Basic Techniques

Whether you are new to scrapbooking or have been creating scrapbook page layouts for many years, different techniques are always useful to know to help give you ideas and guidance for creating scrapbook page layouts.

The most obvious technique and probably the most important are choosing the right photos to put on your scrapbook pages. It is worth spending a considerable amount of time trawling through your photo albums and choosing only the best and most emotionally evoking to go on your scrapbook page.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding how many pictures you can put on your pages, it’s entirely your own choice. You may decide to go for just one impact photo. Alternatively you may opt for a set of images describing a special occasion or depicting a series of events.

The second technique that is extremely important when creating really stunning scrapbook pages is cropping your pictures. This can shift the emphasis of an image considerably and help the viewer to focus their attention on the most important part of the photo.

The easiest way to do this is by using a computer, creating a few copies of the photo, and cropping at various angles then testing which one looks best. Alternatively if you do not have a computer you can do this by placing pieces of paper over the parts of the photo you want to cut away to determine what looks best before cutting with a craft knife or paper trimmer.

From your craft supplies you will then need to select your scrapbook paper and card stock. This is the foundation of any scrapbook page layout and not only sets the mood and scene of the page but choosing the right paper and card together with the embellishments will determine the overall effect you will end up with. Make sure you choose scrapbook paper that compliments your photos rather than overwhelming them.

To make your photos stand out it is a good idea to matt them to give the effect they have been framed. You can do this by simply cutting some scrapbook paper or card stock slightly larger than your photo and mounting the photo onto the card. The bigger the ‘matt’ the more dramatic the picture will look. You can try out different techniques when matting. For example the edges could be torn to give an aged look.

Putting your layout together is the final task and in my opinion the most fun. Choose a sheet of scrapbook paper for your background and begin arranging your pictures and embellishments around the page.

 I would recommend that you do not stick anything down until you are sure that your scrapbook page layout is exactly how you want it. At this point you can also start adding lettering and scrapbook quotes that correspond with the photos.

Once you have everything arranged and you are happy with the layout you can now begin to stick everything down. Ensure that everything has dried before placing the page inside your scrapbook.