Album Scrapbooking

What you need to know about album scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is definitely one of the most enjoyable, rewarding and relaxing activities a person can get into. Aside from bringing out the creativity and resourcefulness in every person, it also helps people to organize memories and keepsakes in one place.

Through the years, most people collect photos and mementos from their friends, family members, and loved ones. In order to organize these, more and more people are getting into scrapbooking.

ON ALBUM SCRAPBOOKING

One of the most common themes used in scrapbooking is album scrapbooking. This kind of theme usually involves the use of photos just like in several photo albums.

In creating album scrapbooks, the first consideration should be the album itself. In the market today, there are two standard sizes of albums—the 8.5”x11” and 12”x12”. If you are planning to create a family scrapbook, most scrappers will suggest that you use a 12”x12” album because you will need larger space to accommodate all the photos and captions of your family members.

But, if you are creating an album scrapbook for personal use or a scrapbook that you will give as a gift for a loved one, you can use smaller albums such as the 8.5"x11" or even a 5”x7” albums because you can create a very specific theme and just use more pages if you need to.

Other specifications of scrapbook albums include the post-bound albums that come with black or white cardstock pages and are covered by sheet protectors. The pages of which are bound into the album using three posts that enables it to be easily taken out so you can add or remove your scrapbook pages.

This kind of album makes it easy for the scrapper to move pages around by pulling the cardstock out of the sheet protector or by sliding in a page where pre-printed or digital self printed patterned papers or templates are used.

Strap-hinge albums, on the other hand, are those albums that have flexible plastic straps in the cover that run through wire loops embedded in each page and are expandable while the 3-ring binders or D-ring binders are those albums that are bound using rings that allow you to add or switch around pages quickly and easily.

A 3-ring binder also allows you to fit a lot of pages while a D-ring allows the pages in your scrapbook to lie flat when the scrap book is closed or in use.

Aside from the album itself, another major consideration in the old traditional hand scrapped album scrapbooking is the space or room you'll take up and the supplies you'll be needing.  Items such as stickers that come in various themes, designs, colors, and sizes which are great and some times inexpensive and very fun and easy to use; tags that can be used as major decorations; cut-outs and punch-outs which are usually tags, alphabet letters, and laser lace borders that are used to decorate the page, paper embellishments which are usually perforated so you can use them anywhere in the scrapbook.

To save a lot of money on these extras, many scrapbookers are turning to digital, downloadable and printable elements, embellishments and scrapbook pages.  You can find out more on that in our Online Scrapbooking article.

There should also be punches which are tools used to punch shapes out of paper that come in shapes of all sizes; embellishments such as buttons, fibers or fancy yarns and threads, metal accents, beads, craft wire and fabric ribbon roses that are safely being used on many scrapbook pages; chalk or decorative chalks that come in a set with various colors and applicators perfect for shading and highlighting an album page, just be sure and coat it with a clear acid free spray to preserve it and keep it from rubbing off; eyelets which are great for attaching vellum to paper, for decorating a photo mat or for making a border and which also come in different sizes, colors and shapes.

Caution: make sure all your supplies are Lingon and Acid free.  Otherwise, you may be destroying your pages in the long term.

Rubber stamps can also be used very effectively in many scrapbook themes. Very versatile, these stamps can be used for different purposes such as in card making; die-cuts which are paper shapes made from heavy paper stock that come in all sorts of colors and themes; embossed paper charms; and templates which are ideal for unique embellishments that will make your album scrapbook great.

If you are looking to have your book printed as a real, hardbound book, then you will want to learn more about your digital or computer scrapbook options for that.

Our favorite resource for digital scrapbooking and for saving tons of money is: www.PrincessCrafts.com.