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Scrapbook Techniques

April 2nd, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Okay you have two choices. One is a daily diary or journal. The other is a notebook that is visually attractive. It is done with glamor, beauty and most of all individual interpretation. The interpretation comes from a person that expresses their thoughts, ideas, feelings and imagination. If you put all these things together, what you come out with is a scrapbook. One could say that the definition of scrapbooking is an activity of archiving memorabilia and legacy. Scrapbooks have much more personality than a daily diary or journal. The scrapbook can be cheery and beautiful or dark and evil or anything the producer wants.

Think about scrapbooking even 20 years ago. The age where glue was everywhere, and scissors were an essential tool of the art. Today, things are much different. The digital age has taken over scrapbooking just like numerous other facets of life. How did we do if before computers and the internet? Although there are still holdouts to the new digital way, the ones that use the technology of today to their advantage have a much easier time putting things together. Digital scrapbooking is rampant. The tech-savvy way of keeping a scrapbook includes not only the internet and computers, but also printers, scanners and desktop publishing. All this new technology is providing a wide range of options and new benefits for the myriad of social networks e.g. Facebook, MySpace etc.

Along with ease of use comes the commercial viability of scrapbooking. At one time, it was a small scale art form. Now the activity is expanding every day. Scrapbooking techniques have grown with the evolution of the art. It’s hard to pigeon-hole a set mould for scrapbooking techniques. Virtually any scrapbooking technique will work. It’s just that some work better than others. But in the end scrapbooking techniques are up to the producers and the scrapbooking police are on break so go nuts.

Scrapbook techniques are readily available online from numerous websites. You can also get them from books or magazines. We learn by scrapbooking and in the process find many interesting scrapbooking techniques. Once learned, you won’t forget and you can share them with your friends. Conversely maybe you can learn from them. But all in all, certain standard techniques can improve our scrapbooks in many ways.

If you are going to produce physical scrapbooks then one of the more important aspects is the paper you use. Paper should have a long life, be sturdy and acid free. You should go into any form of scrapbooking with a definite plan for design. You should have a clear idea of the whole design of our project. Planning and selecting material to be used in the scrapbook should be done carefully with the needed variety of pens, inks, stencils and embossing material gathered before you start.

One of the elements of a scrapbook that a lot of people skip is the use of tassels for bookmarks. The tassels can do wonders. Most scrapbooking technique sources emphasize index or highlight pages. These special pages should be easily distinguishable by using special colors or symbols.

One of the most important details of scrapbooking is decoration. The right type of decoration can enhance the scrapbook say most sources outsourcing scrapbooking techniques. Decoration isn’t to be the focal point but it is there to enhance the story of the scrapbook. It should be minimal but tasteful and sufficient. Too much decoration and your project may end up looking gaudy. Choices range from stamps, ribbons, stickers, rub-ons to various other embellishments. They can add a dramatic touch if you choose them carefully and use them appropriately.

Here are a number of techniques to jazz up your scrapbooks.

• · Pop-up pages
• · Pages with interesting trinkets piercing them
• · Peek-a-boo pages
• · Punch craft
• · Panoramic pages
• · Layering

This list is just a start; there are lots of ways to enhance your project. With a subject as big and diverse as scrapbooking techniques you can explore endlessly and add a touch of versatility to your scrapbooks.

Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it.

Ken

Scrapbooking Armoire

March 29th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Scrapbooking is the art of preserving printed documents, be they clippings, photos or whatever. A scrapbook is a colorful album where you store these documents. As you gain experience, you will accumulate many different scrapbooks. How do you organize this pile of paper? Arranging your scrapbooks and supplies can be a very time consuming job. Plus all the space you need to store these things. The scrapbooking armoire is available now to help you keep all your scrapbookings arranged. When you look at it, the scrapbooking armoire is just scrapbooking furniture that will help with your craft. It keeps things organized and out of sight when you aren’t using them.

There are many forms or scrapbooking armoires and some of them include an actual desktop for you to work your craft. The desktop is most likely a folding craft table that can be hidden when you aren’t working on your scrapbooks. This saves space. When you are working on it, it is the perfect height for sitting or standing while you work. In addition to the table, scrapbooking armoires come with shelves and drawers to store you scrapbooking tools and the actual scrapbooks. Most of them have casters on the bottom so they can be moved easily. All these features come in a neat and compact look.

