Here are a few tips to making your photo selection easier.

Select photos that clearly show the subject.

Remember, you do not want to make the eye work any harder than it has to in trying to make out who the subject is in the picture.  Look for clarity in a picture; specifically, look for that which provides a good focus of your subject.  It does not matter if the background is blurred, as long as your subject is clearly visible to the eye.  For instance, the picture of your never-ending road trip last summer might clearly show you scrunched up in the car, feet on the dashboard, with a shirt full of potato chip crumbs while the background is a complete blur.  This is absolutely acceptable. You do not need to discard this because there is a blurred background.

Divide your pictures by specific people. 

Dividing your pictures by specific people is a necessary beginning for those scrapbookers interested in "cleaning out the picture box".  For instance, if you have four children, put all of the pictures that pertain to your eldest child in a pile all the way down to your youngest.  If all of your children are in one particular picture, that’s fine too.  Decide which child you want that picture to go to (you don’t want to see page upon page of little Johnny all by himself even if the scrapbook is of him).  Remember, you can make copies of pictures without negatives.  Also, make sure to include pictures of pets and friends. 

What to do with pictures of things or places.

Many times we come across photos of a thing or a place specific to an event.  Don’t be afraid of using pictures of, for example, the toy that little Johnny got for Christmas, the turkey and all the fixin’s before it was gobbled down or grandma’s house where everyone would go for Easter.

Divide your pictures by seasons and special events. 

For instance, you might have ten pictures of little Johnny at Christmas, eight pictures of Johnny at Thanksgiving and so forth.  Also, don’t forget your summer camping trips, grandpa’s birthday, your child’s dance festival or even their first haircut. 

Use a plastic bag

Use a plastic sandwich bag to put pictures in.  Ziploc bags work best.  They are waterproof and work well for pictures. No more picture clutter.

Torn or wrinkled pictures

Did you know that torn or wrinkled pictures may be fixed?  The price to mend these family jewels could be quite pricey, but, in some cases, necessary.  For example, the only picture of a great, great grandma might be worth the mending price. 

Layouts

The outdated way of doing scrapbooks dictated that you may have as many pictures as you wanted on each page.  Collages, a scrapbook form involving using many pictures all distributed very close together on a page, was totally acceptable.

A more updated look for a scrapbook layout takes in the overall flow of the layout in relation to the picture.  In other words, the embellishments and paper are an integral part of scrapbooking.  In other words, fewer pictures are used for each page than previously done in scrapbooking.  Please keep this in mind when you have 20 pictures that you are considering for that Halloween layout.

If you consider these tips and tricks when choosing photos to include in your scrapbook, you will certainly make your life a whole lot easier and creating scrapbooks will certainly become your next addiction.
 

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Wed 31 Oct 2007 No Comments 

So you have decided that all those pictures sitting in your closet need a home?  Well it is definitely a challenge when you’re trying to start a scrapbook.  What kind of paper do you use?  What kind of glue?  Are there color schemes?  There are so many things to consider especially your style.  There are different styles you say?  Yes, as a matter of fact there are many different scrapbooking styles to consider.  When you flip through a scrapbooking magazine you will see a number of different scrapbook styles.  Some of the different layouts may look very simple and clean while others may look layered with many different embellishments.  Some scrapbooking styles are old fashioned, some are retro, and yet all have their certain scrapbook style.  Everything seems to fit together because the scrapbooker has stayed true to their style.  Your scrapbook style is your fashion on paper.  It is how it looks; how it feels; and the mood you want to portray.  Let’s take a look at some different scrapbooking styles.

