Scrapbooking is a creative outlet. That doesn’t mean that you have to be an artist. It just means letting your imagination go. It has evolved over the years. The lines between crafts are becoming blurred. You will see sewing, painting, needlework, clay and any other creative skill you have now being used in a layout.

It’s difficult to know where to begin. So, before you walk into a craft store to gather supplies for your scrapbook, think about what kind of book you’re going to create. Will this be a gift or for you and your family?

Let’s take this step by step and start with themes. Here’s a list just to get your creative juices flowing:

– Baby                                  Holiday (VDay, Halloween,Christmas etc)
– Birthday                             Friendships
– Grade/High School            Family
– Wedding                            Graduation
– Vacation                             Fishing trip
– 1st trip to dentist                 Prom
– Camping                             Engagement
– Beach                                 College
– Sports                                 Events at school
– New house                          New car
– Festivals                              Pageants
– Scouting                              Anniversaries (25th, 50th)
– Zoo                                      Retirement or Farewell

On the other hand, you may choose to organize your photos chronologically and create scrapbook by year which is how I normally do it. This means that every event that happens in any given year will be in one book.

As gifts:

You can create books for your children with photos taken throughout their childhood.

When my friends and I take trips, I sometimes make them each small books documenting our trip and all the crazy things that happened.

Working with the military, we often had farewells.  I’ve made books for the person transferring by taking photos of all the people in the office and office functions we attended.  I then left a couple pages blank and passed the book around the office for everyone to sign.  The people signing enjoyed it almost as much as the person getting it.

The possibilities are endless, but you might want to at least have a rough plan before you buy anything. The next topics I’ll be covering are your photos and papers. So, stay tuned.

 

By Debra Armstrong

Thanks for reading.  Please leave a comment.