The moment you have all been waiting for is finally here. Today we’re going to show you how to make our first craft project. I know… I know you can barely contain your excitement, but please try. Since this is the first one, I thought would try something fun and easy: scrapbooking. Now, most of the time when people think of scrapbooks, they often think of them as photo albums, only more creative. Instead of simply placing the photos in neat little rows, there may be one or two on a page with a few stickers around them. But there is more to scrapbooking than just preserving memories in an appealing way. You can use a scrapbook as a way to explore other interests and hobbies. You can even use them like a vision board to help you achieve your goals, or as a way to stay positive in this chaotic world. You may be wondering how a scrapbook can keep you positive. Well, good news if you are because in a few minutes I’ll show you. Before we get started though, I’d like to give you a few basic guidelines to follow when scrapbooking.
First, there are two common sizes of scrapbooks – 12 x 12 inches and 8.5 x 11 inches. You can find them at any craft store. However, there is no rule that says those are the only sizes. This is your project and about you, so make it any size want. I would recommend going no smaller than a 4 x 4 square as doing so will give you too small a surface on which to work. Once you have established the size of your scrapbook, it’s time to gather your supplies. Of course, the first thing you need is a scrapbook, along with acid-free card stock and paper. You will also need a paper trimmer and scissors to shape the photos and paper you are planning to use. To add embellishments to the page, you will need things such as stickers, ribbons, buttons, or even jewels. These can be found in a scrapbooking section of your local craft store, but be warned, the selection can be overwhelming so try to have an idea of what you want before you go. All your embellishments should be adhered to the page using acid-free adhesives. This very important. You must always use acid-free adhesives when adding something to your scrapbook; this will protect the photos and pages from discoloration and help keep your scrapbook looking its best for years.
Now that we have our supplies together and crafting stations ready, it’s almost time to start our project. I just thought I would give you a few tips before we begin. Here they are:
- Choose a focal point each page and arrange everything around it. This will your work more visually appealing and easier to understand.
- Do not keep your images the same size on every page. Keeping the images the same size on each page will make your work look repetitive and less exciting.
- Always caption your photos. With each photo captioned, whoever looks at the pages will understand what they are looking at and be more interested in it.
- Never use original copies of professional or irreplaceable photos in your scrapbook. There is no need to use the actual photo. Copies can easily be made using the scanner on your printer.
- Don’t over use embellishments. If there is too much for the viewer to look at, she will be overwhelmed and miss the meaning of the page.
- Keep it simple. Use only a few images to create the story for or reinforce the theme of the page you are working on.
With those tips in mind, let’s get started. Today’s project is what I like to call a Positivity Guide. It is a fun and easy scrapbooking activity. What we’ll be doing is taking some of our favorite positive and inspirational quotes and turning them into a beautiful scrapbook. You can use this book to stay positive in this chaotic world or even for daily reflection and mediation. It’s your book, so use it for whatever you want. But before you can use it, you have to make it so here we go.
We begin by writing down some of our favorite short quotes. Once the list is complied, we choose a few of the most visual quotes. These are quotes that have an object in them or a concept that is easy to visualize. You should be looking for something similar to this Albert Einstein quote, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” As you can see, the quote has both an object, a bicycle, and an easy to visualize concept, movement. This will help us with the next step – selecting our scrapbook paper.
For this quote we chose scrapbook paper with little bicycles on it. We did this for the obvious reason that bicycles were mentioned in the quote. Now we put quote on the scrapbook paper. This can be handwritten on the page or, if you’re like me and have bad writing, type it on a computer using the font of your choice. If you are going to print out your quote remember to use acid-free adhesive to adhere it to the page. Now all that’s left is an image to use as a focal point for the page. Since the main concept of the quote is movement, we decided to an image of a tree lined straight mountain road. We placed the image on the center of the page below the quote.
And that’s it. It’s that simple. Repeat this process for every quote you have, bind them together and there you have your very own Positivity Guide.
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