Scrapbooking Helps Make Memories Last

Scrapbooking is another craft that has seen a boom in popularity in the past decade or so. Its history dates back to around the time when printing was invented. Photography has also had a major impact on the development of the craft. At its core, it remains a very sentimental craft, one where memories provide the basis on which the pages and albums are built.

It’s About Preservation:

This art is basically the preservation of personal and family history on paper. With the use of photos, mementos, and the printed word (also known as journaling), it adds beauty to memories meant to last forever.

As a craft, it’s definitely a visual art. It can be simple, but just as well, it can be complex, and it’s really up to the artist what he/she wishes to convey. While a photo album can just as easily preserve memories, it’s a scrapbook that can add further definition and context. That’s mainly where the power lies.

When scrapping, in addition to photos, other mementos you might include are: letters, tickets, newspaper clippings, greeting cards, invitations, announcements, or flyers. In fact, depending on the theme, most anything nowadays can be included on a page.

Materials and Tools:

What’s more, the arts and crafts industry has made it even simpler to embellish your pages. Theme packages are available, as are individual adornments. Whatever you’re looking for, chances are it’s been mass-produced. To jazz up your pages, you may try adding: buttons, eyelets, alphabet letters, stamps, stickers, or ribbons. As with all paper crafts, the beauty is that you begin with a blank page. From there on, it’s up to you how you wish to fill it.

The most important material however, besides the album, is the paper. Indeed, the background paper is the first element chosen when creating a memory. If it’s a day at the beach, perhaps the paper is sea green. A day at the amusement park, maybe cotton candy. A new baby, pastel pink or blue. The choice is yours and very much like the base color of a painting, the background paper is what frames everything else that is added to the page.

Most scrapbooks today stop at around 12” square. Regular letter-sized paper 8 ½” x 11” is what is commonly found; although there are smaller formats to choose from as well, which can lend to layering. In addition to the album and paper though, you’ll also need to a few basic tools to start. These include scissors, photo tape, acid-free glue, color (art pens, glitter), and if journaling, quality archival pens.

Lasting Forever:

Note that when scrapbooking, you’ll be creating memory pages to last a lifetime. For this reason, you should only work with archival, acid-free papers and complementary tools.

Scrapbooking may look complicated, but it’s really one of the more simple paper crafts. The reason being is that you can never go wrong with a scrapbook page. It is what you make of it and it never has to be finished either. You can always add to it. A ribbon here. A brad there. Remember, it’s entirely up to you.

Please check out the ideas below and check back often because I will be adding more.

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