Did you know that everyone can scrapbook? It’s true and you don’t need any experience to create a memorable photo into a great layout. There is not right or wrong way to scrap. Here, I’ll give you some tips on how to start scrapbooking, and create your own special albums that your visitors will love to see.
Starting with the basics you’ll need some scrapbooking tools.
Your basic set of tools consist of sharp scissors, double sided adhesive tape, craft glue, ruler, pencil, and a pen. You can purchase most of these items from any craft shop, department store or scrapbooking shop. The variety and quantity of scrapbooking tools can be overwhelming , so when you are starting out, only use the very basics of tools until you become comfortable scrapping, then venture out using other tools.
Choosing which photos to use on your scrapbook layout can be difficult when you’re not sure what you are looking for. With beginners, in scrapbooking, I suggest using a color photo that you’ve created black and white, as they are much easier to work with. Pick out the most dominant color in the photo if using a colored photo and use this as your base color in your layout. The best types of photos to use are close ups, that take up half to 3/4 of your photo. Is the person looking at the camera? Do you have more than one photo of the person doing something else but still in the same clothes? If using two photos make sure they stay in theme of what you’re creating.
Having the right paper, to make your photos stand out on the page, will really give focus and drawer the viewer into the photo. So if the photo is of a little girl in a pink dress. Pink is your base color. You can then choose a pattern paper that has pink in it and possible another color or two like white or green.
Putting your scrapbooking layout together and coming up with a design to place all your pieces on the page may seem like a daunting idea, but a sketch of a layout will help pull the page together quickly. A sketch is a basic black and white drawing of a scrapbooking page. It may have circles, lines, flowers, other embellishment suggestions. Scrapbooking sketches can be found all over the internet and are only a guide and you can change it to how it suits you.
You have your sketch, its time to pull it all together. Block mounting your photo with a plain or solid color frames your photos and separates it from the patterned paper. Block mounting is attaching your photo with double sided tape to the cardstock and leaving a border of whatever size you choose around the edge of your photo. Using the double sided adhesive tape attach the photo and frame to your patterned paper following your sketch at where they suggest to place it. If you have a second photo to place, repeat adding the block mounting and attach to the patterned paper.
Once your photos are in place, it time to embellish. You can add these little items to enhance your page a little or a lot, completely up to you. Some scrapbookers like clustering their embellishments; some prefer just a subtle effect. The final touches can really help tell the story behind the photos and you can even add a little journaling about the photo, event, whatever you desire.
The last thing you may like to do to your scrapbooking page is add a title that might briefly explain the photo or layout. Then you are done.