1. Classic.  Creating a classic scrapbooking page is very similar to creating classic movies; classic cars; etc.  These pages are kept very simple and clean and use traditional design elements.  Photographs are usually cut into rectangles and squares and placed on solid colors simple patters like plaids, stripes, or flowers.  Accessories and embellishments are kept to a minimum and the font is usually typed or printed in black ink.  The main things on classic scrapbook pages are the photo and journaling.  Usually there is just one photo that takes up most of the page and is very common with kids’ photo books or formal portraits.  If you are looking a place to start this is a good one.
2.  Contemporary.  Contemporary styles use patterns and accents.  It is still a clean look but includes stronger accents and embellishments.
3. Retro.  Retro can mean different things to different people of course, but you will find that most of the retro colors, patters, etc. came between the 1950’s and the 1970’s.  You will a lot of pink and brown combinations, browns and blue combinations; big flowers.  You may not have liked it the first time around, but has become quite popular again and has become a very contemporary style. 
4. Ephemera.  This style is the complete opposite from our classic scrapbooking pages.  This scrapbook style fills the pages with a lot of different patterned papers, and products.  This style of page is usually arranged in a collage type style using darker colored papers and metal embellishments.  There are many different fonts used for journaling everything placed on the page usually overlaps.  There is texture, color and a lot of interest. 
5. Heritage.  This type of scrapbooking is famously used for family history albums or personal history.  If you are going to try this style of scrapbooking stay away form bright colors; these pages are usually done with muted colors.  Because there is history on these pages, the journaling is a little more extensive than other styles. 
6. Shabby Chic/ Romantic.  Trying to create a shabby chic/ romantic style scrapbook page?  Then you will need lots of embellishments and patterned papers.  You will also want to use torn or stitched paper, and lots of pastel colors; stickers; die cuts, and flowers.  These work great for feminine pages and also can work with heritage style pages. 

Finding the right style that’s right for you can be simple.  Look through some scrapbook magazines and find what is appealing to you.  What color combinations do you like?  How do the pages make you feel?  And don’t feel like you have to just choose one style.  You can use any number of styles as you make your scrapbook; your styles may even change as the times change.  Explore all your options and decide what’s right for you.

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Tue 30 Oct 2007 No Comments 

When it comes to scrapbooking there are so many different tools that you can purchase to make your scrapbooking experience more fun. But the thing is that you don’t need to purchase a bunch of expensive tools to use for embellishments because many times you can buy the embellishments ready to go. But there are some things that you are going to need to use in scrapbooking that you can not do with out, but there are other tools that just make the embellishments even more fun to create because it offers you a unique design rather than something that is factory made.

Here are some of the more popular scrapbooking tools that you can use for embellishments.

Tool one:
The first tool that you can use for embellishments in scrapbooking is die cutting machines. This machine comes in both the electric or manual model, basically what the difference is between the two is that the manual die cutter you have to manually cut the designs out while with the electric model you hook it up to your computer or a plug and the machine does all of the work for you. But the electric die cutters can be done off of cartridges, which all you need to do is buy cartridges and then insert them into the machine for the die cuts or you can use computer ones which use images that are found online or through computer software.

Tool two:
The next thing that you are going to need for embellishments for scrapbooking is a hole punch. You are not going to want to have a 3 hole punch for your scrapbooking, what you are going to want is a one hole punch that will allow you to punch holes in your layout wherever they are needed. What you are going to use the hole punch for is to punch holes in your layout so that you can insert brads and/or eyelets for embellishments on your scrapbook pages.

Tool three:
Another thing that scrapbookers can not live without when it comes to tools is a variety of scissors, these are a great tool for embellishments because you can create embellishments with the scissors or you can trim down the embellishments that you already have. When it comes to scissors you can buy a variety of different styles of scissors that will all do different things, some scissors will create wavy patterns while others will create a zigzag pattern. You can also buy scissors that will simply cut in a straight line, what you buy depends on your needs.

Tool four:
Another popular tool for scrapbooking embellishments is an iron. If you have never done scrapbooking you are probably wondering how an iron is going to come into play as a tool for embellishments. But you don’t actually use the iron on the scrapbooking page but you will use an iron to emboss certain things, so if you are interested in embossing you are going to need an iron.

Tool five:
Paper punches and stamps are some other great tools that are used by scrapbookers for embellishments. Paper punches are an actual tool that is used to create embellishments. What you are doing is cutting out various shapes to use as designs on your page. With the stamps you are using them as a tool to put the designs on your page.

Just remember that these are only some of the tools that you can use for embellishments with scrapbooking, there are plenty of other tools that you will find out about the more you develop your scrapbooking techniques.