A scrapbooking armoire is ideal for storing large number of scrapbooks and tools. With all the shelves, it will be easy to keep all your scrapbooking items organized. With a fold out table, everything you need to scrapbook with is in one location. No more rooting through piles of stuff looking for an item you need. Most are made of wood with separate doors for upper and lower shelves. You can keep the scrapbooking armoire closed when not in use. From a fully functional workstation to a very nice piece of furniture in seconds. Close the doors, retract the table and poof no mess. Closed up, it occupies less space and it will provide more value for your money.

As mentioned previously , the casters will allow you to move the armoire to wherever you want to work. Just pull up a chair, drop the table and you are ready to work. Check online for this model.

Another model available is the original scrap box. It is a scrapbooking armoire that you can store large and medium scrapbooks separately. It has a number of small shelves where you can place the scrapbooks horizontally while the long shelves will allow you to store them vertically. The doors of the original scrap box are foldable and behind them are many more shelves. You can place all your scrapbooking tools and accessories in either side of the unit. It comes with a separate table to do your work. This unit is ideal for the serious scrapbooker.

Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it.

Ken

Borders for Scrapbooks

March 28th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Here are a few ideas for borders for scrapbooks.

To improve the look and “glitter” of your scrapbook, you need look no further than the lowly border. Most every page has one. No longer attached to the outside of a page, it now can be put around any item in the scrapbook. Around photos, around clippings, around the whole page, virtually anywhere. They really are quite versatile. Proper borders go a long way towards the finished look of the project.

Simple borders can be made with stickers. As long as the stickers don’t conceal any of the photos, there shouldn’t be a problem. The stickers themselves should be narrow and should fill the area from the border to close to the edge of the page. To start a border, get a ruler. You need a ruler to make sure that your border isn’t too crooked or not at the right angle. For a square or rectangular simple border, draw two lines around the entire page. One for the inside edge of the presentation and the other about the width of the stickers your are using inside the first one. This creates an area where you can load up with stickers or maybe as alternative, rubber stamps. The stamp can be applied with different colors to make the border more creative.

One method of using rubber stamps to make creative borders is to try a border of multicolored stamps along only one side of the page. They can even be enhanced once they are placed within the border. Using multi-color pencils will make your scrapbook border look more attractive. Once you have your border laid down, then drawing square-line border should be created around the photos or clippings with pencils of various colors.

Effective borders can also be created with stencils. Pens and wavy-lined stencils can increase the attractiveness of your scrapbook. Die cuts of stencils can be made easily with the help of exacto knives. They make wonderful borders especially along one side to across the page at the top and bottom.

Of course you could always go digital for your scrapbook borders. That opens a whole new slew of possibilities. It also saves a goodly amount of time since everything can be copied and placed (pasted) so easily. The great advantage of digital borders is the ease that you can get premade templates from literally hundreds of sites. Or you could use lots of programs these days to create your own. Oh go ahead be a scrapbooking rogue. You know you want to. The point is that there are lots of forms of borders for scrapbooks.

Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it.

Ken

Digital Scrapbooking

March 27th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Scrapbooking is a very popular as evidenced by the fact that over 25% of people enjoy it. Scrapbooks are easier and more impressive with technology improvements such as digital photographs. In fact the digital photos are what distinguish a scrapbook as a digital scrapbook. It is a new form of collecting your albums. If you want more attractive digital scrapbooks, you can do it with the help of graphics software. It will make the layout of your scrapbook nice and catchy.

Using your creativity and the large amount of graphics software out there your sweet memories can be stored in an artistic way. The home computer is a reality in most homes and can be used for many purposes such as storing photos. You don’t need any special software or knowledge. These days with a rudimentary computer literacy level, the average person can create digital scrapbooks that are hard to distinguish from professional ones.

The convenience of digital scrapbooking has contributed to its phenomenal growth. In the old days, children and adults would get all messed up using paper, scissors and glue. Now it’s so easy, even children enjoy doing it. While they are happily moving elements on the screen they are not getting into trouble and they feel like they have contributed to the family.

