Archive for the ‘Scrapbooking Ideas’ Category
5 Things For Your Scrapbooking Pages
There are lots of things you can do to your scrapbooking pages. Here are a few of them.
1. Ink the edges – Use an ink pad and wipe it around the edges of scrapbooking paper, cardstock, photos, flowers, tags, ribbon. You can basically try this on anything you put on your scrapbooking page. I like to do this because it defines the edges of your page and adds visual depth and interest.
2. Sewing- Adding straight lines of stitching to you pages is easy. All you need is a sewing machine. If you don’t have a sewing machine you can always hand sew. This is a quick way to attach items such as ribbon and cardstock to your page. Sewing on your scrapbooking page gives your page extra visual interest
3. Enlargements- If you print your own photos then it is easy and cheap to enlarge them. There are heaps of free programs that you can use to crop and enlarge your photo to the size you want. Most photos I use on my scrapbooking pages have been digitally altered in some way or another. I love using big photos on my scrapbooking pages. They had drama and focus. Large photos are also good for quick layouts and pages.
4. Circle in the title- You do this by cutting or punch a circle out of a piece of paper or cardstock and put the circle where your title is going to go and put the title on top of it. This helps to draw the viewers eye to the title and then to the rest of the page.
5. Mat your photos- some people forget to mat there photos. This one thing can make your pages look so much better. If you are using patterned paper then matting is a must. To mat your photo you stick it onto a pre-cut piece of cardstock that is a tiny bit bigger that the photo. You can even try and experiment matting a photo with two pieces of cardstock. This just draws more attention to that photo.
There are lots of things that you can do to improve your pages. Those mentioned above are just a few of them.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Dohrman |
Color and Your Scrapbook Album Pages
Color Coordinate Your Scrapbook Page For Maximum Impact
By Genie Balfour
A visitor to my website recently asked how to color coordinate your scrapbook albums page. A great question – since not everyone feels confident about the design aspects of scrapbooking. Of course its your use of colors which generates much of the visual impact of your page, so just how can you maximise the impact of your scrapbook page layout designs?
How to Choose Color Schemes that Work?
I stumbled across the concept of a Color Wheel a few years ago, and I’ve been using this kind of tool every since. Anyone who has studied Art will be familiar with this, but for those of you who are not, let me explain…
The Color Wheel is a circular representation of the color spectrum, in order to demonstrate how the various hues relate to each other – how they can complement, contrast, or conflict each other.
You may come across a few different types. For example:
* a six-segment wheel depicts the primary (red, yellow, blue) and secondary (orange, green, violet) colors.
* a 12-segment wheel also includes tertiary colors (referring to intermediate tones that link pairs of primaries with one of their secondaries).
Since some of these terms may not be familiar, so here’s a jargon-buster:
Primary: red, yellow, blue
Secondary: orange, green, violet, respectively
Terciary: red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet.
Tertiary colors are combinations of primary and secondary colors. The primary name is placed first to indicate an dominance of the primary over the secondary color.
Complementary: these are located opposite each other on the wheel.
* Mix them, and the result is gray;
* Place them side by side, and they enhance each other.
Analogous: located next to each other in the wheel.
* Used together, the result is visual harmony.
The color wheel illustrates several aspects of color theory, providing a basis for artists to make color choices to suit their purpose. Artists and designers use the color wheel as a guide in choosing colors to mix, or combine.
Since I first came across the color wheel, it seems online color matching tools have become readily available. One I noticed recently is from Scrapbook.com, who have an online photo matching service, with a color wheel you can use free of charge – and no need to sign up either… A great help for digital and traditional scrappers alike to color coordinate your scrapbook page!
Genie Balfour
A paper crafter and scrapbooker for many years, Genie is well-versed in the ins and outs of paper and digital scrapbooking. As the founder of the popular website ScrapbookingGems.com, she writes regularly on paper and digital scrapbooking topics.
Discover how Genie designs elegant color-coordinated Digital Scrapbook Page layouts, or click here to save yourself time and check out her digital scrapbook templates.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Genie_Balfour
Scrapbooking Page Ideas
Free Scrapbooking Tips: How to Create Scrapbook Page
Here’s your situation: You are done shopping for your scrapbook supplies. You have collected all photos you need for your scrapbook. Everything is prepared; the album, pair of scissors, adhesive, embellishments, papers, pens, and many more. But you are staring blankly on this pile of things thinking what should you do and how to make this work according to the outcome you want to achieve.
The thing is, you don’t have to put too much burden on yourself trying to come up with a magnificent work of art. All you have to do is to get everything organized and let your imagination take over.
If your imagination does not come around you may want to hire a Professional Scrapbooker to get you started.
For some help, here are the steps on how to create a scrapbook page:
Draw up a page-by-page plan. Yeah right! Do can’t even start a page. Well, to be honest, the best way to have a good scrapbook page is not about making a plan. It is about creating freely. So, scrap the idea of making a page-by-page plan unless you have a good sense of imagining things. But if you don’t, well, you might start by organizing your photos according to the theme you want to achieve.
Let us say that again in another way: ORGANIZE.
As was mentioned, organize your photos according to the theme. You may not use every photo you have prepared. Just select the best and those you think would be great once combined with other scrapbook supplies you will use.
Group the photos that would fit to one page. You may use variations on each page. For example, you will place 5 photos in one page. Then on the next page, you will use just 4. Chronological arrangements will keep things easy for you.
