped squares to stick onto a black backing paper. The squares are of various sizes, colours and textures. They are going to hold photos, some numbers and letters or whatever stickers you have chosen. Words are a good idea as are labels of maybe the year and/or school name.

Photo mounts can be used to place the photos  and any decorations that need gluing should use an acid free glue and a toothpick. Now this is just one idea, you could try using canvas or fabrics for printing names or titles, they look great. You can stick with an age progression and move onto teenage years next or you could decide on aspects of personality, likes, loves or just any quirky thing to add some interest to your scrapbook gift.

September 9, 2009

Scrapbooking – Birthday Gift

Filed under: Scrapbooking — Tags: , , , , , , , , — @ 7:11 am

Last year I thought it would be great to give my sister a scrapbook of her journey through life as a birthday present. Well time got away from me and before I knew it her birthday came but her present was far from finished. Instead she was given one of those digital photo frames and it even played music as it scrolled through the family photos. I couldn’t help but wonder was scrapbooking becoming obsolete, how could I compete with technology.

Of course I couldn’t have been more wrong scrapbooking is just as popular as ever. The hands on creativity and very personal touch will keep it popular for many years to come. So I’m back on track, a year later than planned but, ready to go again.

My plan is to start at the beginning of her life with a couple of baby photos, moving through childhood onto teenage years, her wedding and children. I want to leave room for her to add her own touches if she wants to, as well as some pages at the back so she can continue with it in the years to come.

So my first page begins in her baby years, she was born in the late 60′s so I might look for a theme that would be from that time, something retro for example or rock and roll. A card with her name stamped and maybe her date of birth, labels that describe her at that time in her life and some decoration like bows, lace or ribbons.

Now I’m going to go and finally get going, I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Days :)

July 19, 2009

Scrapbooking Basics

Filed under: Scrapbooking,Uncategorized — @ 4:02 am

Just like anything in life to be successful at scrapbooking, to make beautiful pages of memories, the key is to have a plan. First come up with a scheme that will flow through your book. Once you have a plan you can follow it or modify it to suit your pictures, theme and embellishments.  This gives you  direction, saves you time and may even save you money by not buying items that catch your eye but that you maybe don’t need.

Colour is often the key that pulls everything together and makes for a very catching design. Coordinating colours is easier if you have a colour wheel  to refer to. Matching colours in shade, intensity and tone will help to create a mood for your page or album. Intense colours such as yellow, bright red, bright pink, and bright green are overpowering and best used sparingly.

A contrasting colour to your theme will draw your eye this can be used to highlight a photo, title or embellishment. Warm colours are good for a summery feel, on focal points and action styled themes. Cool colours are good for backgrounds, wintery scenes, black and white photos and they create a peaceful mood.

Whatever scheme, theme or colours you choose use them to draw attention to the main focus of each of your layouts. Keep in mind, though, that scrapbooking is an enjoyable activity so don’t get caught up in detail, just have a go, it can involve just you or it can become a family affair. They make great gifts and it’s a much better way to keep your photos than in a drawer or in a file on your computer.

Have Fun:)

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