Another difference between digital scrapbooks and normal scrapbooks is the ease that you can change the layout and the backgrounds. This can be done at any stage of production, even after the project is finished. Once you are happy with the end product, just share it over the internet. No postage, no damage, unlimited supply for everyone who wants it.

You can still have your physical scrapbook, just print it out. The finished pages can be stored and shown as a scrapbook album. Printing and storing them is done economically. No dust either. Digital scrapbooking will avoid waste of raw materials such as paper and glue and that’s good for the environment.

Just like fingerprints, no two digital scrapbooks are identical. Each of them carries the unique style of design of the person who produced it. The basic steps of creating backgrounds, adding photos, creating photo mats, adding special effects such as shadowing are all easier in a digital world. The last step is to finish with titles.

Presenting the photos can be done with any number of options from simple graphics to 3D effects and everything in between. Don’t worry if you are a first time user, there are lots of ready-made templates that will sharpen up the presentation in short order with just a few clicks. As the new user progresses they gain experience and a feel for new techniques. As they get more confident, their imagination becomes a bigger part of the production of the collections.

Because this is a digital scrapbook, all forms of production must also be digital. You have to collect your photos in digital form. This may seems like a pain, but believe me, once you get on to it, you will realize how much easier it is than going through the family shoebox looking for the just right photo. Also with digital photos, they can be enhanced and changed. They can be converted into different looks. With a couple of clicks, you can take a digital photo and turn it into a chalk drawing or a stained glass look. The possibilities are endless. Not only the photos must be digital but the backgrounds, photo frames, matting, and everything else. Not to worry, there are thousands of all of these freely available on the internet.

With all the possibilities of looks and themes, you have unlimited variations for your scrapbook. The ready-made templates can be used as a guideline. As your skill grows, the only limitation you have is your imagination.

Software that will assist you is listed here. This list is far from definitive but is a good place to start.

1. Adobe
2. Photoshop
3. Photoshop Elements
4. Jasc Paint Shop Pro
5. Ulead PhotoImpact
6. Microsoft Digital Image Pro

These are in no particular order. Each of these are very good products available today for photo editing. Their features will help your scrapbook challenge the pros and lets you bring your own imagination and ideas to the finished product.

If you “google” digital scrapbooking, you will find there are just under 3.5 million results or webpages. So help is readily available from many sites. This makes it much easier to get beginners to start and finish their first project. The fulfillment they will achieve is wonderful.

Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it.

Ken

Beginner Scrapbooking

March 27th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Maybe you have tried some scrapbooking. Scrapbooking has been around for centuries. You can do it with or without a computer. Without a computer, your scrapbook can be good but it can be improved immensely with new technology. Comparing the old plain photo albums and the new computer enhanced scrapbook will soon show you the difference and it can be very obvious. Think about what you can do. There are two extreme ends to beginner scrapbooking. One is that you have a specific idea and go from there. The other extreme is you have so many ideas of scrapping that you can’t settle on a specific idea. Scrapbooks are much better if they are focused on one event , person or group of people. It keeps the viewer interested. Now you have whittled it down to one good idea, so the next step is to start searching for material.

Your enthusiasm to carry on with your scrapbook can be boosted with good sources of information. With the myriad of websites available, getting information isn’t very hard. For this reason, beginner scrapbooking is getting easier and easier.

Now let’s take a look at what you have now.

1. Scissors
2. Glue
3. Colored paper
4. Simple photo album

Is that all you need? No you say. Well we are missing something but most people would say that scrapbooking requires an artistic talent. It is true that artistic talent is important but there is something much more important and that is desire. You’ve got to want it. Now assuming you have everything from above, then what you should do as a beginner scrapbooker is start small and work your way up. Day by day you will be improving and it will show in the end product.

Every scrapbook has a central idea or focus. Around this focus you should try and tell a story. Arranging a scrapbook so it has a nice presentation is the goal. It makes it challenging for the beginner s scrapbooker and will keep the viewers attention. There has to be a system or sequence in place for the photos or clippings. Photos are generally arranged by date. Either way is okay. From the earliest to the latest or the latest to the earliest.

