Anyone Can Make a Handmade Scrapbook Using My Step by Step Process

By Sandee Lembke

 

Sharing Your Photos

You went to a special event or party and took a lot of pictures but what are you going to do with them now? If you are like most people, you'll view the pictures on your computer or from the envelope that they came in and that will be the end of it. They will be filed away never to be seen again.

That is a shame. I know, because I have boxes and boxes of pictures that are rarely seen because it's too difficult to get at them. Conversely, I also have several scrapbooks that are just a joy to look at. To me, they are heirlooms that I can't even put a price on.

The idea of putting my photos into a handmade scrapbook came to me after I attended a certain event and several people asked me for copies of my pictures. Rather than make a bunch of copies of random pictures and pass them out, I decided that this certain event deserved more than that. It was special and so I wanted to showcase the pictures in a special way. I wanted to tell the story in pictures and words.

Although handmade scrapbooks take a lot of time to make, they can not be beaten for quality and uniqueness. I started with that first special event and have made several books since then. Follow the steps below to make your own:

To Make a Handmade Scrapbook

• Mount prints on 8-1/2 x 11 white card stock. In addition to the prints and card stock, I recommend getting a paper cutter and a corner rounder. The paper cutter allows you to precisely cut your photos and card stock to size, and the corner rounder is really nice for shaping the corners of your photographs.

  I usually put my prints in chronological order first, crop them to size, round the corners (personal preference) and then mount them with glue sticks.

  In addition to the photo pages, adding a one page family tree or an itinerary page can really help tell the story. My scrapbooks usually end up being 20-40 pages with 3 to 5 pictures on each page.

• Put words to the pictures. After all the pictures are mounted onto the card stock scrapbook pages, I bring them to my computer and simply go through each page and type into a blank Word document the captions for each picture.

  When I began making these books, I purchased a disk of really cool fonts called "The Best of Creative Lettering" from my favorite scrapbook magazine, "Creating Keepsakes Magazine." If you want a great scrapbooking resource, this magazine is it!

  After the captions are in the Word document, I print them, and mount each one by the appropriate picture using glue sticks.

• Embellish the pages. Now that the pictures and captions are mounted, I dress up the pages with memorabilia, such as, golf score cards and ticket stubs, and I add stickers to limit the amount of white space. Don't use metallic stickers as they do not copy well.

• Copy, Laminate and Coil. The cheapest way to make copies of your original pages is to go to a copy place, like Kinkos or Reprographics, and make the color copies yourself (bring your own cardstock). It's more expensive, but they will do it for you if you prefer.

  This is the best part of making this kind of scrapbook. You can make as many copies as you like of the original and everybody gets a copy of their own to take home. You can't do that with scrapbooks made in those big, fancy albums.

  To make the scrapbooks more durable, I laminate the front and back covers. It really adds to the quality of the book. Lastly, the books need to be bound. I like to use the black coil type because they hold up well and look really nice.

I spend a lot of time and energy creating these handmade scrapbooks to commemorate special events or to honor special people. When I give someone one of these extraordinary gifts and see their expression, it truly warms my heart and makes it all worthwhile.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, you can view some photos of the books that I made honoring my Grandma and my Mom. Click here to go to my Memories page. The photos are at the bottom. Sandee Lembke from http://www.theme-party-queen.com A website for the busy entertainer. Whether you are looking for savory appetizer and tempting dessert recipes or tips on preserving party memories, Theme Party Queen has it. Copyright: You may freely reprint this article provided the whole text, the author name, the links and this notice remain intact. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sandee_Lembke

Easter Scrapbooking Ideas

By Rachel Paxton 

 

Easter is a great time to capture family photographs for scrapbooking. Even if you don't scrapbook, planning your picture taking ahead of time ensures you won't miss any of these great family memories. No family traditions? Then this is a great time to start!

Here are some Easter photograph ideas for scrapbooking:

Photograph spring flowers in bloom. Daffodils and tulips will make a colorful contrast to your other photographs.

Have your kids help you make Easter cookies or an Easter cake. Snap a picture of them working in the kitchen and then make sure to take a picture of the finished product. We made a layer cake and arranged it on a thick piece of cardboard covered with aluminum foil. It was lemon cake with lemon filling and pink frosting. We decorated it with store-bought Easter candy. Around the base of the cake we arranged Easter grass and added chocolate eggs and peeps for decoration. It made a great picture!

Gingerbread houses aren't just for Christmas! Make a gingerbread house and decorate it for Easter with pastel colors and lots of Easter candy. The possibilities are limitless.

If your family attends Easter church services, make sure to get a picture of your girls in their Easter dresses. Dressing up is a great excuse to take a picture.

Coloring Easter eggs never gets old, whatever the age of your kids! They never get tired of showing you how creative they are. Join in on the fun and then take a picture of the finished product.

Easter egg hunts are also fun for the whole family. Take some good action pictures and get a picture of your kids with their Easter baskets.

Easter dinners are a great time to take family pictures. It's a good time to take pictures of relatives you don't often see, and fun to get pictures of the family laughing and enjoying a meal together. Take pictures of any of the good food you want to remember later.

