| You went to a special event or party and took a lot of | | | | pages with 3 to 5 pictures on each page. |
| photos but what are you going to do with them now? | | | | Put words to the pictures. After all the pictures are |
| If you are like most people, you'll view the photos on | | | | mounted onto the card stock scrapbook pages, I bring |
| your computer or from the envelope that they came in | | | | them to my computer and simply go through each |
| and that will be the end of it. They will be filed away | | | | page and type into a blank Word document the |
| never to be seen again. | | | | captions for each picture. |
| That is a shame. I know, because I have boxes and | | | | When I began making these books, I purchased a disk |
| boxes of pictures that are rarely seen because it's too | | | | of really cool fonts called "The Best of Creative |
| difficult to get at them. Conversely, I also have several | | | | Lettering" from my favorite scrapbook magazine, |
| scrapbooks that are just a joy to look at. To me, they | | | | "Creating Keepsakes Magazine." If you want a great |
| are heirlooms that I can't even put a price on. | | | | scrapbooking resource, this magazine is it! |
| The idea of putting my photos into a handmade | | | | After the captions are in the Word document, I print |
| scrapbook came to me after I attended a certain | | | | them, and mount each one by the appropriate picture |
| event and several people asked me for copies of my | | | | using glue sticks. |
| pictures. I didn't want to just hand these people a | | | | Embellish the pages. Now that the pictures and |
| packet a random pictures because this event | | | | captions are mounted, I dress up the pages with |
| deserved special treatment. It was special and so I | | | | memorabilia, such as, golf score cards and ticket stubs, |
| wanted to showcase the pictures in a special way. It | | | | and I add stickers to limit the amount of white space. |
| wasn't enough to just give them pictures. I wanted to | | | | Don't use metallic stickers as they do not copy well. |
| have words with the pictures. | | | | Copy, laminate and coil. The cheapest way to make |
| Although handmade scrapbooks take a lot of time to | | | | copies of your original pages is to go to a copy place, |
| make, they can not be beaten for quality and | | | | like Kinkos or Reprographics, and make the color |
| uniqueness. I started with that first special event and | | | | copies yourself (bring your own cardstock). It's more |
| have made several books since then including the two | | | | expensive, but they will do it for you if you prefer. |
| shown below. Follow the steps below to make your | | | | This is one of the main reasons that I make these |
| own: | | | | books. You can make as many copies as you like of |
| To Make a Handmade Scrapbook: | | | | the original and everybody gets a copy of their own to |
| Mount prints on 8-1/2 x 11 white card stock. In addition | | | | take home. You can't do that with scrapbooks made in |
| to the prints and card stock, I recommend getting a | | | | those big, fancy albums. |
| paper cutter and a corner rounder. The paper cutter | | | | To make the scrapbooks more durable, I laminate the |
| allows you to precisely cut your photos and card | | | | front and back covers. The books will hold up longer |
| stock to size, and the corner rounder is really nice for | | | | and look nicer. Lastly, the books need to be bound. I like |
| shaping the corners of your photographs. | | | | to use the black coil type because they hold up well |
| I usually put my prints in chronological order first, crop | | | | and look really nice. |
| them to size, round the corners (personal preference) | | | | I spend a lot of time and energy creating these |
| and then mount them with glue sticks. | | | | handmade scrapbooks. When I give someone one of |
| In addition to the photo pages, adding a one page | | | | these special gifts and see their expression, it truly |
| family tree or an itinerary page can really help tell the | | | | warms my heart and makes it all worthwhile. |
| story. My scrapbooks usually end up being 20-40 | | | | |