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Mon 8 Oct 2007 No Comments 

If you are just getting started in scrapbooking you may have heard of die cuts but you might be unsure of what they are exactly. Basically die cuts are pre-cut designs or letters that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. You can buy them at scrapbooking stores, craft stores, you can order them online or you can make your own. But what die cuts do is add dimension to your scrapbooking page, basically what they do is spice up your scrapbooking layout so that it stand out. And the best thing about die cuts is that the possibilities of using them are pretty much endless. What this means is that you can use your imagination and use the die cuts how ever you see fit and you can decorate them any way that you can think of.

Here are some tips for using die cuts.

Tip one:
The first thing that you want to be aware of when using die cuts is to make sure that you are using die cuts that are acid free and lignin free. The reason for this is that if you are using die cuts that contain acid or lignin you are going to end up damage your scrapbook pages by turning them yellow or deteriorating the photographs.

Tip two:
You can use die cuts to produce a shadowing effect for your embellishments. All you need to do is to punch on set of letters or designs using one color of paper and then punch another set using a separate piece of paper. Once you have punched both sets of letters or designs you are going to want to offset the die cuts for the shadow effect, to do this you are going to get two of the same letter or design and place on slightly on top of the other letter or design, how you place it depends on which side you want shadowed.

Tip three:
You can also help spice up your die cuts by decorating them. You can use brads or eyelets on your die cuts to make them shiny or to add buttons to a certain design. You can also use chalk, gel pens, glitter, etc to give the die cuts a whole new look. And the best thing about decorating your die cuts is that once you decorate them you can actually transform your page into something entirely new, what this means is that you can use the same layout and make it look totally different.

Tip four:
When using die cuts you can buy them at a scrapbooking store, at craft stores or online. And the best thing is that the die cuts come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors and are ready to go, which means that you can begin using them right away. Or if you really want to get creative you can purchase a die cutter and make your own die cuts. But regardless if you are buying die cuts from the store or making your own when you are storing die cuts you want to make sure that you store the die cuts using page protectors. The reason for this is that you will protect your die cuts from getting lost, ripped, damaged or torn on accident. You will also be able to sort the die cuts by shapes or letters and place them in a binder for ease of finding what you are looking for.

Tip five:
One of the best things that scrapbookers have found out about die cuts is that you can use them in a variety of ways. Some ways that people have used die cuts is as photo corners, what they do are cut off the edges of a die cut frame and use them to mount the photographs rather than traditional photo corners. People have also used letters and turned them into food with a little creative decorating.

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Sun 7 Oct 2007 No Comments 

One of the things about scrapbooking that people run into is how they should go about attaching their photographs to the scrapbook pages. Many people who are just starting out in scrapbooking want to know what the best way to attach their photos to their scrapbook pages is, but the problem with that is that there is no straight answer. The reason that there is no straight answer is because what is best for one person is not going to be what is best for the next person. So when it comes to finding out what the best way to attach photos to your scrapbook pages is for you what you are going to need to do is to find out about the different ways that you can attach the photos and the choose what is best for you. One way that you can find out which one is going to work best for you is to try out some of the methods that sound interesting to you on some scratch paper with some extra photos and then choose what you think works the best for you.

Here are some of the more common ways that you can attach your photos to scrapbook pages.

Idea one:
One way that you can attach your photos to scrapbook pages without harming your photos is through the use of photo corners. Photo corners come in a variety of sizes depending on how big your photograph. But one drawback to photo corners is that you must apply each photo corner to the page and then slide the photo into the corners and if you are off by just a little bit then you are going to have to start all over again.

Idea two:
Another way that you can attach your photo to your scrapbook page with a die cut frame. Some of the frames will have adhesive on it already but on others you are going to have to apply the adhesive. With frames you have the choice of using the entire frame or cutting off the corners and turning them into photo corners for your pictures. One of the great things about frames is that they won’t harm your picture and they add interest to your page as well.

Idea three:
One of the most popular ways to attach your photographs to your scrapbook pages is with adhesive. The reason why this is so popular is because it is quick and easy to use and it doesn’t hurt your photographs or your scrapbook pages. Another great thing about the adhesive method is that it is actually rather inexpensive as well. All you need to do is by a tape runner, which is an adhesive strip that you roll along the back of the photograph and then attach the picture to the scrapbook page. The device is a small hand held device that is very maneuverable.

