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Preserving Memories with Scrapbooking

By: Johnathan Sproles

Scrapbooking can be a fantastic way to preserve personal and family memories. Not only do you get to flex your creative muscle by making a beautiful and interesting piece of family art, you are able to create something that can be passed down for generations.
In order to start scrapbooking, you need to gather materials. Perhaps you have a closet full of old photographs in shoeboxes that have been left ignored. Don’t be afraid to really dig in and see what you have to work with!
Categorizing can help you when keep things in order. You can use these categories to create themes for your scrapbooks. Some categories you might consider are family vacations, high school, your travels, sports events, the homecoming dance, or any other memory you would like to preserve. With your first scrapbook, make sure to select a theme and stick with that theme no matter what. That will ensure that your scrapbook is a cohesive keepsake.
Select a main idea for your scrapbook and then choose your highest quality photos for each topic you want to cover. The photos that express your thoughts and feelings are better than the most aesthetically pleasing ones. Don’t be afraid to use a photo that is slightly off-centered, out of focus, or even overexposed—any errors that take away from the photo can always be cropped out per your discretion. These will be the photographs you use to fill your pages.
Including your photos in the scrapbook, consider the posibility of finding other momentos that are relative to the category desired. Anything that is meaningful can be added to your scrapbook pages such as ticket stubs, boarding passes, playbills or decorative pressed flowers.
After that you will want to create the layout for your page. This is the part of scrapbooking that is the most rewarding although it is the hardest to do. Using your extensive imagination, let your creativity run wild! Be creative with the way you lay out your pages. Each portion of your scrapbook is part of a greater whole, and should relate well to the rest. Use colored paper as background for your pages, scraps that you can make a collage out of, pieces of felt, fabric, or other unconventional background materials. Anything is fair game when you start to embellish your page.
Lay your photos on top of these backgrounds in interesting and unique ways. Long before placing it in one direct spot, consider the desired layout to balance your pages. This way, it will be satisfactory to you. Obtaining the specific look that you want to achieve will require you to crop and cut photos, as well as make adjustments to the other mementos you plan to include. This step can be extremely tedious, but you don't want to hurry through it. And, the personalized feeling that the scrapbook conveys will allow it to be remembered forever.
To get ideas on layouts, you may need to do your research. Ultimately, you should use whatever layout is the most pleasing to you, but there is no shame in looking into pre-made layout guides for inspiration.
Insert your finishing embellishments. To your page, you can add text explaining your photographs, gems, glitter, buttons or anything else that may be interesting to others viewing your page.
You should keep in mind that scrapbooking is not just about the final product, but also about the work and love that you put into it in the process. If one chooses to put affection and care into their scrapbook, there is no doubt they will be ultimately pleased with their work. Enjoy creating your scrapbook!

Article Source: http://www.articleopus.com

Make sure to check out Johnathan's scrapbooking site to get all the info you'll ever need. Learn about digital scrapbooking today.

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