Saturday, March 24, 2007

20 More Scrapbooking Tips

1.) Go to a workshops!!
2.) Organize your paper by color. Take all your short cuts and paper packs and put all the same colors together. This will make it really easy when looking for that perfect color you want!
3.) Use idea books. CASE!! Copy and Steal Everything and then act like it was your idea! Idea books are great and really help you get going on a page.
4.) Designate an area in your home that you can scrapbook (if you can – many can’t) It is best if you can leave it out all the time so that if you just have 10, 20, 30 minutes or more you can sit down and do it!
5.) Get your kids involved. Mine use to (what I thought) bothers me because they wanted to scrapbook too. I got them all an album and a tape runner so they can be with me and work on their own albums. They love it!
6.) Give your kids the photos you want to throw away because they aren’t that great or you have duplicate copies. They will LOVE them. My 6 year old just wants to do what I am doing and doesn’t care how “good” the photo is.
7.) Take your personal trimmer to your kid’s practices. You can fill the drawer with photos, corner rounder, sm. Circle & oval cutter. and blades, and crop while at practice. Bring journal boxes too! See next tip!
8.) Journal at your kids practice. Bring some pre-made journaling boxes and write about some of your photos or vacations.
9.) Start a Crop Club. Set one night a month or every other month so that you and your friends can get together and CROP the night away! Rotates who hosts the crop club.
10.) Crop your photos and photo mounting paper first. After you have done this it is easier to come up with a page layout.
11.) Use White Space Generously. It is OK to have some white space on a page. Giving your pictures room to breath helps declutter your pages and achieves a pleasing layout.
12.) Bring your camera to as many places as you can. That way you never have to say “I wish I had my camera” It is easier these days with camera phones but not everyone has one!
13.) Are your pictures always of your kids and spouse? Make it a point to have someone take pictures of you being there too! (this is something I am still working on)
14.) Zoom IN! Take some close up shots. These are some of my favorite photos of my kids and pets
15.) Take pictures of the water at the beach, flowers at the flower patch, etc. You can use those pictures by punching them out into shapes and creating a border.
16.) Get your photos developed! If you have a digital camera get them off there and printed up. A great way to organize your pictures on the computer is to use the Memory Manager (make sure you make prints of them too). This is the best photo organizational tool I have used on the computer. It is perfect for those of us with a scrapbooking mind.
17.) Have a new baby? Purchase the 7x7 Disney Album and a Large T-shirt (one that would fit when the child is 12 or so) from the Disney store. Every year take a picture of your child in the T-Shirt. You will have a complete album about the incredible shrinking shirt. You can do this with other items too, such as a rocking chair, rocking horse – use your imagination!
18.) Vacation Tips. Collect memorabilia wherever you go. This includes: maps, postcards, ticket stubs, itineraries, menus, brochures, hotel stationary, restaurant matchbooks or coasters and boarding passes. Plan to journal everyday. Bring a journal and take note of such things like; feelings, initial reactions, sounds, smells, tastes, weather, places you loved or didn’t love, surprises and disappointments. This is going to really help when it is time to create your pages. Take pictures of signs too, they will add words to the images in your story.
19.) Be selective with your photos. Make your album a showcase of your best photos.
20.) Go to a WORKSHOPS!!!!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

20 Scrapbooking Tips

Scrapbooking is a fun hobby that many people are afraid to get into. If you walk into a scrapbook store you can easily get overwhelmed with all the products that are available and just walk out! Creating albums is an important way to preserve ones memories and can be handed down generation after generation. Here are 20 Tips to help you with your albums
1.) Start simple but simply start! This will help you get lots of pages done and keep your focus on the pictures.

2.) BE ORGANIZED! This will save you time and money. If you know what you have and where you have it you won’t be making multiple purchases of the same items!

3.) Organize your photos in the Power Sort Box (or whatever you use to organize your photos) as soon as you get them in the mail or pick them up from being processed!

4.) Go to a workshop!!! If you can’t get anything done at home or just don’t want to spread it all out.

5.) Journal on your pages as you go. It is much harder to go back and journal later. Use your own writing. So many people think they have terrible writing and most often it really isn’t true. Using your own handwriting make your album unique and even more special!

6.) Use a soft cloth to clean off the finger prints from your photos before you put on your page protectors.

7.) Put your page protectors on as you go. Again, it is harder to go back and do it. Protect your beautiful pages right away so nothing happens to them.

