Scrapbooking has found a place in the hears of those who wish to leave a legacy of captured moments "in time" reminding them of their personal stories of joy and challenge. Scrapbooks are a way to keep the stories with the pictures, and so much more than the Who, What, Where, Why, When. They are a way to record family traditions, the many funny incidents of childhood, favourite things, and accomplishments...all the things that come together to paint a portrait of our lives. They are also an excuse to use all these great toys!! So with that said, let's get to scrapping!.
This class will cover the following main topics:
BASIC TOOLS
If you are visiting your local scrapbook store, surfing the internet or reading a scrapbooking magazine, you will see that new scrapbook tools are available every week. There are, however, only a few basic tools necessary to complete a scrapbook page.
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Fine-tip scissors
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Paper trimmer
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Black Acid-free Pen
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Adhesive
Paper trimmers come in a variety of sizes; be sure to choose the size that suits your album style. If you use 12 x 12 albums, a 12" paper trimmer will be necessary. While the paper trimmers are used for larger cuts, the scissors are used for your more detailed cutting. I suggest starting with a black pen. You may later decide to branch out to other colours - but will still probably reach for the black most frequently. Adhesives come in all shapes and styles - and are used for different purposes. It is perfectly suitable to start with an acid-free glue stick - and then exeriment with other adhesives as your are comfortable.
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Glue Stick - paste-type glue, for the smallest or largest of items
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Photo squares - dispensed from a box with a removable backing, double-sided, especially good for adhering photos.
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Foam - used for added dimension, item appears to "pop" off the page.
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Hermafix - some call this one the "Queen of Adhesives". Easy dispenser, small dots of adhesive, for small or large items, repositionable (you can still move your item around after sticking it down!)
ACID-FREE AND LIGNIN-FREE
Other than enjoing a creative hobby, the primary goal of scrapbooking is to capture your treasured memories for future generations. Therefore, it is vital that you understand the affects of acid and lignin in albums.
An item with a PH value of less that 7.0 is said to contain acid. The acid found in the item will cause yellowing and brittleness in your album. Items with a PH value of 7.0 or more are considered to be acid-free. Many local scrapbook stores carry a PH testing pen, so you can actually test the level of PH in an item before placing it into your album.
Lignin is another term you need to be aware of. Lignin also causes yellowing and brittleness in paper. It is found in wood pulp, so is only found in items containing paper. In order to protect the photos in your albums, only acid-free and lignin-free items should be used.
If you want to save non acid-free memorabilia, there are ways that these items can be incorporated into your layouts. For example, you may want to include tickets to a musical you attended to help commemorate the event. One way to preserve the tickets is to spray them with an archival spray that neutralises the acid in the item. You could also photocop the tickets onto acid-free paper or place them in a mylar or polypropylene envelope which will enclose the acid and prevent it from being absorbed into surrounding items.
Another helpful item is buffered paper. Buffered paper is not just acid-free, it is also acid absorbent. If you used an archival spray to seal the tickets, you may want to mount them on buffered paper to absorb any acid that develops over time.
COLOUR CHOICE
The colours you choose for your scrapbook layouts have a dramatic affect on the design of your layout. Appropriate colour choices will:
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Draw your eye to the focal point
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Bring out colours in the photos
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Set the mood for the layout
Have you ever wondered why the Halloween layouts containing purple, orange, and green look so good? Well, wonder no more! These colours work so well together because they are called a Triad colour scheme. This means that on a colour wheel, they are three colours placed equally apart from each other. Another common triad colour scheme is red, yellow and blue.
Using a colour wheel will when designing your scrapbook layouts, can really ease the process of selecting the colours, but will also allow you to think of new colour schemes that you might not have ever considered. Another colour scheme is called Complementary. You will choose two colours directly across from one another. If your photos contain a very strong colour - look at a colour wheel and use the opposite colour on the wheel as the main colour on your layout.
If you do not have a colour wheel available, never fear - you can trust your own eye to help choose colours. Place your photos on a variety of cardstock colours and pay special attention to what you first notice about the layout. Choose the colour that draws your eye to the photo and highlights the subject of the photo. You may notice that with some colours, your eye will be drawn to the trees in the background, rather than the child standing in the foreground.
BASIC LAYOUT DESIGN
Although you will develop your own style of scrapbooking, and there really is no "wrong" way to create a scrapbook page, you will find that some layouts are just more visually appealing. Or sometimes, you will study one of your own layouts and feel like something just isn't "right". It could be the way you have laid out your photos and other page elements.
You will find that if you use a basic "triangle" layout design, you will be more pleased with the appearance. Consider the layouts below. The main photo/page elements are part of the triangle.
JOURNALING
All the hard work you put into your scrapbook layout, making sure the items are acid-free, choosing the right colours, and the best layout design will not do any good if you forget to include details about the photos or family event. If you think back to your days in school when your English teacher asked you to write a descriptive paragraph - she probably told you to make sure to include the five 'W's: Who, What, When, Where and Why. Well, times haven't changed and these are still the five most important elements of good journaling.
- Who: List the names of the individuals in the photos. For children, it is also best to include their age.
- What: What are you doing? What event were you celebrating.
- When: Identify when the event occurred. If you are scrapping older photos - you may not be able to narrow the photos down to the exact date. At best, identify the season and year. This will also teach you to label all of your newly developed photos better.
- Where: Where were the photos taken? Try to be specific. Twenty years from now, your children may want to revisit the park they played in as children. But, if you only journaled "playing with the children at the park", they will not be able to locate it. Instead you should journal the name of the park. These childhood landmarks will be much more valuable if their exact location is known.
- Why: Are there special traditions regarding the family event? Be sure to elaborate on any "behind the scenes" events.
ORGANISATION
Keeping your photos and scrapbook layout ideas organised will help you enjoy your scrapbooking more. If you have your layouts organised you can quickly "grab and go" whenever a scrapbooking opportunity arises.
A great trick to "grab and go" scrapbooking is to prepare layout kits in advance. Simply choose your photos, paper, embellishments, memorabilia, etc and place all in a storage bag. When your only focus is on organising kits, you can easily put 8 - 10 kits together in 45 minutes. Then whenever a friend calls to invite you to a crop, or whenever you find some free time, you can enjoy the hobby of scrapbooking without the added fuss of the planning.
