scrapbooking

Article by Susan Rice

Think back to your very first scrapbooking project? You were probably very young. It may have consisted of newspaper clippings and keepsakes you glued onto ordinary papers. It might have even been decorated with ribbon, stickers or odds and ends that were available to you. When it was complete, your scrapbook probably consisted of a stack of pages that were stapled or glued together in the form of a book. Lots of times those pages included your own drawings and art work to complement your mementos. Even though that project was a little rough and unpolished, it served to introduce you to the beginnings of your scrapbooking hobby.

Today, scrapbooks are a little more sophisticated and have a wide variety of embellishments and tools available, such as clear rubber stamps, that help you create scrapbook pages that will last for generations. The reason you scrapbook really hasn?t changed since you were small. It is still involves the process of arranging photos, newspaper clippings, and mementos collectively with pictures and textures that create delightfully memorable scrapbook stories. Since you were a child, scrapbooking has progressed from saving and placing existing items into your scrapbooks to creating your own enhancing designs that decorate and enrich your pages. As such, scrapbooking techniques are used to create lovely gift cards and gift card holders, add detail and texture to art work, fashion messages, design fun party invitations, assemble family recipe books and much more.

Scrapbooking ImplementsThere are a few tools that will be very handy as you work on your scrapbooking projects. The x-acto knife allows you to cut out lots of shapes without fear of tearing the paper in tight areas. It is perfect for cutting out pictures or designs you have created with your clear rubber stamps. Be sure that you use a cutting mat or old magazine under the papers you cut to protect your work surface. Another necessary scrapbooking tool that comes in handy is a pair of tweezers. Tweezers allow you to easily place tiny papers or small items onto scrapbook pages without glue on your fingers, keeping adhesives only where you want it to be on your projects.

The Designing ProcessBegin by choosing a theme you wish to carry throughout your scrapbook art pages. Plan your scrapbook pages in pairs so that when the scrapbook is open, both pages come together to tell the same story. Scrapbook themes that are fun to use in scrapbooking include birthday, baby, and holiday themes as well as themes from nature that use things like leaves and insects. Another way to theme your scrapbook designs includes decorations and colors that reflect the personality of the recipient. They may include a favorite color, sport, music, outdoor activity or even cultural component. When you choose a theme keep three things in mind. Be sure that you consider the key purpose of your scrapbook, the receiver of the scrapbook and the subject that the scrapbook will focus on. Using designs made from clear rubber stamps can help develop and build customized scrapbook themes, add sayings, enhance backgrounds, create borders and accent your pages.

Next you will want to choose a title that captures the subject of your page. In one line, you define the basis of the story you are telling on your scrapbook art. The title will tell the observer precisely what they will see on the page and it also communicates the purpose of your work. Titles can be basic, containing a date, name, place or a specific event. You can enhance a title with quotes, phrases or sayings that help tell your story. It is easy to create customized titles using clear alphabet rubber stamps. They allow you to choose the style and size of the text you want and can be added in lots of interesting and unique ways.

Now you will want to select a color scheme for your scrapbook art. Highlights and accents are established as you use color combinations full of contrast. An appropriate color scheme will distinguish a scrapbook page more than anything else you can add to it. Strength can be added to your scrapbook art with coordinating colors. Contrasting colors focus the eye, drawing the attention to precisely where you want it. On the other hand, a poorly chosen color scheme can be weak and can detract from your scrapbook designs. Use your photos, mementos, or other embellishments to choose colors that work well with your page elements that you plan to use on your scrapbook art, then echo those same colors in the stamping inks you choose as you stamp harmonizing designs with your clear rubber stamps.

Balance is another important scrapbook design element. You can control and maintain the uniformity and size of your scrapbook elements by cutting and cropping your photos. Having oversized or off center snapshots hinders your balance and design elements and diminishes their combined effect. A photo may need cropped if the background weakens the photo itself. If your background paper is distracting, mat your photos and designs with a solid color that harmonizes with your color scheme. This has a similar effect to outlining a picture you color, bringing immediate attention and a more finished look to the photo. Once your designs are matted place them to the page. You can use a scrapbook page layout as a guideline for good balance and placement of your photos on scrapbook pages. You may wish to arrange them chronologically or in a collage design.

Journaling is an indispensable part of your scrapbook art. Without text, your scrapbook is nothing more than a fancy picture book. Through the text that you add to your scrapbook art pages, you define feelings and activities that tell the story. There are a variety of ways that you can add text to your pages. For headings, it is fun to use clear alphabet rubber stamps. Activity summaries can be hand written. Journaling lines for the text are easy to add with clear journaling rubber stamps and can be stamped in any color and hue which can blend into the page itself. When you add a paragraph on a scrapbook page, be sure to define the area where the text belongs. Keep the area distinct by keeping the script inside the journaling block.

Spacing is also an important part of scrapbook art that helps you build pleasing pages. Before you fasten your elements to the scrapbook page you need to check the spacing between components. When things are too close together the page might feel muddled or disorderly. When elements are spaced too far apart the page might feel incomplete or unsatisfactory. Try several layouts by spacing elements with wider and narrower distances. You may wish to create clusters of 2-3 items and leave wider spaces around other items. Determine if your page needs to be plainer or if it needs trimmings to finish it. When you like the overall look of the page, secure everything in place.

Let?s take a minute to review. Your scrapbook page began with planning a theme and color scheme. Then you added a title and cropped and matted your photos. You added fundamental journaling and carefully developed your scrapbook page layout. You have now successfully built your own scrapbook story. As you grasp the basic guidelines of building a scrapbook design and practice them, you will feel more and more like a scrapbooking pro with every design!

scrapbooking