How to Make a Scrapbook

A scrapbook can mean different things to different people. On one end of the spectrum, a scrapbook can just be a simple notebook filled with clippings and odds and ends, or it could be a really elaborate and beautiful piece of craftwork.

I like to do album-based scrapbooks for a particular occasion. For example, my cousin had a baby shower recently, so I thought it would be nice to make her a scrapbook to mark the occasion which she could keep.

First, I picked the right album. I like albums with plain adhesive pages, as this allows for maximum creativity in terms of layout and decoration. Albums with plastic sleeves for the photographs don't give you as much flexibility.

Next, I prepared my scraps and decorative items. Since the theme was blue and white, I looked through my box of scrap papers and picked out various blue and white pieces. I also put aside bits of blue and white ribbon I had in my scrap ribbon box. I also happened to have pack of decorative wooden hearts and stars which someone had given me, some of which happened to be blue and white - so I picked those out too. In addition, I bought some stickers (to give the whole product a fun feel).

Then came the big day, the baby shower itself. I arrived early with my camera and made sure I'd taken photos of the decorations, flowers and food as I wanted these photos as the intro to my scrapbook, before the guests arrived. This allowed me to focus on photographing the guests as they talked, ate, played games and exchanged gifts. I made sure I had photos of every stage of the evening, right down to a photo of the giveaways (extremely cute blue and white cookies in the shapes of teddy bears!). When the evening came to an end, i went around gathering bits and bobs which I knew I could add to my scrapbook, such as the cards we used for the baby charades, and the "Baby Photos Here" sign we used to mark the spot where the guests were supposed to drop their baby photos (since one of the games involved us guessing each other's identities based on their photos.

The next thing to do was to get the photos developed.

Armed with all my materials and the photos, I then put together the scrapbook - starting with the scraps of paper and ribbon, photos, blue and white hearts and stars, and finally the stickers.

Voila! The baby's mum absolutely loved it!