I pretty much taught myself how to scrapbook. Although scrapbooking doesn't require a genius, it still needs to have a process for the end result to look good and appeal to over people. So I wanted to share this process with you in case you are new to scrapbooking or just need a more organized way of doing it.
Step 1- Decide what scrapbook you want to do. Is it a scrapbook from a cruise you went on, or beach trip? Is the scrapbook a continuous book of a pet or child? You can do anything! One of my favorite scrapbooks that I have done was for the whole year of 2011. Everything that happened within the year 2011 I put in that particular book. But choose this first so you have an idea of what you are going to do. Also this step would include buying your essential ideas that I have listed below.
Step 2- Is deciding what pictures you are going to use. If you’re like me, I save every picture, even some of the blurry ones, so I start by going through the pictures I want to use for the scrapbook and narrow it down to the best ones. Tip! Pictures that are taken up close and pretty much take up the entire 4x6 aren't always the best ones to choose. Choosing pictures that are taken further away from the object or people work a lot better because then you can cut and crop the picture to make shapes after you print them. So, figure out which pictures you are going to use and print them!
Step 3- Once I have printed the pictures, I decide which pictures will go together on a page. For example, if I have several days at the beach, all of day one at the beach would be on one page or pictures from a dinner would be all on one page. Once you decide which pictures will be together, decide on a theme for that particular page. Will it be a birthday theme? Will it be a holiday or beach theme? Decide on a theme you want to do for that particular page.
Step 4- The next step is to pick out a background page (12x12 card stock paper) that goes along with your theme. You can also cut two different pages in half and use two different colors. Anything you want to use for the background. I also choose at least three more 12x12 pages that match my background color and go along with my theme.
Step 5- This is where the fun starts... Next I place (NOT GLUE) the pictures onto my background page and decide a few things: where I want each picture on the page, if I want the pictures to have a title, turned a certain way or anything else. I figure out the placement of the pictures that flows best. Also, at this time, if you know what stickers and embellishments you are going to use, you can go ahead and set (but don't glue or stick!) the stickers onto the page where you want them to eventually be glued. You're basically figuring out the layout of everything that will be glued onto the page. This is also to make sure everything will fit on the page before you start gluing and it's too late. Tip: for each picture leave room for about 2-3 cm for the background color behind it to be seen.
Step 6- After I decide the layout of the page, I pick what colors I want behind each picture. I hardly ever glue a picture directly onto the background page. By doing this you are adding color and contrast in between the picture and the background page. This is where those 2 or 3 additional pages that match your theme and background page come into play. I decide which color of paper will go behind each picture and then I also decided what shape I will make the picture and the background paper to be. Whether it’s a rectangle, triangle, circle or funky shaped, I decide that now.
Step 7 - is to start cutting the pictures the shape you want them. I would recommend using stencils and tracing along the back of the picture before you cut the picture. Tip: if you use a dark colored pen and trace along the back of the picture, most of the time you can hold the picture up to a light and make sure what you’re cutting out is centered and that you aren't cutting anyone's head off :) I then cut out the paper that will go behind the picture, most of the time it’s the same shape as the picture just a little bigger so you have that 2-3 cm that shows as a ring on the outside of the picture.
Step 8- This is basically a repeat of step 5. I again, lay everything out onto the background page to make sure it fits (this time with each of those background shapes and colors behind the pictures) and looks good. I also recommend at this time to have your stickers and anything else other than your pictures that you want on the page so you can lay them out, without permanently putting them on the page, and see how everything looks.
Step 9- I then start by gluing each picture onto its specific background shape color that you chose and then glue that paper onto the background or main page. For bigger pictures and the corresponding background paper I use scrapbook double sided tape on the outer edges. This just helps keep your pictures from coming unglued. Then you can add stickers or embellishments.
And you are done! You will repeat these steps for each page!
You will eventually learn different tricks and techniques that work best for you!
Below is just a short list of some tools you will need to get started with scrapbooking. Most of these you can buy at Michael's Craft Store
The essentials:
- A scrapbook!
- Pictures
- 12x12 card stock paper. You can get individual or you can buy a whole album that has different pages. Some albums are a specific theme and some albums are just random pages. I love the theme ones!
- Scissors- a normal pair will work, you can also buy the ones that cut the crazy patterns to add some flare to your pictures
- Glue- It has to be ACID FREE AND PHOTO SAFE NON TOXC. I recommend the glue actually made for scrapbooks, you can find it at Michael's
- Double-sided SCRAPBOOK tape
- Stickers and embellishments! My favorite part!
- Stencils
- Ribbon, stamps, sticky letters, anything!
Here is my link to my Pinterest page so anyone can look at my board of Scrapbooking and get some ideas: Megan's Pinterest Page
Thanks for reading! See ya next time!
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