Idea four:
You can also use a more traditional method of using glue or tape, but these ways are not really recommended because they can show through your pictures and they might not last as long as the adhesive. Not to mention that some glue and tape can be harmful to your photographs and scrapbook albums.

Just remember that whatever method you choose will be the method that best works for you. You should also keep in mind that you can use other methods to attach your photographs, such as brads or stickers, but the ideas mentioned above are the most commonly used methods in scrapbooking. And a lot of the difference between the various methods is the time involved for attaching your photographs to the scrapbook pages.

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Fri 5 Oct 2007 No Comments 

Scrapbooking is more than just putting your pictures into a photo album.  Over the years scrapbooks has turned into an art.  They have become more than picture pasting; they are memories.  They also have become part of the gift giving world.  They make great shower presents, Christmas presents, and just about anything you can think of.  And what’s even better about scrapbooking is that there are no rules.  If you are creative; then you can scrapbook.  And for those who do not think they are creative there is still hope.  Here are some secrets to really successful scrapbooking.

1. Use Archival quality paper.  This is extremely important; especially if you want your pages to look good and last.  You should also remember that everything you put on your papers should be acid and lignin free.
2. Start with your most current pictures.  Beginning with the most current pictures and working backwards help you to accurately portray your closest feelings. 
3. Tell the story.  Another word for this is journaling.  Always include on your scrapbook page what the page is about.  Tell us names of people, places, and what is going on.  Tell why it’s important to you.  Most people thumbing through a scrapbook will not know these things.  This makes it more interesting to look at, and also helps with remembering when you or your children go back and look at the page.
4. Keep it simple.  Depending on the style you choose your layouts will be different.  Whatever style you decide to go with try and keep it as simple as you can.  When you put too much on your page you can begin to lose the actual photos.  Choose coordinating colors and backgrounds and crop your photos so that you don’t have extra background color distracting from where you want your focus.  Remember your page is your picture or pictures.  Make sure you can see them and they remain the main focus; not the embellishments or the extra papers.
5. Find out what’s hot.  What I mean by this, is look into what the top designers are creating.  There are many phases of successful scrapbook, and much like fashion things go in, and out of style.  If you want your pages to look professional then research what the trends are.
6. Stick to a theme.  A lot of scrapbook designers today will pick a theme and stick to it.  When you mix too many designs into one page your page can be distracting; disastrous even.  Color themes will also help you be a successful scrapbooker.  Choose two main colors and once accent color.  Scrapbooking is somewhat like painting.  Some colors work together and some don’t.  Scrapbooking stores often sell color scheme kits that come with paper and embellishments.  This makes it easy for you.  Whichever way you decide to do it, on your own or with a kit, remember to pick color schemes that work together. 
7. Structure is everything.  Just as we decorate our homes, scrapbooking has many of the same rules.  Remember the rule of thirds?  Let me refresh your memory; 2/3 main color, 1/3 complimentary color, and 1/3 accent color.  Apply this rule to your layout structure to achieve more professional look.  Your main element will take up 2/3 of the page; and the rest will take up the remaining 1/3’s. 
8. Balance.  All great scrapbooking pages have balance.  You don’t have to fill up every inch of your page with something.  Finding the right balance is crucial in creating a successful scrapbook page. 

These are only a few of the secrets to really successful scrapbooking.  Practice makes perfect right?  It is as true with scrapbooking as it is with anything else.  Don’t get discouraged and keep trying.  Your pages will begin to look and feel the way you want them to.

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Fri 5 Oct 2007 No Comments 

Scrapbooking is one of the most popular hobbies of people, especially women, today.  It’s a great way to display important photos from your life in an interesting way.  And if you’re a big scrapper, then you probably do your best to make your scrapbook more than just pictures on a page.  Anyone can stuff pictures into a photo album, but not everyone makes beautiful memory books that contain little bits of your personality within.  So maybe you’re interested in learning ways to make your scrapbooking more interesting.  You want to make your scrapbooks more personal and very memorable.  So here are some tips to making your scrapbooking as interesting as it could possibly be. 

