Isabella Taylor
Have you ever taken a photo? Obviously yes, right? I’ve been taking pictures since I was pretty young, whether it be with my mom’s iPhone or my sister’s digital camera, I’ve never been shy to snap a pic in the moment. I’ve also always loved to make collages, whether it be online or on paper, and I don’t think I’ve ever bought a birthday card–they’ve all been homemade.
When I was about eight or nine, I went to Alabama to stay with some of my relatives for a couple of weeks. I made a ton of beautiful memories, but I also took loads of pictures, or my Godmother took loads of pictures, during the entire trip. Towards the end of the vacation, my Godmother took me to get all of our photos printed and formatted at the CVS down the street, and we bought a big, pink, sparkly photobook to go with them. Before I left Alabama, we had filled up pages and pages full of the book, and I’ll never forget how much fun I had just figuring out where each picture should go.
Nowadays, I’ve upgraded from photobooks to full-on scrapbooking, but I’ll always attribute my love for photos and organizing them palpably to that trip and my Godmother. I’ve made scrapbooks for my mother’s birthday, my own record keeping, my boyfriend’s anniversary gifts–anything that can be recorded has been cut and pasted into a glittery page by me.
Therefore, I am qualified enough to explain the intricacies that come with scrapbooking, and you’ll see how much fun it can really be. There are a couple of necessities when it comes to scrapbooking, and I’ve compiled some of them below.
Materials
If you want a coherent book, you’ll at least need 40 photos. That’s about two or three per page, in a decently sized scrapbook. You don’t want to be flipping for eons, but you also want to have some sustenance in your book. Blank pages are bad, but too many pages might even crack your book’s spine.
If you go to Michael’s, you’ll find a pretty cheap scrapbook. They have loads of colors, and the cloth coating doesn’t distort easily. I have only bought scrapbooking materials from Michael’s and HobbyLobby, so I might be a bit biased, but I haven’t been led astray yet.
I would recommend buying a 12-inch by 12-inch scrapbook with about 20 blank page slots. Scrapbooking differs from a photobook in the fact that you won’t just be putting photos in the slots; you’ll be pasting them artfully onto a page, then sliding your 20 pages or so into the book’s page protectors. That way, you can always change out pages or fix up some glitter throughout the years you own your book.
Another scrapbook option would be to buy a 100-page or so book, or continuously buy the inserts until your book couldn’t handle any more, and just consistently update it like a giant catalog. My goal with scrapbooking is that my children and their children will have a big book of memories from me, not just ones found by scrolling through shared iPhone albums.
Once you have your book, you’ll need to decide whether you want white (blank) backgrounds or patterned backgrounds. I know for a fact that Michael’s has tons of 12-inch by 12-inch patterned cardstock that I consistently use for my scrapbooking; since I don’t like blank backgrounds, I usually opt for a floral theme. However, if you just use the blanks provided in the book, it will be much more cost-effective!
Next, you’ll need some decorations. I would recommend a lot of fine glitter, some letter stickers, and a couple of thematic stickers. The thematic stickers are more optional, and I like to make my own hand-drawn decorations in their place, but take some creative liberty with it! Really, just walk down the sticker aisle and grab at your heart’s content.
Also, if you like larger particles in your glitter, then go for it. Personally, I prefer fine glitter all over my pages.
With your base and decor read, you’ll need some tools to assemble everything. Obviously, you’ll need some scissors, and nothing fancy for scissors is required. You could buy those scissors with designs on the cuts, but I don’t think it’s necessary. You’ll also want to buy some Mod Podge, which is a crafter’s most beloved item. If you don’t know what Mod Podge is, it’s essentially both glue and sealant. You can use it to paste your photos onto the base, catch your glitter, and seal it all once you’re happy with the arrangement.
That’s all you’ll need for the materials.
If you enjoy capturing all the moments and you live for memories, then scrapbooking is definitely for you, and you should read my second article outlining how to actually compile everything into a design.