Mini School Album Idea
Mini scrapbooks are simple to make and easy to store. Smaller albums are great for kids so they don¡¯t get overwhelmed with large pages and complicated page layouts. School albums are a perfect gift and the ¡°mini¡± size is easy to assemble.
One idea for a school album is to allot 2 or 3 pages per grade and put mats for at least one picture on each page.
You can include a list for each grade with topics like: My Teachers Name, My favorite Class, My Friends, and Extra Curricular Activities.
You should also leave some extra journaling space for the student to record their thoughts and feeling for the year. As the student writes their information they will be able to see how their handwriting changes from grade to grade.
Some size suggestions for scrapbooking albums are 4 x 6, 6 x 6 or if you want a deluxe mini you can do a 9 x 9.
Journaling On You Photos
The point of scrapbook journaling is to help preserve memories. But what if one of the photos happens to fall out of an album? Brief journaling directly onto the back of your photos ensures that even if a photo comes out of the album, it can still be identified. Make sure you include the basic, who, what and when. Never write on the back of your photos with a ball point pen. It can seep through to the front of the photo and will probably emboss it as well. Instead, choose a very soft acid free pencil or an acid free, fast drying, felt tip pen.
Watercolor Pencils for Scrapbooking
You can use watercolor pencils wet or dry. These pencils give you professional looking results with the benefits of being easy to use, providing lots of pigment, having a reasonable price, and the a fine point to use for coloring small areas.
Here are some suggestions for using your watercolor pencils on your scrapbooking pages:
¡¤ Rub your pencil tip on a piece of paper (using it as a palette), building up pigment. Use a damp brush, water pen or blender pen to pick up pigment and add to your art. This is a great way to mix colors.
¡¤ For bright bold colors, take the pigment directly from your pencil tip. Dip your brush in water and press to the tip of the pencil. This will give you undiluted pigment for bold colors.
¡¤ You can achieve a thick opaque look by dipping the tip of your pencil in water and applying the color wet.
¡¤ Dry use of watercolor pencils to color stamped images on dark paper or on velour paper gives beautiful results for scrapbooking needs.
Watercolor pencils can be a great addition to your scrapbooking collection. These coloring tools can be used to enhance several elements on your scrapbook pages. Watercolor pencils can be purchased with other discount scrapbook supplies or at most craft stores.
Buying Your Scrapbooking Supplies at a Discount
Scrapbooking supplies can be expensive. Keeping your scrapbook up-to-date requires a lot of materials. If you are on a tight budget it is hard to justify buying these supplies when you family has other needs.
There are suppliers who offer discount scrapbooking supplies. You can find a variety of stores online who have discounted scrapbooking products. Wholesale craft stores may carry scrapbooking items, too. If you shop around and buy your products from a wholesaler or discount outlet you are sure to save lots of money on your memory book items.
Some more money saving suggestions is as follows:
¡¤ Shop the sales at scrapbook retail store and various craft stores.
¡¤ Clip coupons and use them to buy scrapbook supplies.
¡¤ Use unique, cost effective items to embellish your pages.
Mini Albums Offer Endless Possibilities
Mini albums are fun for kids make as well as adults. Small scrapbooking books are easier for little hands to handle. You can buy mini albums or make your own in a 3" x 3" size, perfect for small pictures. These books can be turned into "brag books" for grandma since they are easy to keep in her purse.
¡°Matchbook¡± size albums are also becoming popular. These ¡°tiny treasures¡± can be embellished and decorated with a small amount of supplies (use your scraps). Tie them together with some ribbon and you have a wonderful gift for a new mom or a teacher.
Simple Embellishments to Personalize Your Albums
Scrapbooking has become complicated and confusing. With so many embellishments, paper, scissors and supplies to choose from, how are you supposed to get any scrapbook pages completed?
Here are some ideas for simple embellishments that will personalize your pages.
Use memorabilia to accent your scrapbook pages and photos. For example, you can cut out parts of maps, vacation brochure, save ticket stubs, etc., to use on your pages for embellishments (you don¡¯t want to overdue your pages with embellishments because you want your photographs to be the most important).