1.    Choose the proper layout and paper.  The layout and paper that you choose for each page in your scrapbook can dictate the tone of each page.  So if you want it to be interesting, you should choose interesting paper and a unique layout.  Just be careful of using paper that is too busy or silly for the content that you wish to place on each page.  Simply having cool paper and a stunning layout will really do a lot to help make your scrapbook more enjoyable to look at.  Look for interesting layouts online, or ask friends for suggestions. 
2.    Include your own handwriting.  One of the best ways to make your journal or scrapbook more interesting is to use your own handwriting.  Your handwriting says something about you and adds a different dimension than a computer-printed font.  Handwriting makes your scrapbook unique.  Plus, there are many ways to include your handwriting in a journal or scrapbook.  You can use pockets, folded cards, matchbooks, etc to hide your handwriting on scrapbook pages.  This way your handwriting is on the page, but isn’t seen by someone just flipping through the pages, making your scrapbook even more fun to look at. 
3.    Write your feelings.  Yes, writing your feelings can sometimes be difficult.  But it’s one of the very best ways to make your scrapbook more than just pictures on a page.  As you look through your pictures and memorabilia, think about the feelings you have for each person and event.  Use detail to describe what happened.  You may think that this is cheesy, but it isn’t.  Your friends and family who look at your journal or scrapbook will love learning about your feelings.  It will keep your reader interested in what you have to say.  It will make them want to get to know you better and learn about your family. 
4.    Use appropriate quotes.  Quotes are a great way to express a feeling or describe a moment without having to think of your own words.  They also make your scrapbook more interesting, romantic, funny, cute, or whatever feeling you’re trying to portray.  They show your creativity.  Yes, there are very cheesy quotes out there.  But if you choose wisely, they can add greatly to your scrapbook or journal. 
5.    Include a range of topics.  Your journal or scrapbook will be much more interesting if you include pages of friends, home, family, neighbors, etc.  If, for example, you chose to simply focus on the 4th of July every year, your scrapbook might become rather dull to look at.  Every picture would be similar; every background would be red, white, and blue; every quote would be patriotic.  If, however, you decided to do a summer scrapbook, which included the 4th of July, your vacation to the beach, and a birthday party or two, your scrapbook would be interesting too look at. 
6.    Keep special keepsakes.  Including a ticket to your favorite concert, the bracelet from when your son was born, cards you received for special occasions.all of these things can make your scrapbook more interesting.  It’s just up to you to choose which ones!

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Wed 3 Oct 2007 No Comments 

If you’ve ever looked through an old photo album, you know how much fun it can be.  Everyone loves to see how their friends and family used to live, what they did, how they looked, etc.  But you also know how frustrating it can be when you don’t know where they were, what event they were attending or what kinds of things they liked to do.  That’s why scrapbooks are so great.  They are a way to incorporate your activities and photos into one.  If you start scrapbooking, you’ll find that you can incorporate all sorts of things into your scrapbook.  Here are some tips for including brochures, ticket stubs, and anything else you can think of into your scrapbook. 

Before we begin, it’s important that you realize one thing: there’s no right or wrong way to scrapbook.  A scrapbook is your own creation- your "baby," as it were, and you can do whatever you want with it.  Anything suggested in this article is just that- a suggestion.  You may use some of these ideas or you may find that you prefer other options.  The point is to have a good time while you create something priceless.

Now.  If you’ve never made a scrapbook before, you may be wondering where to start.  The easiest way to begin, is by choosing either a period of time you would like to cover (for example, your first year of college), or a specific event (your oldest daughter’s wedding).  You probably want to be careful of choosing too long of a period of time.  You couldn’t realistically fit everything from 1 entire year into a scrapbook.  So you must be selective.  Once you’ve chosen a time period or event, go through your pictures and begin selecting the pictures you think you’d like to use.  At this point, you don’t need to be picky about which pictures you’d like to include. 

