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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 28, 2009

Let’s Keep Drawing

Filed under: drawing — Tags: , , , , , , , — @ 7:31 am

If you want to draw, at some point you will probably need to draw a face some  people think they are too difficult and just stay away from them altogether.

Faces can be broken down into basisc shapes and lines just the same as all other types of drawing. Faces have a lot of changing expressions that give an indication of mood this makes them interesting to draw.

Before you are ready to draw spend some time examining the basic shapes and the lines that make up a face. Consider how they differ from person to person and from baby to child to adult.

Practice making expressions in front of the mirror, look for changes in the lines on your face especially around your eyes, mouth and forehead. Most faces are oval in nature similar to an egg round at the top and narrower at the bottom.

Just for fun and before you get to serious though do some basic practice drawings to get an idea of how the lines in different facial expressions lie.

  1. Draw 4 circles all the same size.
  2. Use the ‘c’ shape to make noses and mouths all the same size.
  3. Use the ‘Þ’ shape and a dot in the centre to make the eye and move them around to create different facial expressions.

Remember that all you are doing for now, is looking for simple overall shapes and lines and how they fit together. At this stage you are not concerned with detail that can come later.

Have Fun :)

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 :)

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