MAKING A SCRAPBOOKING PAGE: SOME ADVISES FOR BEGINNERS

how long have you been scrapbooking ?

I discovered scrap during a voyage in Australia in a magazine 7 years ago, the concept immediately attracted me : how to give “life” to photographs by telling “their history” by emphasizing them with decorations, I adored!

What kind of scrap you prefer to do ?

All ! I like “scrapping” all kinds of albums or supports, testing and mixing novel methods. I like Scrapping is in all moments of my life because Scrap can be adapted to all kinds of creations.

Tell us your preferred colors? .

I do not have really preferred colors, all depends on the photograph and the style which I chose. But there are nevertheless colors with which I work more than of others, for example I adore pink, green, purple, blue, yellow, I use less colors like chestnuts, blacks, reds.

What brings scrap to you?

To be creative ! Before I did not dare to be “creative” when I made manual creations. Thanks to scrap I dare to express more my creativity ! I add elements, I personalize, I use different matters, I mix several techniques, in short, I enter in the creativity and this feeling of “freedom” is a real happiness to create.

Scrap is for me also an original and attractive way to put in scene the significant events of my life, to tell “the history” present and passed of my family and especially to be able to make pass these “alive” albums photographs from generation to generation.

Contact: aurcia@orange.fr

Visit the site of AUDREY:

and its ex-site:

http://creation-audrey.ifrance.com/

BOOKS FOR DISCOVERING THE SCRAPBOOKING

ScrapBook Page Maps
Becky Fleck

By referring to the sketches in the book, readers can select photos, papers and embellishments and then bring the page together quickly and easily.

Helpful resource information such as a supply list and photo sizes are included on each card, along with page information cross-referencing the sketch back to the book. Scrapbook Page Maps is the essential book for beginning scrapbookers as well as those short on time. 

Get It Scrapped !
Debbie Hodge

Getting organized, whether it's organizing the photos or supplies, is half the battle to getting started for most scrapbookers.

Get it Scrapped addresses organizing photos in a clear, methodical way that's easy to understand and then analyzing the photos to determine a plan of action for creating layouts.

SORTING PHOTOGRAPHS

Sort your photographs if you have several of them on the same topic. Keep only the photographs where you see all the people or the most beautiful, or those which will have an anecdote to tell about.

If there remains to you a lot of not employed photos, you can built a double page.

CHOICE OF PAPER

It is the most difficult stage. Which papers to choose to match perfectly with the photographs?

Here some advises : try to think about of a style which you would like for your photographs : romantic, old, male, female, bright colors or pastels.

For the color you can leave on the environment the photograph : for example the green for the countryside or garden, chestnut or blue for the beach, the sea.

Or choose the colors of the clothes of the people who are on the photograph or of a person in particular that you want to emphasize (for example if it is its birthday).

Once you decided the style and the color, leave your papers compared to these choices. Then, take a photograph and position it directly on papers, you will see thus if you like the “marriage” of papers with the photograph .

To make a scrapbooking page , we usually use 3 to 4 papers (this is an average, you can, of course, use more or less papers to create a page).

PAGE LAYOUT

Place your photographs on your page, leave a space for the title and the journaling (comment). Try “to gather” the various elements on your page, that will leave you place to put decorations and your title.

The beginners often make the same error, they will place the photographs on the edges of the page, to avoid absolutely.

When you look at a page of scrap for the first time you must see in a glance what it acts thanks to the title and with the photographs.

If you put photographs at the 4 corners of your page, the edge, one will not know where to look at.

Then look at the details and write the journaling. Look at pages made by experimented scrapbookers, you will see that usually the elements are gathered and not scattered on all the page. This give to the page a real unity.

Since it does not remain me any place on the page of the example, I will write the journaling around a photograph.

 CUTTING OUT THE PHOTOS

Cut your photographs while cutting out what is useless:dark or black places, too much sky (as on the example), unknowned people, walls, things you can see on another photograph which will be on another page (There is no point to keep doubled pictures).

 "MATTAGE" of PHOTOS

In scrapbooking, we do not frame the photographs but, we "mat" them (word which comes from the English verb to checkmate), i.e. which we put one or more papers under the photograph.

It is to you to see the width you want to let exceed paper all around the photograph. Small easy way : to highlight a photograph, leave a broader edge around.

You can have several "mattages" under your photograph. Look at my page : I chose to mat 2 photographs on the page with only one paper : that in top on the right and that of bottom on the left.

For the bottom photo I left a larger edge of the left side, it the place where I will write my journaling.

As you can notice it on the page below, I modified the initial lay out of the photographs of the example above of paragraph 3.

After having cutted out the photographs I preferred to modify their place, that often arrives when you scrapbook a page : you modify the page layout as you place the various elements on your page.

It's the eason for which I prefer to stick or fix once I am satisfied with the end result.

Place then your pieces of paper. They can be various lengths and heights.

Once again, lay out them on your page and start to cut out one of them, then another, by laying out them each time on the page.

Each paper must touch another paper or the photograph in order to have this “gathered” effect. For my page I cut out a paper band which I downwards laid out under two photographs.

HEADERS

Place your title, it must be quite visible, neither too large, nor too small. Be creative with your titles!

You can embellish them by adding it lot of decorations, by painting them, by emboss them with emboss-powder, by puttting a mat under them…

I chose chipboard letters (out of paperboard) for my page.

I painted them with various acrylic resin colors using a sponge.

Here the title in chipboard (paperboard) worked again with acrylic resin

 DECORATIONS AND STICKING

Place your decorations. I embellished the first letter of my title the “L” by adding to it a piece of tabacca (net) and a flower fixed with a Parisian brad and in lower part I put sheets skeletons.

I added a ribbon in bottom with some Parisian brads flowers. On the left, in top, I placed two small Parisian brads and a button (fixed with a point of adhesive or glue dowries).

In bottom, on the line, another piece of tabacca held for a round Parisian fastener. I prefer to remain sober on the level of decorations but it is a personal choice.

Some scrapbookers prefer pages with many embellishments... If you prefer...you have to find your style.

Place then your journaling that you will have printed with your computer or hand-written on your page.

As it did not remain me much of place on the page, I decided, as indicated above, to write my journaling by handwriting around a photograph where I indicate to it also the date.

Once you are satisfied with your page, which you balanced the colors, decorations, the people on the photographs, You have now to stick all the elements!

To stick papers and photographs, use double-coated dots , very practical because you can always take off his paper or his photograph to reposition them.

To fix decorations buttons kind you can use “glue dowries” points of adhesive.

SATISFACTION

Each scrappbooker has its own style and when he begins, he is not, in general, very sure of its page. But remember that : if you like your page, it is the most important!

You take pleasure to scrapbook and it is that which is important. Scrapping is a REAL PLEASURE because you scrap your photographs, your children, your family, your pets, your garden…  

You carry out a true album memories of “The History” of your family.  A photo album which is attractive to flick through even for the unknowns ones.

You will be able also to make mini album of all kinds to offer them to your close relations or your friends. Gifts which will undoubtedly like, of the photographs that always given pleasure to receive!

 IDEA

To help you to start out of scrap and to take confidence in you, you can carry out “scraplifts”: i.e. to copy a page made by another scrapbooker.

The scraplifts also enable you to change your style and to carry out page layouts which you would never have made, the scrappeuses ones confirmed also have fun to make some.