Traditional and Digital Scrapbooks

It used to be when someone said the word "scrapbook," the image that comes to mind is an old album filled with newspaper clippings, medals, and photos all displayed haphazardly without any sense of style or reasoning.

Scrapbooking has become a billion dollar industry that has spawned magazines, television shows, direct sales lines, specialty stores, digital software and even trade shows. It has commandeered its own aisle in Wal-Mart and Target. No longer is it old musty albums filled with newspaper clippings. Today it is all about colors, layouts and embellishments. There are mini albums, 8 x 10 albums, 12 x 12 albums and everything in between.

It starts out with a photograph or item of interest. You chose a layout and color scheme. Then you get to embellish it with buttons, brads, eyelets, glitter, stamps, paint, ribbon, felt, and flowers. It can be as simple or as busy as you want it to be in order to bring out the best qualities of the picture. Almost all scrapbooking includes some form of journaling. Some way of documenting when and what was going on in the photograph/item of interest.

If you don't have any interest in playing with glue and glitter, you can invest in a scrapbooking software such as Adobe Photoshop. This is called digital scrapbooking. You can either leave your scrapbooking on your computer to be placed on a website or you can find a printing service to print off your pages. You can then embellish them if you want and place them in an album.

Scrapbooks are a good way to preserve memories for your children and grandchildren. It also allows you to use your creativity to create works of art. I've heard people ask if they are "doing it right". If you achieved the result you desired and are happy with its appearance, then yes. There is no "right" or "wrong" in scrapbooking. Each page is as individual as the person who created it.

When you venture out that first time for supplies, it is easy to be overwhelmed with all the die cut machines, hole punches, embossing powders, and chalk. Stick with the basics on your first run out. Scrapbooking can quickly become expensive if you give in to temptation. Stick to some basic embellishments, a good paper trimmer, adhesive and some paper. Once you get those first few pages done, it will create a fountain of ideas. So dig out those wedding and baby photos from the attic and invite your friends over for a crop. Happy scrapping!