Scrapbooking Defined

Scrapbooking is quite simply taking an ordinary photo album and turning it into a special memory keeper. It involves attaching sentiments and embellishments to photo pages in order to emphasise moods and preserving precious memories in a unique and creative way.

The dictionary defines a scrapbook as "a blank book in which newspaper clippings, magazine articles, photos, usually personal, or other memorabilia are collected and preserved." Not a new concept Websters date the origin of the word to the year 1825! Modern day scrapbooking differ somewhat from the old way, and places much more emphasis on photo safety and creative expression.

An example of scrapbooking today could be the memories associated with a particular holiday. Instead of just attaching the photograhs in the normal way, scrapbookers would perhaps decorate the pages with a suitable background paper and overlay it with the pictures from the holiday. Next a train/plane/event ticket could be attached, along with, perhaps, a cut-out from a menu or similar. The next step could be to add texual sentiments to the pages, followed by gluing on other suitable embellishments.

Modern scrapbooking is designed to preserve your photographs and special memories in as safe an environment as possible, in order to assure they will be able to be enjoyed for years to come.

There are important elements to consider when scrapbooking, so please take a moment to read our Scrapbooking FAQ section.

Lets start with the album or journal to hold your precious memories. It is important not to use magnetic albums which will ruin your photoes, instead choose archival-quality albums sturdy enough to withstand frequent viewing.

Other things you will need for safe scrapbooking::

• Photo safe adhesives (don't mix lots of different adhesives, as possible resulting fumes could damage your photographs).
• Acid free paper and cardstock in a variety of colours for adding colour to your pages
• Acid free, archival quality pens for journaling and adding colour to your pages.
• Scissors for cutting paper and photos
• A personal trimmer or paper cutter for cropping photos etc. A paper cutter or personal trimmer will give you a cleaner cut than scissors.

These are the essential items, the following are additional scrapbooking material:

• Acid free photo mounts and photo corners
• Decorative stickers and alphabet stickers
• Fbres, yarn, ribbon etc
• Decorative buttons, wire, eyelets and charms
• Paper embellishments such as frames or die cuts
• Punches and decorative edged scissors
• Rubber stamps and stamp pads