Whether you’ve done it a hundred times before or are only just coming round to the idea, scrapbooking is a wonderful pastime and a great way to collect your memories together for future viewing. What could be better than looking back through all of your fondest memories with your nearest and dearest? It’s also super easy to do, meaning with a bit of planning and only a little effort, you can create beautiful scrapbooks for your collection. 

Reasons to Love a Scrapbook

As mentioned at the top, scrapbooks are simply wonderful ways to collect all your favorite memories into one place. The best thing is, you can return to them at any time adding more moments, photos, thoughts, or other collectibles to continue expanding your book. Then, you get to come back to them whenever you like, with whoever you like, to relive all those precious moments once more. It’s too easy to forget some of the most special moments in our lives, yet scrapbooks allow us to revisit them over and over again, helping to preserve those memories forever.

Have a Dedicated Workspace

One of the first tips for serious scrapbookers to take into consideration is to set up a dedicated space to work from. One Scrapbooking Coach said, “before you even stick anything down to paper, your scrapbook supplies and space need to be organized!” It’s like doing any kind of work, if you are trying to work in a cluttered, messy environment, you’re going to find it harder to concentrate. This is even more important with scrapbooking, though, as you’re going to be chopping things up, organizing them, and getting creative. If your workspace is covered in non-scrapbook-related items, you’ll get mixed up and lost while you work.

Get All Your Supplies

The next thing you’ll need is to gather all the tools and supplies you need to start scrapbooking. Of course, the first thing you need is a great book with thick, durable paper. People often opt for ring-bound books because they do better with the expansion that occurs as you stick things on every page. 

 

You’ll also need all the necessary tools for cutting and editing your memories. You’ll need great scissors, nice and sharp – be careful with these! You also want some stick glue, some tape, nice colorful pens, and maybe some sticky stars or other shapes. 

Collect and Organize Photos and Other Memories

Once you’ve got your book and stationery sorted, you’ll want to collect everything you want to put inside your book. It depends on what you have collected over the years, but people often opt for photos, tickets, notes, postcards, and other collectibles from their travels. Depending on where you’ve been and what you’ve gathered, you’ll want to spend some time pulling everything together for your book. Don’t rush this process, you’d hate to ‘finish’ your scrapbook only to find you forgot one of your favorite photos! Take time to organize everything and make sure you have collected absolutely everything you want for your book.

Think About Layout

Next, you’ll want to think about the layout. There are tips all over the internet for layout ideas, plans, and things to do to make your scrapbook pages truly pop! You probably want to start with a title page, making it obvious what your book is about and who it’s for. Maybe you can put one great picture on the first page.

 

After this, think about how you want each page to look. Maybe you want to make each page centered around one particular image or memory. Maybe you want to do clever photographic collages. Whatever you choose, make it consistent and work the same way throughout your book.

Choose Your Words

Often, people like to write little notes to accompany the memories they place in their scrapbooks. This is common and helps you to make notes reminding you of what it is you’re looking at further down the line. For this reason, you probably want to make your notes concise, with dates, locations, people’s names, and other things that are relevant to the picture. “Our first trip to the cinema together, December 2020” would be a great example. You want the words to reflect how special that time was and help you remember the moment in 10, 20, or even 50 years’ time! 

 

Follow these simple tips to make your scrapbook look epic and make you smile for years to come. Get creative and make it look however you want it to look – it’s an expression of your feelings after all. Most of all, have fun with it, a scrapbook is there for your enjoyment! 

Published on Holr Magazine