Have fun picture taking, and have a happy Easter!

Photos of finished project: http://www.crafty-moms.com/scrapbooking/sample_layouts_4.shtml

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel_Paxton

Be Original With Your Spring Scrapbooking Layouts

By Christine Perry

 

Ah, spring! This is the season that so many of us call our favorite and with good reason. Winter may be beautiful and fun for those who love to ski or snowboard, but let's face it, after so many months of having to wear several layers of clothes and dig out the car before we can go anywhere, is it any wonder that so many scrappers are looking forward to the season and their spring scrapbooking layouts! If this describes you and you are ready to create some really inspirational pages that celebrate the season, how can you do this? What are some unique and original ways to dress up your spring scrapbooking layouts so that they don't look like everyone else's pages?

The first thing you might want to think about when it comes to spring scrapbooking layouts is the color choice. Many people opt for soft pastels when it comes to spring pages, but why not try something bold and brilliant? Find paper that is a deep and rich purple or crimson. You will of course need to break up this strong color with other elements and embellishment it so that it does not overpower your scrapbooking page layout, but by having this strong color as your base you are going to create pages that are really unique.

What is going to be your main focal point for your spring scrapbooking layouts? Do you have a favorite photo to use? If you are not sure of an idea, why not try the front of a greeting card or a postcard? You can frame these the way you would a photo and they can be very beautiful but very unique. Flowers of course are a typical option when it comes to decorations for spring scrapbooking layouts, but don't limit yourself to this. Think sunshine and singing birds as well. Many animals have their babies in the spring, so you can do a baby animal themed page. Try baby bunnies, ducks, puppies, and so on.

Spring layouts can include springtime sports as well. Remember the holidays during spring, like Easter. Easter egg hunts and Easter outfits make great photo opportunities for your spring layouts. Take pictures of your garden, especially the bulbs as they first start to sprout from the ground. Then use photos of tulips and daffodils as they bring color back to your yard.

When scrapbooking Easter page layouts for spring, don't limit yourself to Easter bunnies and Easter baskets. This is a perfect time to scrapbook your faith. Consider what Easter means to you and your religion. If you don't celebrate Easter, you might include a page that reflects your own faith or religion, and how you express your faith.

Spring brings warmer weather and all those fun activities that go with it. Consider scrapbooking a boat out on the water, picnics, all of the fun things you do when the weather is warmer can be great themes or page elements. Since there is no right or wrong way to make scrapbooks, don't hesitate to get very creative and you'll have some pages that are as unique as you are!

Christine Perry is an avid scrapbooker and has over 10 years of scrapbooking experience. Her favorite scrapbooking subjects are her reluctant teenagers. She invites you to her website, http://www.intoscrapbooking.com for more beginner scrapbooking and scrapbooking for graduation. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christine_Perry

Digital Scrapbooking Pattern Layout

By Rex Allen

 

Digital Scrapbook templates with Photoshop elements

STEP ONE: Go under the File menu, under New, and create a new Blank File.

STEP TWO: The size you make your pattern will be the same size it will show up in your final product. In the example to the right, the pattern will be about 1 inch square. The Resolution needs to match the resolution of the final project to keep the size accurate. The standard resolution is 300 dpi, but for most scrapbook pages, I would recommend 200 dpi because you will have a lot of layers and your file sizes will get very large. When you are finished press OK.

STEP THREE: Your pattern could be as simple as a line down the middle of your new document, but for this example, use the Custom Shapes tool to get a more intricate pattern. Click on the Custom Shape Tool or press "U" on the keyboard. Click on the Shape drop down menu and notice there is a small triangle to the upper right of the menu. Click on the triangle and you will see many different shape categories. Choose the category "Ornaments." This category contains a lot of shapes that are easy to repeat in a pattern. Choose the shape "Ornament 6" as shown to the right.

STEP FOUR: Press "D" to set your default colors to Black and White. Click in the upper left corner of your blank file and drag your shape down to the lower right corner. Leave a little bit of room at the edges, because this particular pattern will need a little space when it is repeated to look consistent.

STEP FIVE: The custom shape tool creates a more advanced graphic that can be resized easily - before it can be used as a pattern, it must be simplified. Go to your layers pallet and right click, to the right of the icon, on your shape layer and choose Simplify Layer or from the Layers menu choose Simplify Layer.

STEP SIX: Now you are ready to make your shape into a pattern that can be used to fill a background. Go to the Edit menu and choose Define Pattern. A dialog box will open up asking for a name - type in any name that will mean something to you later and click OK.

STEP SEVEN: Now try out your pattern by creating a New Blank File - try 4 inches by 6 inches at 200 dpi (the resolution we created the pattern in) and press OK. Now with your new blank document open, choose Fill from the Edit menu. When the dialog box comes up, choose Pattern from the drop down menu - the pattern you just created will be at the very bottom of the Custom Pattern drop down menu. Click OK and you will see how your final pattern looks!

To make great quality prints upload to scrappingsimply.com

Scrappingsimply.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rex_Allen