Scrapbooking And The

Scrapbooking And The Use Of Digital Photography by: Vera Raposo
Digital photography has made scrapbooking easier than ever before.
Digital cameras allow you to view your pictures immediately instead of
waiting hours or days for film to be developed.
You will also know if you have captured the perfect shot as soon as you take it and you can discard unwanted pictures right away instead of wasting time and money having your film developed only to discover that half your pictures did not turn out the way you had intended.
Digital photographs can be uploaded to your computer immediately and
most photo editing software includes various borders, cropping tools, and
the ability to include captions.
Digital photos can be stored indefinitely and you may choose to have them made into a CD Rom as an extra measure of safety. You will be able to edit, touch up, and alter your photos as you see fit in just minutes thanks to the convenience of photo editing software.
Digital cameras have become inexpensive and some brands even offer disposable digital cameras that can be used once and developed into pictures or a CD Rom at your local retailers.
Having access to your photos in digital form will allow you to be as
creative as you wish in creating unique scrapbooks.
You may print your photos from your computer using special photo printing paper or create online scrapbooks that you can share with the world in an instant. You will only be limited by your imagination when you use digital photos in your scrapbooks.
For those who have never owned or used a digital camera, have no fear. You can take digital photos with the same ease as a conventional camera, and you will be delighted to see your pictures displayed immediately on your camera screen.

About The Author Vera Raposo has been scrapbooking since her oldest child was 5. With tons of scrapbooking tips and ideas, Vera is now sharing some of her best scrapbooking ideas for your new baby in her newsletter http://www.baby-scrapbooking.com.

Scrapbooking StepbyS

Scrapbooking Step-by-Step by: Lisa Fleming

This article by Lisa Fleming provides a lot of quality information to those starting out in scrapbooking and is a great refresher for the more seasoned scrapbooker
Interested in learning how to scrapbook, but not quite sure how to begin? The following guide will help you get started with this fun and rewarding hobby. The guide explains how to organize your scrapbook photos, plan your scrapbook project, select your scrapbook album, create your album pages and store your scrapbook supplies.
Organize your scrapbook photos
If you are new to scrapbooking, the thought of organizing your photos might be somewhat overwhelming. Breaking the task down into the following four parts will help you get the job done: 1) Gather your photos from your drawers, closets, shoe boxes, etc. and bring them to a large workspace such as a dining room table, 2) Sort your photos chronologically and by event, 3) Label the backs of some of your photos so that it's easy to identify what a particular group of photos is about, and 4) Store your photos in photo-safe products until you're ready to put them into scrapbook albums; products should say “photo-safe” and/or “acid-free and lignin-free.”
Plan your scrapbook project
Once your photos are organized, it is time to plan your scrapbook project. There are three things to keep in mind when deciding what your first project will be. First, use recent photos – work with photos that are less than one year old so that it will be easy for you to remember what they are about. Second, keep it small – choose a specific event (e.g., wedding, vacation) to start with rather than tackling a whole year’s worth of photos. Third, make it personal – use photos of an event that you were part of; this helps when it comes to journaling.
Select your scrapbook album
After you have decided what your first scrapbook project will be, it is time to select a scrapbook album. You will need to choose the style, size and design of the album.
Style: There are two album styles – strap-hinge and post-bound; the names of the styles refer to how the pages are secured in the album. A strap-hinge album lies flat when you open it so that you can work on your page while it is in the album and then slip a protective sleeve over the page when it is done. With a post-bound album you work on your page outside of the album and then insert the page into a protective sleeve in the album when it’s done.
Size: Scrapbook albums come in a variety of sizes. The 12"x12" album is the most popular size, but there are a number of other sizes including 11”x8.5”, 8”x8”, 6"x6”, and more. The albums are usually expandable and vary as to the maximum number of pages they can hold.
Design: Scrapbook albums are available in many different colors, patterns and textures. You'll want to choose an album that fits with the theme of your photos - a white album for wedding photos, a pink album for baby girl photos, a festive-colored album for birthday photos and so on.
As long as you make sure the album is labeled as “photo-safe” and/or “acid-free and lignin-free”, it's fine to use any style, size or design.
Create your album pages
Once you have selected your scrapbook album, the fun really begins as you create your album pages. There are four components to an album page.
Photos: Select 4-6 related photos and crop (i.e., trim) each one so that it focuses on the most important part of the picture. Then arrange the photos on your album page; try a number of different layouts to see what looks best.
Border/Background: Use scrapbook paper, stickers and other embellishments to create a border/background that reflects the theme of your page. Mount your border/background and your photos on your page.
Journaling: Write about the who, what, when, where and why of your photos. You can have captions for each photo, write in paragraph format about the whole page, or use bulleted text to list the highlights.
Enhancements: Add scrapbook stickers, die-cuts or other embellishments to your page. Use just a few enhancements so that they compliment your photos rather than overwhelm them.
Store your scrapbook supplies
The proper storage and organization of your scrapbook albums and supplies is very important. Photos and certain scrapbook supplies can be damaged by heat, humidity, light, acid and lignin. Use storage products that are photo-safe and keep your albums and supplies in a temperature and humidity controlled room (i.e., not in an attic, garage or unfinished basement). In addition to keeping your scrapbook supplies safe, you will also want to keep them organized so that they are easy to find whenever you are ready to work on your albums. There are scrapbook organization products designed for storing your photos, pages in progress, albums, enhancements, paper, tools and more.


Lisa Fleming is an avid scrapbooker and the owner of Scrapbook Town, LLC. Scrapbook Town is a scrapbooking website that has scrapbook information, ideas and supplies

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AVID SCRAPBOOKER

AVID SCRAPBOOKER

How avid a scrapbooker are you? Do you have a list of scrapbook projects as long as a grocery list? Do you attend scrapbooking clubs and cropping sessions at the local scrapbook supply store?  Do you search the internet for new ideas and recourses? Are you a consultant for a scrapbook company?

Is your stash of scrapbook supplies neatly organized and endless? Does your family and friends get to visit with you now and then?

Answering yes to most of the above determines your resolve. Other members of your family and friends may use a word other than resolve. You may have to remind them that this is your passion and besides that it keeps you off the streets.  Also remind them that future generations will appreciate the picture journal of your part of history and get an in site about you and your family.

STARTING AND ENDING

STARTING AND ENDING YOUR SCRAPBOOK

Keep your title page simple and in the same style as the rest of your pages. One view is to leave your title page to the last as you would have thought about your scrapbook a long time. Others say let your title page give leadership to the rest of the book.

The page next to the title page describes your reason for creating the scrapbook.  Recording your reason for creating the scrapbook will be well received later. You may also be creating the scrapbook for a particular event or for a particular individual.

Creating a table of contents may help clarify what you intend to include in the scrapbook. If the scrapbook pages cover a particular time in history include the beginning and ending dates on the title page or simply date each page.

Know before hand how many pages you intend to fill. That lets you include all your main objectives rather than just stopping when the book is full. Make the last page special. Think about an end page that will make your scrapbook special. Maybe the main photo blown up to fill the complete page.  Maybe some poetry to further express the reason for the scrapbook.