Use photo sleeves to store items you want to keep. Anything you can tuck in between the pictures that are related to that person or event will accentuate your page immensely.
Stickers, brads, eyelets, fibers and other types of embellishments should be used sparingly.
Remember simple is better. Don¡¯t overwhelm yourself with too many products. Your pages will look their best if they are kept basic and clutter-free.
Photo Cropping
A basic rule to live by in scrapbooking is to crop your photos. Why waste good space on a photo whose subject is in the corner of the photograph? Instead lop off excess by considering what no one would miss. Is anyone really going to miss that huge view of the ceiling over your heads? Or the trash can in the background? You can buy stencils to make this easier. If you want to make straight lines, the human eye is terrible at this. Use a ruler. Also, if you are cutting off a landscaping view you may want to keep it in a scrap pile for a later purpose.
Simple Shadow Boxes
Scrapbook pages can be created using many techniques. If you love shadow boxes, why not make one on your scrapbook page? You can create a simple shadow box look by using a few scrapbooking embellishments and some scrapbooking paper.
Simply cut out the shape of your box (usually a square or rectangle shape). Next, put your embellishments on a larger square of cardstock. Then add some Pop Dots to all four sides and adhere it to the back of your paper. Your embellishments will show through, adding dimension to your page.
Shadow boxes are wonderful for memorabilia and photo memories. Make one-of-a-kind pages by adding a shadow box design to some of your layouts.
Frugal Scrapbooking Tips
Scrapbooking can get expensive and there are so many supplies and items to choose from you can quickly spin ¡°out of control.¡±
Here are some tips to keep you on track and save yourself some money.
1) You don't need every new tool. Scrapbooking is constantly growing, and if you try to keep up with every new item, your checkbook will suffer the consequences. Sit down and come up with a list of items you must have (for example paper, some type of adhesive, etc.) and a list of items that you want to have, then go from there as your budget permits.
2) Share supplies. If you have even just one other friend who scraps, you can double your access to scrapbooking tools. For example, if you or your friend goes shopping, she can buy one punch and you can buy a different one. You can also do this with scissors, stamps, eyelets and other accessories.
3) Keep your layouts simple. Consider using mostly solid colored papers and cardstock, instead of pattern papers and avoid using stickers (which can be costly).
4) Create your own templates. Instead of buying templates, you can create your own on plastic lids or use craft punch cut outs.
5). If you have Internet access, you have a wealth of information available to you for free. For example, there are many websites, which have ideas for titles for your pages or even poems, so there is no need for you to purchase books that offer these. There are also many sites online that have fonts you can download for free, which can help you add variety to your pages. There are so many layout ideas available online you don¡¯t need to purchase idea books either.
6) Swap your extras. If you have extra paper because you purchased too much or maybe a large selection of die cuts, consider swapping them with someone who might have something you could use.
7) Wait for special coupons. In many areas they have crafts store, which occasionally put out 40% off coupons. Wait for these coupons and then go and buy something on your wish list that you could not otherwise afford.
By using these money-saving suggestions you can cut down on your expenses, but still enjoy your scrapbooking hobby.
Creative Photo Corners
Photo corners can be a wonderful addition to your scrapbook page layouts. Add variety and originality to your photos. Jolees offers many kinds of unique photo corners, such as daisies in assorted colors, pearl centered flowers, bumble bees and more. EK Success also produces a variety of photo corner in several different shapes and styles, They have baseballs, Mickey Mouse heads, lady bugs, etc. There are several types of decorative corners available for purchase at scrapbooking supplies retailers.
You can also make your own original photo corners to hold your photographs on your pages.
Here are a few ideas:
¡¤ Cut a 3"-4" round paper doily into four pieces leaving you with four quarter-pieces. Fold the long edges in to the center to create decorative photo corners for your photos. For antique photos try cream-colored doilies that will accent you¡¯re the colors in your photographs.
