Scrapbook Techniques

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Wednesday, 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