Easy Way to Happiness

If there’s one word to describe scrapbooks, it would be “fun”. Why? Scrapbooks are simply fun to make, fun to leaf through, and simply make memorable moments become more fun to remember. Because of these, scrapbooks are popular to have or own by people of all ages.

Other than being a fun and different way to keep a record of your life and the important events in it, scrapbooks offer you a platform to express yourself creatively. You don’t have to be an artist by vocation (or even avocation) to make your scrapbook a vehicle for your natural creativity. When putting together a scrapbook, however, there are a few things to keep in mind to make your scrapbook not only visually appealing but practically functional as well. The most important of these is your page layout.

While there aren’t any rules which dictate what you can and can’t put into your scrapbook and you definitely shouldn’t use a formulaic layout which makes every page the same, there are a few guidelines to be aware of. These guidelines help you make scrapbooks which have varied pages, with each one worthy of a closer look. The important elements of scrapbook page layout follow; there’s no particular order you need to put these into, but they should be part of every page where you can incorporate them. Remember, the only real rule of scrapbooking is to have fun!

Margin. A scrapbook must contain margins. It doesn’t matter what or how they look. There are two main things that you should consider with margins in scrapbooks. One is that a margin should give you space where you can attach all the scrapbook pages together. Let’s say you are planning on stringing all the scrapbook pages together. With this, use the margin of each page as the space where you will loop the string in.

You also need to leave enough space in your margins to turn pages without risking damage to the decorative elements of the page.

Paper: It’s a good idea to use several different types of paper in a single scrapbook to add visual and tactile interest. Use different colors and textures to keep things varied and interesting to look through. You can even set up your scrapbook so that no two pages use the same paper!

Photos and other images: You need to use photographs or illustrations on nearly every page of your scrapbook. Scrapbooks are all about visual appeal, so include some sort of image on every page you can.

Captions. What good is a photo if you do not have captions placed anywhere near them? Not only will captions help you to easily recall on what’s in the picture, but these are also fun to read, too.

Decorative accents: No scrapbook is truly complete without some purely decorative accents added. These should be on every page and can be almost anything you like: ribbons, paper cutouts, decorative borders, stickers, buttons, lace, painted elements, really anything.

Dates. Never forget to put a date in each scrapbook page. The date can be related to the photo (such as when it was taken) or to the scrapbook page (i.e. when it was made) or to the paragraph content of the page.