Beginning A Scrapbook

Have you ever wished you could take all those old photos and clippings you have in an album, maybe in a drawer, envelope or box and organize them? Make a nice chronological and ongoing story of the people and events in your life? A nice scrapbook for example, where a viewer wouldn't wonder when something happened, where it happen, who is this person, how old were they, who were they married to or who were their parents, what was their grade, their score, who won, who lost, etc. etc.? Or perhaps you have knowledge or a special interest in a specific subject you have or would like to gather and save information about. A scrapbook would certainly help organize and condense the information, and make a nice presentation when shown to someone, wouldn't it?

Nice idea, but you don't know where to start or how to make it attractive and interesting?

Here are some ideas on how to start. Be careful though, because once you get started it can become addictive. But who cares, if you enjoy it; and people admire your handiwork.

Once you decide on a subject, you will start searching the material for it. You may already have much of it stored away. If not you may have to do some research. Perhaps in old magazines, newspapers or the library.

To make your scrapbook look attractive, you will find that there are some great stores that offer scrapbooking materials. Some actually cater to scrapbookers. There are also many web sites providing information about scarpbooking. Once you start getting good information about the sources of these things you will be enthusiastic to carry on your scarp book.

The basic thing to remember is that you can do scrap booking even if you're not an artist. Desire counts more than skill. You might want to start with a small simple book to hone your skills. You will only need a few basic things like scissors, glue, a few sheets of colored paper and a simple album. Rudimentary. But, better than throwing a bunch of unorganized photos in an album.

Scrap books tell a story. So you ought to arrange it in a flowing manner to give the presentation a theme. Maybe like giving a speech, but your photos, descriptions and clippings do the talking. Arrange everything chronologically, from start to finish. Or up to the latest date if you will be adding more. You might want to take a central photo, clipping, or announcement like that of a new born child, graduation, sporting event, majestic view or of a product you may or have developed or promoted and then build from there.

When working with photos, you want to make them look impressive. Photo mat really helps. You might like to decorate the central photo to make it stand out. You can get some ideas on how to do that in the scrapbook stores or on the web. You might like to obtain the e-book Intro to Scrapbooking offered on my site.

Use colored scrapbook paper on which to attach your photos, clippings, etc. Use a different color paper to make strips to place under or next to the photos. You write on the strips a description of the photo. Different colored paper brightens the page. Don't put too much on any page as it will look crowded and the central scraping won't stand out.

Try to make one page flow into the next continuing the subject or a related subject.

Once you have decided on the subject for a scrapbook you must decide the method of sorting. Many scrapbooks are like small genealogies. You could use a photo of Mom and Dad as the central photo and surround it with the children. From there you could lead into individual pages for each family member adding more photos, announcements, accomplishments, etc. relative to events in their lives.

Your scrapbook doesn't have to be just about family. It can be anything you're involved in or associated with; things you have done. Like trips, vacations, things you have built. Of course you can put everything into one large scrapbook, but breaking things down into smaller more specific ones lends itself to being shown when the subject comes up, as against foisting a big scrapbook of everything onto a viewer.

Richard Prosser

By: kcid

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Richard Prosser is the owner of www.theprostoresite.com/scrpbktips and many other informative niche sites.