Scrapbook My Life

In the scrapbooking world, Project 365 is a hot new concept. Becky Higgins, popular Creating Keepsakes contributor, is promoting the idea of making an album featuring a photo per day for one year. There is a special kit you can purchase for the project, but many scrappers are taking the concept and using their own supplies to create the album.

Is Project 365 a great idea? Theoretically, I love the idea of being able to scrapbook all the little moments in my life that often get overlooked. However, I have a feeling very few people are going to be able to keep up with this. I started the year trying to take a photo per day. Less than a week later, I’ve already missed two days! Between my freelancing business and my goal to rejoin Weight Watchers, I’m afraid Project 365 is just too much work.

To celebrate 2009, I made a trip to my local Hobby Lobby to pick up a new scrapbook album. (I like to separate my layouts by year to make them easier to find.) Of course, even though they had the albums 50% off this week, they no longer carry the style I’ve been using for the past two years. It may sound a bit anal retentive, but I like my albums to be a neat and tidy row on my bookshelf instead of a hodge-podge of mismatched stuff. Additionally, since I’m a fairly prolific scrapper with a fondness for bulky embellishments, I need an album that can hold LOTS of pages. I did find one that’s a reasonable approximation to what I had before, but it’s not quite as nice. If I ever come across the perfect album to store my layouts in, I’m going to max out my credit card to buy 50 of them!

If you love using stickers on your scrapbook layouts, you’ve probably run across the common problem of accidentally adhering your embellishment in the wrong spot. Un-Du is a great product to help remove misplaced stickers, but it can be pricey and hard to find. Luckily, there is a great alternative — refill your bottle of Un-Du with bestine solvent and thinner.  The two products are basically the same.  The reason Un-Du is so expensive is because of the patented scraper on the bottle.  Bestine can be purchased at any art supply store.

Here’s another great tip for sticker placement. When making titles with letter stickers, aim for a slightly random look to give your page a hip and modern look. Plus, if your stickers look like they were purposely a bit off center, you won’t even need the Un-Du in the first place!

I finally had a chance to do some serious scrapping last night, reminding me of a common complaint. Nothing irritates a scrapbooker quicker than the site of fingerprints on a layout!  While there are products you can buy to remove unwanted fingerprints and smudges from your photos, lint-free shoe shine cloths will work just as well.  In a pinch, you can even try using a baby wipe!

To help reduce the amount of fingerprints on your photos, you might want to consider having them processed with a matte finish. Since I tend to be a messy scrapper and my son has started to enjoy playing with my glue sticks while I’m working, I anticipate most of my 2009 photos will be done in a matte finish. Textured acid-free cardstock is another great choice for printing images, since small imperfections on less visible on this surface.

If you love to scrapbook, it’s only natural to want to share your passion with those around you. However, converting people into full-fledged scrappers can be a challenging task. At one point, both my mother and my best friend were avid scrappers. Now, I’m the only one who has managed to keep it up.

Luckily, there are still ways to share what you love without forcing everyone to pick up a new hobby. Enlist your family and friends to help you find embellishments for your scrapbook. Have them save anything they think you might be able to use. Many people hate to throw useful items away and will be happy to give their buttons, bows, wrapping paper, greeting cards, fabric swatches, and other goodies a new home. Remember to show them the finished layouts you created with their treasures.

Asking your loved ones to contribute journaling to your scrapbook pages is another way to share your hobby. This is especially fun if you have a young child at home, since kids tend to have clever and usual insights for holiday scrapbook layouts. For example, a child’s description of how your family celebrates Christmas is a wonderful way to spice up a layout of people opening their gifts.

Even though they’re not exactly one of the more “trendy” scrapbooking supplies available, I love using eyelets on my scrapbook pages. I have one of the newer silent eyelet setters, but I usually use my old-fashioned hammer and setter. It’s fun to pound out your frustrations! However, if you seldom use eyelets on your layout, you don’t need to invest in a set of eyelet tools. Just make a whole in the paper with an X-Acto knife, insert your eyelet, and bend back the edges with a wire cutter. Instead of an overpriced eyelet pounding mat, use on old mousepad to protect your workspace.

Want to go beyond using eyelets as the center of a flower, mock photo corners, or a way to adhere journaling blocks? Try pounding a variety of different sizes and shapes of eyelets into plain cardstock to create your own custom background paper with lots of texture and dimension. If you don’t have enough eyelets in coordinating colors, cover the entire piece with a layer of acrylic paint when you’re finished.

Although red and green are the traditional color schemes for Christmas scrapbook layouts, you don’t have to feel limited by these options. Browse through any store with Christmas decorations and you’ll see that holiday celebrations now have a variety of design options. Blue and purple are a good choice for a fun winter-theme. A “girly” Christmas theme could include hot pink with lime green accents. Black and white is also becoming popular as a hip and mod alternative Christmas decoration scheme.

Of course, glitter and metallic accents are always at home on holiday scrapbook pages. Die Cuts with a View makes great metallic and glitter infused cardstock stacks that make it easy to add pizzazz to your pages. Many companies are also making patterned papers that include flocking to add extra texture to your scrapbook layouts.

During the holiday season, it’s hard to find time to scrapbook. However, by planning ahead and saving bits of interesting bits of memorabilia, you can create wonderful keepsake pages for your album in a hurry. Here are some items you can use as the basis for quick and easy holiday scrapbook layouts:

• Your child’s wish list from Santa
• Tags from some of your favorite Christmas gifts
• Your family’s annual Christmas letter
• A copy of your grocery shopping list from making Christmas dinner and the recipes you used
• A program from your child’s Christmas concert
• A collage made from photo greeting cards you’ve received from family and friends

Christmas time is a great opportunity to clean out your scrapbook supply stash. To get your craft area organized and in shape for the New Year, remember these simple tips:

• Use scraps of leftover paper to make customized gift tags.
• Make handmade Christmas cards.
• Curl bits of paper along with charms, buttons, and tiny beads to fill clear glass ball ornaments. They make lovely decorations for your Christmas tree and fun gifts for friends, coworkers, and neighbors.
• Design a gift album for someone who is too busy or too overwhelmed to scrapbook. Create the pages using one basic template, leaving spaces for the recipient to add their own photos and journaling. Include an acid-free glue stick and pen for a gift that’s sure to please a new mom, newlywed, or avid traveler.
• Create a crafting treasure chest for the creative child in your life. Even if you think your paper and embellishments are a bit out of date, they’ll be great fun for a future scrapbooker to work with!

As we’re all recovering from the Thanksgiving day feast, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas! If you’re reading this in the process of searching for gifts for the scrapbooker on your shopping list, here are a few ideas to consider:

• Scrapbookers can never have enough adhesives. Fill a small basket with glue sticks, glue dots, double-sided tape, and other adhesive products for a gift that’s sure to please.

• Cardstock is a practical gift for the serious scrapbook enthusiast. Pick a nice assortment of neutrals with a few fun colors thrown in for a bit of variety.

• If you know that the scrapbooker on your holiday shopping list frequently scrapbooks a particular theme, such as baby boy photos or vacation memories, choose a small assortment of stickers, chipboard, ribbon, and rub-ons to match these types of layouts.

• Scrapbookers who love to learn about new techniques will appreciate a subscription to Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, or Simple Scrapbooks.

• When all else fails, you can’t go wrong with a gift certificate to a local craft o scrapbook supply store!