Theme scrapbooks are extremely popular with both beginner and avid crafters. Having a central focus, such as a wedding, birth, anniversary or holiday, makes it easy to design layouts and create a cohesive storyline. However, if you are looking to expand on your theme, it pays to be specific.
For example, recipe scrapbooks have long been a staple for scrappers looking to preserve favorite family dishes. Traditionally, recipes are written or printed on cardstock or scrapbook paper and placed in a layout along with photos of the finished product. However, to create page designs that will really pop, add as many details as possible to your layouts. Be specific about the utensils you used to create the dish or any modifications you make to the ingredients on the fly.
Other ways you can spice up themed memory albums like cookbook scrapbooks is to add fun details to the mix. For instance, rather than just adhering a slew of recipe cards on a page, consider framing the instructions for the dish with pretty cardstock or decorative paper. Look for paper that will complement the colors in the photo of the completed dish, and then find a spot on your layout where it’ll really shine. Depending on the amount of ingredients listed, you could place the card in the center of the page and frame it with pictures of family members enjoying the dish. Another idea is to use printed page borders peppered with forks, knives, spoons and other cooking utensils to frame individual recipes or specific photos of the dish being made or eaten.
If you really want to get technical, then be specific with individual ingredients. For example, a layout that features a recipe for Triple Cheese Potato Soup will look extra appealing with cheese-themed scrapbook paper as the background and cheese wedge stickers as embellishments. You could also use orange or yellow toned paper to display the actual recipe and potato-shaped stamps as a page border.