8.) Use a personal trimmer to crop your photos. If you don’t have one – get one!

9.) Try to select one picture on your page that you want to stand out. You can mount that photo or cut it into a shape. Try to limit the number of photos you cut into shapes on your page. Too many shapes are distracting.
10.) When creating you page layout, instead of randomly placing your photos on the page imagine a C or Z and put your photos on those lines. C and Z layouts are easy to follow and easy on the eye.

11.) Go to a workshops!!

12.) Don’t over enhance. You really want to focus on the photos and the stories behind them. Less is more!

13.) Use Short Cuts to create pages quickly and easily. When you use Short Cuts there is no need to spend time cutting, it is already done for you!

14.) Use Storybox papers. They are the perfect size for 4×6 photos so you can use them if you aren’t cropping a picture down or you can cut the paper to fit your needs. They also come with coordinating journaling boxes.

15.) Save your scraps. You can use them on future pages and they are perfect for punching out various shapes using the Shape Makers.

16.) Get the most out of your paper by cutting shapes or ovals out of your mounting paper. For example, if you are mounting a photo only use a little tape when cutting out the mat. Then remove the mat and you can cut out an oval, circle using CCS or various shapes using the shape makers. You can then mount your photo and you will have the shapes you cut to enhance your page. Yes, your mat will have holes in it but your photo will cover them and no one will know except you!

17.) Do you always have #’s left from your ABC/123 stickers? Use them to create cute borders. For example you could use up all your 2’s to create a border for a second birthday, second place award, second grade, etc. Or a variety of #’s for school borders, baby albums – I am sure you can think of more!

18.) Use the titletopia you create titles for you pages. They are fun and easy to use.

19.) Have all your tools in front of you when you croppin’ so you have easy access to them.

20.) Organize you stickers by themes and/ or seasons.

You can find some of the tools mentioned above by clicking here!

Tips on How to Organize Your Photos

Organizing your photos is the key to scrapbooking. Once you have all your photos in once place and organized, you will find it easy to put these photos into albums. There are many types of photo boxes that are sold at scrapbook stores and craft stores. There are four simple steps that you can use to get your photo collection organized. First, gather all your photos in one place. Search your house, get them all! Look in drawers, envelopes, bags and boxes or wherever else you stash your photos and bring them all together in one place. You may find memorabilia during your search, grab that too.
Second, you need to decide how you want to organize your photos. You can think about this while you are searching for them. There are a few decisions you need to make and it sometimes helps to make a list of a few themes such as family, friends, celebrations and vacations. You can also create a timeline and sort them chronologically. Third, you are going to sort your photos. Once you have decided how you want to organize your photos sorting will be easy. While you are sorting do just that SORT! Do not spend too much time reminiscing about each photo. You can do that once your photos are in albums. Sorting your photos will be a unique and personal project. YOU need to decide what technique you want to use. Here are four examples of sorting techniques to get you started. You can use these or come up with your own.

Family: This group can include all things done with your immediate family as well as events that occur to other family members that you would like to remember. Vacations: It is fun to travel and you can create an album just about vacations and travel

Childhood/School Albums: Creating albums just about your children is so much fun. It builds their confidence and self esteem. You can create a school album and a special events album for each child or combine the two into one album. Either way it is going to be so special to your children for them to having a history of their childhood.

Heritage: Do you have lots of photos that are from your family heritage? You could put them into an album. Sort them so that they can be used to tell a story. You many want to begin with separating photos by family lineage (for example, your father’s family and your father’s family).

Fourth, you need commit to get organized and to get started. Album making will be fun and easy once you have everything you need in one place. Commit to keeping your pages simple using time-saving products, such as pre-cut papers or themed sticker packs.

Now you have learned the steps to getting your photos organized. Collect, Decide, Sort and Commit and you are well on your way to creating your first album. To stay organized in the future, put them in the proper categories immediately when you get your photos developed. That will keep you organized all the time so you don’t have the need to start all over again.


Thursday, March 8, 2007

Seven Steps to Successful Scrapbooking

There are 7 Steps that will enable you to complete scrapbook pages. Many avid scrapbookers will tell you need to have a system, keep it simple and complete an album! To create a page that is easy on the eyes and focuses on the pictures and journaling you should arrange your photos in a cluster or in an invisible vertical or horizontal line pattern rather than aimlessly wandering across a page with photos every which way. This helps the album-reader’s eye flow easily across your photos and stories. Clustering allows for spaces to tell the story behind the picture, rather than making a few comments here and there. Paper colors and other embellishments should be secondary. If you use to many papers, stickers and cut your pictures in funky shapes the page may end up looking too busy for your eye. You can build successful pages with minimal products in seven simple steps. These steps will help you get your photos and memories into albums quickly, where you can share them with your friends and family.

Choose Your Best Photographs. To complete a two-page spread you should choose 8 to 12 photos. Choose your best photos and get rid of blurry, poorly lit or duplicate photos. Digital Photography has really cut down the number of photos that you have to through away!
Crop Photos and Choose One Shape. You can choose up to one photo per page to cut into a shape if you like. A circle or oval are the easiest on the eyes. Adding a shape is a simple enhancement. Multiple shapes are not recommended because they can make the page look to busy and crowded.

Cluster Your Photos. This was mentioned at the beginning of the article. By clustering you leave room for journaling and create easy eye flow.

Add Color To Your Page. A few pieces of colored paper can tie the two pages together. When choosing your paper for mats and accents try to pull out one or two colors from your photos. It is better to pull out a color from your picture than choosing a color that blends in with the background of your photo.

Create A Title. Create an attractive title using ABC stickers or a round tip been. Make your title stand out as one of your design elements. Titles can go at the top of the page, bottom of the page, or down the side of a main photo. Remember not to crowd your photos with your title. You can find some great title ideas here!

Journal and Write Captions. Once you have got all your photos and papers on the page it is time to journal. Using Who, What, Why, Where, When is always a good start for journaling. You may have a story to tell about the day that isn’t in any of the pictures. You could also add your thoughts and feelings on that day. If you don’t feel comfortable writing directly on the page, you can create journaling boxes. That way if you make a mistake you can try it again, and they look great too. You can also type your journaling, print it out and add it to your page that way. Whatever you choose, journaling is the second most important part of scrapbooking. The photos are number one!

Add Enhancements. Lastly, if you have room on your page you can add accent stickers. There are several tools on the market that you can use to cut paper out in fun shapes to add to your pages. Make sure you don’t add too many enhancements. Keep in mind that some blank space on the page is pleasing to the eye.

Follow these simple steps and you will create beautiful albums quickly. You will enjoy sharing albums with your family and friends. Everybody loves a good photo, but when you create a scrapbook album you are creating a story of your life.

Learn to Scrapbook in 4 EASY Steps!

Scrapbooking is a fun hobby that many people are afraid to get into. If you walk into a scrapbook store you can easily get overwhelmed with all the products that are available and just walk out! Creating albums is an important way to preserve ones memories and can be handed down generation after generation. I have created a guide that will help you start scrapbooking in 4 EASY steps. You don’t need all the frills, fancy paper, stickers (although they are fun to use) to get started. Creating albums needs to be all about the pictures and the stories that are behind them. There are some basic things you need to know before you get started. You must use durable albums with pages that are acid-free, lignin-free and buffered. All of your papers, stickers and other embellishments (if you choose to use them) must be acid-free and pens that are used for journaling and/or decorating should be made with a pigment ink that resists fading and bleeding. 4 EASY Steps to Get Started:

1.) Select the best photos for your page. Sometimes we take so many pictures of the same thing. Just pick your favorite/best ones to use on your page. You may have to crop your photos down so that the object is centered, or to cut off part of the photo that doesn’t look good (for example, someone’s arm that you don’t know).

2.) After you have selected and cropped your photos, the next step is the mount your photos and enhancements using a photo-safe adhesive. Need page layout ideas?

3.) The third step is journaling. Many people don’t like this step but it is the most important one. Every picture has a story behind it and needs to be told. I believe journaling is best done in your own handwriting although you can also type your journaling or use stickers. If you use your own handwriting the album will mean so much more to future generations. Handwriting is like a fingerprint, it is unique to each individual.

4.) The last step is to add any extra enhancements or color to your page. This can be done using pens, stickers, and papers. There are so many products on the market today but remember less is more. Don’t enhance so much so that all you see are decorations because you don’t want to take away from what you are really creating – a photo album, memory album. If you follow these simple, EASY steps you will find yourself creating beautiful albums quickly and easily. Don’t be afraid to just jump into it. Once you get started you will have so much fun. Remember to focus on the photos and the stories behind them. You will have so much fun sharing your albums with friends and family.