Spring Into Scrapbooking

Spring?  What spring?  I have a quote to add to a seasonal layout:  “Where the h*&# is spring?” Despite the blizzard warnings, school snow days and brutally cold temperatures, I am moving forward with my spring scrapbook. It’s all about denial, right? My efforts may be in stark contrast to what Mother Nature is doling out right now, but I am undeterred.  My daughter is making coffee filter butterflies in school and I’m planning to use them to decorate several pages in my seasonal memory album. The adorable scrapbook embellishment is a cinch to make.  All you need are some … Continue reading

Get Set for Holiday Scrapbooking

Have you been to Michaels lately? Step inside and you may wonder what month it is. My local Michaels has two medium-sized displays of Halloween items and right behind them are 10 aisles filled with Christmas merchandise. Nothing like getting a jump start on your holiday scrapbooking. I didn’t have it in me to browse through all of the Christmas-themed supplies; however I did notice that Michaels is having a sale on cardstock. If you are planning to do a lot of scrapping during the holidays, now is the time to stock up on cardstock. Generally, you can purchase cardstock … Continue reading

Finishing Up Summer Scrapbooking

When it comes to seasonal scrapbooking, I am always a day late and a dollar short. It took me years to figure out that I am not a daily scrapper. No matter how hard I try to channel Martha Stewart or Rosie O’Donnell, I am simply unable to spend 20 minutes a day keeping on top of layouts. Now, I own my procrastinating tendencies. However, taking responsibly for my shortcomings doesn’t change my situation. I’m still as late as ever when it comes to finishing memory albums. For instance, as we sit just a week shy from the official start … Continue reading

Scrapbooking Your Summer Adventures

What’s been the highlight of your summer so far? For my daughter, it’s been boogie boarding; for my friend’s son, it’s been attending band camp; and for my neighbor, the highlight has been her annual trip to Mexico. All three events are scrapbook worthy, as is just about any adventure you may experience this summer. The trick to crafting an eye-popping series of layouts that showcase your summer memories to the fullest is to plan ahead. For starters, you’ll want to snap a ton of photos of your seasonal escapades. Next, you’ll want to collect as many mementos as possible … Continue reading

Beach Theme Background Paper

With much of the nation baking under record high temperatures, it’s no surprise that area beaches are packed to the gills. After all, who doesn’t enjoy soaking up the sun, sand and surf? Whether you are visiting the sea solo, or you are there with your entire clan, a trip to the beach is a memorable occasion. In fact, beach-themed layouts are extremely popular with summer scrapbooking fans who want to preserve the season’s highlights. Photos of family members burying each other in the sand, surfing, frolicking in white wash, collecting shells or watching the sunset make great additions to … Continue reading

Tropical-Themed Layouts

Now that summer is here many avid scrapbook fans are jetting off to spend part of the season in tropical locales. While there they will likely be snapping photos and collecting mementos to feature in vacation scrapbooks. Of course, not everyone one returns from tropical getaways with a ton of pictures and perfectly preserved souvenirs. If you’re looking to create a memory album to commemorate your summer trip to Hawaii, the Caribbean or another sunny destination, but have very few items to showcase, don’t fret. Fortunately, there are a slew of tropical-themed scrapbook supplies on the market that will help … Continue reading

Last-Minute Father’s Day Scrapbooking

Time is running out for all of you slow scrappers. If you are looking to craft a memory book to gift to your Dad this Father’s Day, you can’t afford to procrastinate any longer. By now you should have all of your materials together, including the album, paper, embellishments, photos and mementos. To further expedite the construction process, it’s a good idea to have some general notes or sketches detailing how you want your finished layouts to look and what order you plan to display your page designs. When it comes to piecing together layouts, I typically work off of … Continue reading

Get Kids Involved in All Aspects of Scrapbooking

My 7-year-old has been scrapbooking since she was a preschooler. She started by helping me place stickers on layouts. Eventually, she learned how to stamp, and then mastered the art of adhering mementos to the page. These days she designs her own memory albums using a variety of embellishments; however, she is still working on including her own photos on the layouts. I am a huge advocate of getting kids involved in all aspects of scrapbooking, especially picture-taking. The boom in digital photography has made it much easier for children to snap scrapbook worthy shots without a ton of training. … Continue reading

Ways to Personalize Grad Page Designs

Graduation layouts have the potential to be highly personalized. Unlike generic birthday, anniversary or Christmas page designs, a commencement-themed layout should reflect special moments in a student’s academic and extra-curricular life. How you showcase the journey that leads up to graduation day is entirely up to you, though there are some common approaches. One of the most popular is the timeline. This basic design features a chronological listing of major moments that led up to graduation day. You could accomplish this by documenting the student’s entire senior year or spotlighting particular stages of the graduate’s life from birth to commencement. … Continue reading

Memorial Day Scrapbooking

Hot dogs, ice cream, swimming parties and late-night strolls along the beach; these are just some of the many symbols of summer. Memorial Day is the unofficial kick-off to the summer season. The holiday weekend is typically a time when families gather to spend time in the great outdoors, and more often than not, those adventures are documented and showcased in scrapbook layouts. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend too much time or energy crafting Memorial Day-themed page designs, as most are pretty straight forward. For example, if going on a picnic is part of your Memorial Day tradition, remember … Continue reading