The other day my great-grand-daughter brought me a scrapbook she had made. She's twelve, but I think she's pretty talented. Her pages showed a great use of color, the scrapbook was lively and fun, but it wasn't great, she knew it and came to ask me why. Here's what I told her. There are three 'secrets' I use when creating killer layouts.
1. When you start scrapbooking it's easy to treat each page as though it's on it's own. Personally I love background papers. I used to spend lots and lots buying sheets whenever I saw one that caught my eye until I had drawers stuffed with them Of course when you open a scrapbook and get past the first page, you're actually looking at two pages, so that's my first secret. If you design your pages so that it looks like one BIG layout using BOTH pages, then it looks a lot better than two small pages next to each other. The easiest way to do this is to plan the thing as a whole in the first place, and never buy scrapbook papers in ones, buy two matching papers as a minimum. Actually lots of scrapbooks look best if you have a theme or colour-scheme to continue throughout the book, so the best idea is to buy your scrapbook papers in larger amounts, or buy one of those themed books where there are lots of papers to mix and match. The theme helps your layouts pop right off the page.
Stuffed Orca
2. It's really easy to get carried away when you are scrapbooking. There are so many fun things to try out, from background papers to rub ons, tags, ribbons, bows, charms the list is really endless. It's lots of fun to put lots and lots on a page, but not only is it expensive, it can get too busy and easily overwhelm the pictures. My number two secret is to know when to stop. Sometimes less is more. Every time you decide to add something look carefully at the layout before. Then put the item in place and look again. Unless you are absolutely certain it looks better, forget it. Scrapbooking is really about memories. The items we add are supposed to add to the recreation of an event we are preserving. I did one scrapbook a while ago where I used a dragonfly theme. I love dragonflies and butterflies, but in this case I used the theme because it was a scrapbook of a holiday we spent in England and one of hte features was the large number of dragonflies we saw. It looks great, but it also helps preserve the memory, it's not JUST a decoration.
17" Orca Whale Plush Stuffed Animal Toy Specification
- 17" Orca Whale Plush Stuffed Animal Toy
Brand : ap
17" Orca Whale Plush Stuffed Animal Toy
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3. Because scrapbooks are about memories (that's why some people call them memory books) there are some things you must never leave out. Without journalling a scrapbook isn't a scrapbook, it's a photograph album. And that's secret number three. Don't forget the journalling. A friend of mine showed be the album she had made for her new baby. Lots of lovely baby pictures, decorations, a tiny clock showing the time of birth, ribbons etc. But no names. I've seen so many newborn babies in my time. All adorable in their own way, but even when they are your own, they are remarkably similar. I know my granddaughter tells the difference between pictures of her two (as newborns) by looking at their shawls. One was white, the other ivory. The truth is that even a mother can have problems telling babies apart many years after the event. And that's the thing with scrapbooks. You know who and what everything is NOW, when you make them, but in 5, 10, 20 years? Will you remember all the names? Journaling is what will make your scrapbooks something to hand down to your children, grandchildren and beyond. They need to understand that whatever problems they have in life you had them too, and you got by. Don't let them have a scrapbook that shows grandma and grandpa as pictures in a book, use your journalling to give them a living, breathing family with a wealth of experience and memories to bring comfort and inspiration when they need it.
How to Create Killer Layouts That Dance Off the Page - Three Secrets Every Scrapbooker Should Know
Ria Ogilvie, the scrapbooking grandma
I buy my scrapbooking materials at a variety of shops, but recently I got some really good scrapbooking supplies from dinglefoot.
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