Tips for Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a hobby or craft that is related to pasting newspaper clips, magazine articles, and personal photographs or other into customized, decorated albums or scrapbooks. It was very popular during Victorian times and the last 15 years has seen a resurgence in this popularity. Modern print technology has made the availability of beautiful papers and cardstock, stickers and die cuts almost infinite.  If you have an interest in scrapbooking, these tips will help you choose the right paper, templates and ideas to make your own unique and personalized scrapbook.

1. You need to choose the right paper for your project as there are a variety of scrapbook papers available. Cardstock is a heavy weight paper mainly used for your page layout especially for photo mats and paper piercing. Background and Texture paper is used to decorate the background of your scrapbook pages. Gingham paper is a patterned paper used for background accents on your scrapbook pages. Mulberry paper adds a bit of “flair” to your pages whereas Vellum looks very elegant and could be used for masking an image or embossing. When you choose a scrapbook paper for your memory books always choose one that is acid free so that the photographs you need to preserve are not ruined. 

2. There are different scrapbooking templates that you can use for your scrapbook pages like the lettering templates, envelope templates and die cut templates that assist you in making the perfect design for your scrapbook layouts.

3.  A scrapbooking technique known as “Inking” offers a lot of variety whereby there is no specific way to ink your pages and you can use as much ink as you like in your project. For this you need to have 1) scrapbooking paper, 2) a clean and dry sponge, 30) ink pads of your choice and 4) other supplies such as stamps, stickers, templates.

First cut your desired mattes and papers, then dab the paper in the inkpad and turn it in various directions. This creates a smudged colour on your paper.  Use a sponge to fill in the colour in uneven areas wherever you like. This adds a depth to your pages and gives an antique and weathered look by enhancing your paper and adding to overall layout.

4.  You can use craft punches in different shapes, these are usually only a few centimetres in size. Punch your shape onto the scrap book paper and place it on a copier with a dark sheet of paper covering the punched portion.  Enlarge it to your desired size and cut out the black punch pieces for templates. This way you have some nice shapes for your scrap book layouts.

5.  For beginners, there are some tools such as Eyelet setters, decorative scissors, paper trimmers that all help you to get started.

6. Include quotes to add some elegance to your page layouts. Your scrapbook will become unique and interesting for others to browse.