Scrapbooking

     I have wanted to do a post on scrapbooking ever since I started this blog, since it is one of my favorite creative endeavors.  However, there is no step-by-step way to explain how to scrapbook, which makes it somewhat difficult to post on.  Similar to my card scrapbooking post, I will share some of my favorite scrapbooking pages I’ve made and some tips.  

Suggested materials:

*Photos

*Paper

*Acid free adhesive (I prefer to use mounting squares, which are far less messy than glue)

*Stickers

*Scissors

*X-acto knife

*Other embellishments

Tips:
     There are no hard and fast rules of scrapbooking that I know of, and any particular tip may not work all of the time, but here are some tips that I have found helpful often.

*If there was one hard and fast rule of scrapbooking, it would be this: make sure all of your supplies are acid and lignin free.  If you want to include a memento that you think may not be acid free, such as a ticket stub, place it somewhere on the page away from the photos so as to diminish any chance of damage to your pictures. 

*I love using patterned paper, but placing pictures directly on patterned pages can look busy.  However, a thick, solid colored frame around the pictures can make the page look more visually appealing.

*If you are new to scrapbooking, you may find it helpful to look through some books on scrapbooking before getting started.  There are tons of books on scrapbooking patterns and ideas, some of which your local library is bound to have.  Look up a few books and see if you can get a hold of them.  Even though I have been srcapbooking for years, I sometimes return to scrapbooking books to find new ideas and techniques to try.

*Here is a tip that I had forgotten about altogether.  If you have Polaroid pictures that you would like to include in a scrapbook, do not crop them, as the color will drain out over time

Here are some of my favorite pages:

What I like about this page: looks like a strip of photobooth pics, right?

What I like about this page: this page was one of Brian's picks, but I agree with him that it is a nice page.  I think the color composition works very well

What I like about this page: instead of grabbing a pre-patterned sheet of paper, I created my own beach scene using blue and yellow papers and some stickers

What I like about this page: the simple background really helps the images stand out

What I like about this page: I made the page pattern myself.  I came across an image of an old map of Jackson, NC, which I printed onto a manilla sheet of paper.  I placed the images of the old family homes at their approximate locations on the map.

Comments?  Questions?  Tips?  Do you have craft craft projects of your own you would like to share?  Feel free to email me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com