Can you see where we are going here? Yes, after you have organized your photos, you found yourself with a page-by-page plan. We just make the term easy for you.
Now, let us work on one page…
With the photos you have grouped, take 2-3 colors of papers that would compliment them. Select a background that would enhance the image of your selected photos. If you don’t have a background, create one that would let the photos stand out. You can use the internet to get some ideas for a great background. There are also printable backgrounds you can download. If you prefer making one on your own, use the tip above.
Make decorations on the page together with the photos. Select one photo that would become the focal point of the page. Spread other photos on the page. Decorations come on the sides of the photos. Do not use adhesives yet so that you can change the arrangements and the decorations if you need to. Glue them if you have finally decided on the look of the page.
Also, use borders to highlight the photos. Double or triple matting would make a good border. Shape the photos according to your desired outcome. Shapes such as squares, circles, rectangles, and ovals are more pleasing and more common. Do not over flood the page. If you think you have overly decorated the page, do not hesitate to remove some decorations.
Create journaling. Expressing your thoughts, experiences, and feelings would bring out better expression on the page. Take time to write some information about the page’s content.
Pay close attention to the details and elements such as balance symmetry, and scare. Observe how your eyes move in Z direction as you stare at the page. If you think there are changes you need to make, do not hesitate to do it before you glue them permanently.
After you finish doing this, you have already made a page on your scrapbook. Do the same process on the succeeding pages. Try to use different variations. Make each page unique from another. Try other colors. Use different arrangements. Make different styles.
Add more embellishments as you go along. Use stickers, die cuts, and rubber stamps. If you find that there is a need to add or change embellishments on some of the pages you have already made, do them carefully so as you don’t destroy the existing decorations.
All of this maybe very overwelheming and you may find yourself going back several times before you finish one page , that is ok.
For help in planning your scrapbook and gathering scrapbook ideas visit www.professionalscrapbookingservices.com
Scrapbooking Tools
Scrapbooking can be a very challenging task for the beginner that does not plan to use a Professional Scrapbooking Service. For one thing, you need creativity in order to create a beautiful work of art. You also need to think up a distinct theme which forms the backbone of the scrapbook. The items you put inside the scrapbook should also be arranged in such a manner that their significance is unmistakable. With all these complexities, many people would be hard-pressed to complete a scrapbook without the proper tools.
So what tools would you actually need to put a scrapbook together?
1) Scissors – Everyone knows what scissors are, right? Well, here is a metaphor for the scissors in scrapbooking. Scissors are like bringers of order. Scissors shape the little bits of paper into forms that you can use in your scrapbook. This scrapbooking tool is very important in making pieces fit together. Some people may refuse to cut the pieces of paper, but only through this, can the scrapbook be completed.
In that sense, a pair of scissors can symbolize the truth. Why, you ask? Well, the truth hurts. But it has to hurt, doesn’t it? It has to hurt if it is to set you free.
There are two distinctive types of scissors you can use as scrapbooking tools:
a) Conventional paper-cutting scissors – These scissors are made to cut and to cut straight. This is the type of scissors people encounter from the very beginning of their childhood. You need to be able to trust your scissors to cut straight, because it just looks ugly if you unintentionally use dull scissors and mess up the cut of the paper.
b) Crafting scissors – This type of scissors can be bought at different art supply shops. These scissors are distinctively shaped in order to produce different types of cuts. Using this scrapbooking tool can be a whole lot more convenient than trying to follow a pattern using straight-cutting scissors. You see, using conventional scissors can give you carpal tunnel because of the stress your fingers will be taking. And that’s not good at all, is it?
2) Puncher – This nifty scrapbooking tool is used mainly to punch holes into paper. There are, once again, two types of punchers available out there:
a) Conventional – This type of puncher produces round holes. Funnily enough, this type of puncher was not designed as a scrapbooking tool, but as an office supply. For those of today’s generation, files are known as the thing you keep documents in your computer. However, for other people, files consist of important papers and documents which are organized together. Punchers were used to put holes into those documents in order to accommodate a fastener.
However, punchers are now used today to make perfect circles on scrapbooking pages.
b) Shaped – This type of puncher, pretty much works in the same manner as the conventional puncher. However, the edges of the punching mechanism take different shapes in order to accommodate your crafting needs. This scrapbooking tool is used to make different shaped holes in the pages of the scrapbook.
3) Tweezers – Tweezers are often used as scrapbooking tools in order to enable the crafter to put in a design or to glue in a bit of paper neatly. You see, when making a scrapbook, you will be working with different materials together with a lot of glue. Because of this, there is a high risk of you smudging the different pictures of the scrapbook. Tweezers are excellent scrapbooking tools to maintain the cleanliness of your handiwork.
4) Computer – This can be an excellent scrapbooking tool because of the fact that it can do a variety of things. On the computer, you can do research on what scrapbooking theme to use. This means you are given more resources on the varieties of different themes and the ways you can incorporate them in your scrapbook. You can also use the computer to get more images to put in your scrapbook. By using the computer, you get all the advantage of modern technology and can therefore, make your scrapbook into anything you like.
Scrapbooking tools allow people to have an easier time crafting their handiwork. However, you should remember that sometimes. Mistakes actually make a scrapbook more personal. Mistakes show the human side of you. Like the memories you show on a scrapbook, the making of it should not necessarily be perfect, but it should be fun.
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