Scrapbook 101 - Creating your First Scrapbook Part 3

Make sure to check out:

Part 1 - Supplies

Part 2 - Organize your Photos

Part 3 – The sketch – putting it all together

Ok so you have your supplies and you have your photos now you are ready to start making pages!

I won't be telling you the "rules" for creating a page - because I don't believe in rules!  I think scrapbooking is like any other craft/hobby/art form - it is about fun, experimentation,  and about creating something that you are happy with.  So here is my biggest piece of advice when starting - don’t reinvent the wheel!! Look around the internet and find people whose work you really like and let that inspire you to create.  It is okay to copy them – you are creating pages for your family and you want to be happy with what you have created – if you see something you like recreate it! Over time you will start to develop your own style and won’t need to rely on others as much.  Scraplifting is absolutely okay! (With that said it is never okay to copy someone’s work and submit it for publication or to put it on the internet without properly giving credit  -just a friendly reminder!) 

When I was getting back into scrapbooking a few years ago (after taking some time away from it – but funny enough NOT taking time away from purchasing supplies!) I would keep a notebook of sketches of layouts that I liked the style of.  Sketches are sort of maps/recipes for how to create a layout. I sorted them by number of photos to make it easier to find a sketch that would work for the photos I had on hand.  To sketch a layout I would copy down the basic outline of the layout – where the embellishments would go, what sizes the photos were, where the patterned paper was – keeping it basic so that I could put my own twist on it later. Then when I sat down I found that I usually ended up moving stuff around and the layout would turn out different and would look more like something I had created.  The more pages I created the less I found myself relying on sketches and the more I found I was developing my own style.

If you are creating a scrapbook for a special occasion (like a birthday gift or a wedding guest book) and you have limited time I recommend considering coming up with a couple of similar sketches and repeating it throughout the entire book.  This will make things easier for you as well as tie the whole thing together and give it a “professional” look.  Here are a couple of similar sketches that may work for you.  Notice how they are all similar but a slightly different spin – see if you can come up with more based on these (click on the photos to make them larger):

So that's my advice for creating your first scrapbook - the most important thing to remember is there are no rules.  This is supposed to be fun!  Hopefully this series has been helpful!  If you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments and I will try to answer them.  I will leave you with a few links to sites that offer sketches and/or inspiration:

My favorite layouts on Pinterest

Page Maps – great site for page sketches

Two Peas in a Bucket Gallery – lots of inspiration

Pencil Lines - sketch challenge blog

Got Sketch? - sketch blog 

This post is linked at Passionately Artistic and here: