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.