There are no right and wrong things to do in scrapbooking as long as you are pleased with the result. Your personal decisions on the color and design of your pages are as much a part of the scrapbook as the memories you are trying to preserve, they give a 'flavour' of your personality. But what if the scrapbook you are creating is a special one, perhaps a wedding, which you are putting together for someone else? If you are looking for rules to follow to make sure your project is successful, look no further.
It's about the pictures. Scrapbooks are designed to preserve memories, to be a wonderful record of our lives and those of our loved ones. Your scrapbook pages should be designed to enhance the pictures you are displaying, not to overcrowd or overshadow them. Scrapbooking is the art of balance between pictures, backgrounds and embellishments, all should come together to enhance memories that exist and to create a flavor of those memories for those who do not share them.
Harmonize. Chose your scrapbook page background to harmonize with your pictures in color as well as in theme. If you are scrapbooking portrait style photographs, you could choose a background color from the clothes the subject is wearing. If you are using landscape photo's it may be safest to choose a color from the sky. One color pages can be effective, especially when stamped all over with clear ink, which gives an interesting, almost textured effect to the pages. If your choice is a bright color, you might like to layer your photographs on vellum to allow them to show up more strongly.
It's a layout. The only pages in a scrapbook which are viewed alone are the first and the last. All the others are a two page spread. Some of the most effective scrapbook pages exploit this, creating a single layout which spreads across two pages, rather than two layouts which are considered alone. As a first step, consider using the same background for each page of your two page spread.
Scrapbooks may cover years, even decades, or they may cover a single event, such as a vacation, a birthday, a wedding or a graduation. Where the scrapbook is designed to cover a single event, choose a color scheme for the entire book and stick to it. It could be the same color scheme as the wedding, the color of the graduates robe, seaside or possibly tropical colors for a vacation. Using the same color theme all the way through will give your scrapbook a unified look and helps to create that 'I was there too' feeling for those who weren't.
Journaling is very important. Have you ever looked at a picture of your grandmother or great grandmother and wondered what she was really like? Many people have attics full of pictures, but no idea who those pictures portray. Others have only a name, no information to give them a flavor of the man or woman in the picture. Don' let that happen to your scrapbooks. Be sure to use plenty of tags to name your pictures, and leave space for other journaling. If you're not sure what to write, ask yourself, 'What would I want people to know about this event in 10, 20 or 30 years time?' Those are the facts you should record in your scrapbook.
What if you don't have a picture? Sometimes we don't have a camera to hand when a memorable event takes place, or maybe the pictures you had have been lost. Memories are more important than pictures, that's why scrapbooks are so often called 'Memory albums'. It's OK to revisit the location, take a modern picture and add journaling to say 'This is where Dad was born' or 'This is where we met'. You can even use postcards where appropriate. Remember scrapbooks can contain more than just pictures. They are a great place to store tickets, brochures and other items which help to bring the memory to life.
Don't delay. The best way to preserve your memories in a scrapbook, is to create the scrapbook straight away. When going on vacation its easy to buy a collection of scrapbooking items before you go, take your digital camera and a small, portable printer with you. On rainy days when you don't want to go out, the whole family can help update the scrapbook making sure the memories are captured for years to come. You can always add the final embellishments when you get home.
Creating your own backgrounds makes your scrapbook even more personal, but be careful to use the right type of watercolor distress ink. Ink pads, acrylic stamps and other scrapbook supplies are available from Dinglefoot.
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