Sorting the scrapbook is a major part of the presentation, once you have your subject decided. You could sort as to the individual, say Aunt Mary and center everything around her. Or you could break it down to important events or occasions. Making that choice will give the scrapbook a consistent look and attraction. Every scrapbook should center around a central photo or clipping. Another impressive feature is photo matting.

As a beginner scrapbooker you are the only judge of your work. Most likely you won’t show your work to anyone until you yourself are satisfied. Along the way to the satisfaction of fulfillment you feel when you finish your project, you can experiment with different layouts and presentations of your scrapings.

One of the overlooked elements of scrapbooking are the photo or clipping explanation. Just add a simple colored paper to each article. Fix them to the articles at the top, bottom or sides, just make sure it is consistent throughout the project. Write an explanation on each and keep it short and crisp. These will give meanings to the articles, not to mention the whole scrapbook. They also help explain the emotions of the articles.

Keep your first scrapbook simple and easy. The colored paper you use for explanations should give the scrapbook a nice, artistic look. Don’t overdo it though.

Plan the scrapbook in your imagination initially before you start pasting photos and writing. A few striking additions of paper and other articles will give it a personal touch. Don’t overanalyze your first scrapbook. Instead look at it as an experiment. Hopefully your first scrapbook will inspire you to continue to your next, only this time your have experience.

Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it.

Ken

Digital scrapbooking freebies

March 24th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Scrapbooking is one of the most popular hobbies now. Most scrapbooks can be enhanced or even totally produced using a computer. The computer offers guidance through lots of websites such as Smilebox and others. Beginners can find out all about the hobby and implement lots of templates and freebies at many digital scrapbooking sites.

Yep, as long as you have internet, you can participate in digital scrapbooking. Distance is no longer a factor on the internet. You can get the information, files, photos or whatever from anywhere in the world as easy as going to the shoebox in your closet. This contributes to the ease and functionality, not to mention the end product. Being a digital scrapbook, it can be changed e.g. appearance, layout, etc. any time you want in the process, even after the scrapbook is finished. There are lots of digital scrapbooking freebies that allow you to easily produce your product. Smilebox Is a good example of what you can get for free.

You want to enhance your collection of digital photos? How about presenting them in a fabulous or stunning way? These can be done with digital scrapbooking. The various software kits and computer graphics make sure your memories are cherished and beautifully presented. To attract the viewer to your scrapbook, there are many freebies available from digital scrapbooking websites. Digital scrapbooking freebies like special pictures or images enhance and clarify the scrapbook subject.

If you want to make your pages beautiful and attractive, you can use many different types of icons and buttons. All these items can be obtained for free. Items such as these entice the reader to go through the pages. You can impress the viewer and also improve the number of people who view your scrapbook.

Digital scrapbooking freebies make scrapbooking economical. Elements such as clips and images that are all free to download, will improve your scrapbooks quality. Items such as paper cutting patterns will increase the background and crafts effects in your scrapbook.

You can transform even your old completed digital scrapbooks with the use of new freebies. They will give your project a unique style and impressive look. You can affect the visual aspect of your scrapbook with a little imagination and digital scrapbooking freebies. The use of free elements will make your scraps crispy or matter-worthy. They will make your important images jump right out at the viewer.

There are literally hundreds maybe even thousands of digital scrapbook freebies available on the internet. Templates, layouts, buttons, graphics and new innovative icons are usually updated weekly or monthly. In addition these freebies are sorted into events such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Birthday, Anniversary, Best Wishes etc. Many of the websites that dole out scrapbooking freebies are reviewed by other websites. You can obtain the star rating of the freebies which usually depends on the popularity of the images.

Digital scrapbooking freebies aren’t necessarily free for every item. They may come with disclaimers. Also these disclaimers can change from time to time. Examples of such disclaimers include the fact that the graphic images are for personal use only, no commercial use allowed. Some items can’t be altered and may be copyrighted. You should not resell them. Proper credit should be given to the original owner. You shouldn’t claim them as your imagination as they are not your property. The terms of downloading freebies should be read and followed.

The digital scrapbooking community is growing worldwide into a major industry. It has given rise to many internet websites and creative people have created thousands of elements which are used by many scrap bookers all over the world.

Been there, done that, scrapped a page about it.

Ken

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