¡¤ You can use rubber stamps to create photo corners. Place the picture on the page and mark the four corners very lightly with a pencil. Set the photo aside. Stamp over the marks with your stamps. Using a craft knife, cut around the inside of the stamped image (not around the whole image). Slide the corners of your photos in the four small slots created by partially cutting around the inside of the stamped image.
¡¤ Use Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids as corners for pictures of "ouches." Johnson's plain band-aids are acid-free. This will add a creative twist to a children¡¯s scrapbook page layout.
Whether you purchase photo corners or make your own, you will be able to off set your page with these handy embellishments.
Essential Scrapbooking Tools for Beginners
If you are new to scrapbooking or just have not done many pages you are considered a beginner. To begin your scrapbook regimen you should be armed with some essential scrapbooking tools before you get started.
1. Eyelet setter--eyelets are common embellishments and you cannot use them with your an eyelet setter tool. They are fairly inexpensive an entire set that includes a hammer will probably cost you around $20.
2. Decorative scissors. These scissors can be used for many purposes. They can be used to cut photo mats, pictures, etc. The scissors can be purchased at any scrapbook supplier or craft store. They cost about $3-$5.
3. Paper Trimmer. This is essential for anyone attempting to scrapbook. A personal paper trimmer will help you cut straight and make square mats for your page layouts. Paper trimmer are available wherever scrapbooking supplies are sold. A quality paper trimmer will probably cost $15-$20.
There are so many scrapbooking products to choose from. As you become familiar with the products and get a feel for what you want to use you can buy more tools. The products mentioned above are some suggested scrapbooking starter tools.
Using Your Scrapbook Paper Scraps
When you are creating your scrapbook page layouts you are sure to have leftover paper (scraps). Some of the paper will be in strips; it will probably be in various shapes and sizes. You don¡¯t need to waste you paper scraps by throwing them away. You can use them for future layouts.
Here are some suggestions for using your scrap pieces to create beautiful designs for your scrapbooking albums.
¡¤ Make a unique page topper by cutting odd sized/shaped squares and using them to mat your letters. You can magnify your letters with these exclusive mats
¡¤ Make decorative page accents by using up some scraps with your favorite punches. Scraps are also useful for making confetti, photo corners, mosaic tiles, collages and are great for serendipity squares.
¡¤ Scraps can also be used to make rare borders and backgrounds.
Your possibilities are endless so don¡¯t waste your scraps you could be tossing a beautiful layout idea.
Scrapping Photos, Even Duplicates
"School Days" layouts are some of the most fun to create. If you want to use duplicate photographs in different sizes then create layouts that will allow you to do so.
Try using the small pictures as a border for your page or you can create a collage with your photos. A checkerboard border where you alternate your photos with squares of patterned paper or cardstock would make a cute, unique page outline. You can also cut the pictures into different shapes for an attractive photo collage. If you have the same photo on different pages and combine it with other photographs and designs it probably won't even be noticeable. This way you will be able to use your pictures (instead of disregarding them).
Stickers for Scrappers
Stickers can be used to "dress up" a simple page layout. Although the scrapbooking industry has somewhat evolved from using this type of embellishment, stickers will always be somewhat of an ¡°industry standard¡±.
Stickers are great for kids learning how to create their own memory albums. Scrapbooking stickers are available in various themes, colors, characters, etc. You can use sticker letters to create ¡°headers¡±, write your name and other creative tasks. They are an easy way to decorate pages and are less likely to create a mess. Children love stickers; why not let them help with their own scrapbooking albums.
You can purchase stickers at any store that carries scrapbooking supplies. Scrapbooking stickers should be acid-free and memory safe. When purchasing stickers for your albums make sure they have these qualities.
Index Prints
If you print your photos at a photo shop, grocery or drug stores then you usually get index prints with your photos. The index card with little photo captions is great for reference when you first get you photos back, but what do you do with the index prints after you layout all your photos?
Since many of us don¡¯t like to let things go to waste here is an idea for those little index prints. You can cut the strips and use them as a border for your page layouts and/or pictures. By using your index prints you are creating a ¡°summary¡± or ¡°collage¡± of the events and photographs on the current page and the next series of pages.