Scrapbooks are great for sharing memories with your family and friends.
Scrapbooking, a hobby that involves arranging decoratively displayed photographs in albums, gained popularity in the 1990s and is now practiced in many countries. It provides a creative way to protect your photos and preserve family memories. Each scrapbook is different and allows the crafter to use his or her imagination to create something unique and personal.
Instructions
1. Decide how your photographs will be organized. Organizing your photos by themes or chronological order are common alternatives. Different themes include births, christenings, milestones, Christmases, birthdays, holidays, day trips and family pets.
2. Choose your scrapbooks. The scrapbook, which comes in a variety of sizes, should be attractive and fit the theme of your album. The number of photos you have will dictate how many scrapbooks you need. Choose ring binder scrapbooks that allow you to easily remove and add pages to your project. Ensure that the book's clear plastic page protectors are acid free to prevent your photos from becoming damaged over time.
3. Choose the scrapbook paper you want to use for your project. One or two different types of background paper per book will work well. Choose another one or two types to use for matting purposes. Matting is the layering technique that creates a paper border around your photos. These mats are affixed to the background paper in order to add interest and depth to your pages.
4. Decide what photos you want to use in your first scrapbook and what order you want to display them in. Lay the photos out on the pages so that you get an idea of where you want each photo to be placed.
5. Crop any photos that you want to make smaller. Photos can be affixed straight onto the background paper using an acid free glue. They can also be matted onto a separate piece of paper. To mat a photo, glue it to the corner of the matting paper and leave a gap between the photo and the paper's edges. Cut around the photo to create an even border. Glue the matted image to the background for a layered effect.
6. Add embellishments that match the scrapbook's theme. There are many different types of scrapbook embellishments available, including cardstock letters, wooden buttons, ribbon bows and stickers.
7. Write any important descriptions or comments on the pages that relate to the photos or the themes of your scrapbook.
8. Leave your pages to dry; drying times vary according to the type of glue used. Place the pages in the plastic page protectors prior to assembling your scrapbook.