As you choose each picture, think about what you were doing in each one.  If you have a picture of you at the top of the Eiffel Tower, look for the ticket stub from your entry fee.  Party favors from birthdays, pictures of the family pet, and reminders of a special talent or favorite cartoon character are special memories that your child will cherish.  Another great idea for using memorabilia is to include pictures from office parties, high school graduation announcements, concert and sporting event ticket stubs, and invitations to weddings or special parties. A simple online search can give you photos and news items from the day a person was born and can make interesting additions to a scrapbook.  You could include the prices of various items, news events from that day, and popular movies and songs from the era.  Using various forms of memorabilia can make your scrapbook a spectacular remembrance of a person’s life or a wonderful tribute to the events that make our lives unique.

Assuming that you’ve already purchased all the scrapbooking supplies you could want (scissors, paper, embellishments, glue, tape, etc), you’re ready to begin.  Choose a couple of pictures you’d like to start with.  Now pick a piece of paper that matches, complements, or has a similar theme to your pictures.  Now, think about whether any of those pictures have a ticket stub or something that goes along with them.  If, for example, you have 2 small subway tickets you would like to include, place them in between the pictures.  If it’s something a bit larger, like a brochure, you may want to make it one of the focal points of the page.  You can place these items slightly over or slightly underneath a picture.  The can be placed with a perfectly straight edge, or slightly crooked.  It’s really up to you.  Just be sure that whatever it is comes from the heart. 

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Tue 2 Oct 2007 No Comments 

Scrapbooking is a great hobby.  And just think- with each scrapbook that you make you’re creating a memorable and important keepsake that you’ll always treasure.  And there are so many options with scrapbooks.  You can be as creative or traditional as you like.  Here are some ways to creatively use multiple prints in your scrapbook.

But first, there’s something you should realize.  There is no right or wrong way to scrapbook!  Isn’t that great?  Just because your neighbor creates her scrapbook in a certain way, doesn’t mean that you need to do the same.  Scrapbooks are there to express yourself and portray you and your family, the things you like to do and places you’ve been.  So don’t worry about doing things "right."  Just have fun and be creative.  After all, you’re the one who will be looking at and enjoying your scrapbook.  So you want it to be something that you’re comfortable with and that you love. 

Now, the chances are good that when you start scrapbooking, you’re going to want to put more than one or two prints on each page.  Luckily, that’s entirely possible!  With your creative abilities, you can put anything from one to six or seven or even eight prints on a page!  Most people put about three to four pictures per page.  However, this might vary if you want to include other things like ticket stubs, brochures, or other scrapping accessories. 

One good resource for ideas to creatively use multiple photos is your friends.  Your friends can help you find some interesting scrapbooking layouts, or simply turn your generic layout into something personal and unique.  You’ll be surprised by how much you can learn from your friend’s scrapbooking and from asking their advice for your own layouts. Look through their scrapbooks to see if you can get inspiration and ask them for ideas about your own layouts.  If you have specific pictures that you want to use, then show them your pictures and ask them for ideas for layouts and themes for your pages. You may be astonished at how much inspiration and help that they can give you.

So let’s say, for example, that you’d like to create a page or two focusing on the past 4th of July.  First, you need to pick out the pictures you’d like to use.  Let’s use six pictures for this example.  Since you’re using so many pictures for this page, you might need to crop each picture down to the focal point of the picture.  Cropping is one of the best ways to get more pictures to fit.  You may also consider using 1 picture as the focal point of the page (perhaps by keeping it the standard size and placing it on the middle of the page) and then cropping the other 5 pictures down to a smaller size. 

Next, you need to pick some paper that will reflect the holiday you’re portraying.  Since we’re looking at Independence Day, you might choose paper with American flags on it, red white and blue paper, or something else very American.  Then, take your pictures and crop them the size you’d like them, placing them on a mat, where appropriate.  Then place your pictures on the paper and arrange them neatly.  Here’s where you can use a lot of different embellishments.  Using stickers, brads, eyelets, die-cuts or quotes can really make the difference on a festive scrapbooking page.  Find some stars and stripes to place next to one of your pictures.  Mat all the photos in red, white and blue.  Use a patriotic quote to inspire your readers.  And voila!  You have just created an attractive and creative layout using multiple prints.  Well, what are you waiting for- go get scrapping!

Posted by Don under Scrapbook Embellishments , Scrapbook Techniques on Mon 1 Oct 2007 No Comments