Bluebell Crafts

Archive for the ‘Scrapbooking’ Category

Your best friend from college is getting married. You’re the maid of honor. You’re thinking there is no way you’re going to get her a toaster or blender. Why not make her a bridal shower scrapbook?

Once the invitations are chosen, save one, completely filled out to put at the beginning of the scrapbook. When you send out the invitations, ask each guest to mail you one photo of the bride with the guest, along with a few sentences about how they know the bride, or a special moment they’ve shared with the bride. Another option is to have paper and pens available at the shower and have all of the guests write their thoughts while at the shower. For those guests who can not attend, it’s wonderful to have their photos and thoughts also. Since you want the paper to be acid free and lignin free, consider mailing the paper with the invitations.

Did the bride register at a particular store? Go to the store and take photos of the store, from the outside. If the bride goes with you, take photos of the bride standing outside of the store. If the store has a catalog, take a photo of the store catalog.

If the shower is held in a reception room, take several pictures before your guests arrive. If the shower is held in someone’s home, take photos of the outside of the house. Then take some photos of the decorated room prior to everyone arriving.

Are you serving food? If it’s prepared ahead of time, take photos of the table with all of the food on it.  Did guests bring the food? If so, provide them with paper to write down the recipe, which you can then include in the scrapbook you are making.

When the bride begins opening her gifts, try to take one photo of each gift. Jot down who gave her the gift and try to include a photo of the guest on the same page as the gift photo from that person. Make a point of getting at least one photo of each guest in attendance.

If you play any type of games that involve writing, try to use acid free, lignin free paper so that you can include the game sheets in the scrapbook.

If the bride has thank you notes, include a blank thank you note in the scrapbook, so that she’ll have the memory of what notes she used.

Using all of the above suggestions, you can create a very special memory for the bride to be and I guarantee that the bride will appreciate this scrapbook much more than a toaster or blender.

A garden scrapbook can offer a lovely, natural element for anyone reading your storybook. Flowers are among the most popular items used in scrapbooking and using flowers in a scrapbook is very much a part of crafting the scrapbook story of your garden.

How to dry flowers for scrap booking

You can use corsages, bouquets and any parts of the flower to craft your garden scrapbook. Once dried and compressed, the flowers should be laminated. Use Xyron sticker creation machine or any acid-free product to laminate your flowers.

Then glue or tape the flowers in place so that they are stuck securely on the page. The compressed and dried flowers can be lined up or placed at an angle – anything that pleases your eye, and added to your scrapbook page.  Once you are happy with the arrangement, smoothly glue them near your photographs and notations.  You may have seen flowers preserved in bibles. The process in scrapbooks is similar, only you will want to position and stick the flowers in place so that they do not fall out.

You can collect flowers, seed heads, leaves, grasses etc. at almost anytime of the year.  Every season offers you wonderful plants and flowers to add to your garden scrapbook. But collect the plant material after the dew has evaporated so that it is not too damp. Read the rest of this entry »

As a kid did you ever cut pictures out of magazines and paste them onto paper and then make a book out of those papers? You may have collected other bits and pieces like stripes of lace or ribbons, cards or tickets and pasted those around or along side the pictures. Remember too, how all your hard work got stuck into a drawer and you found it years later in bits?

Now there’s a grown up way to preserve your treasures and memories – Scrapbooking.

The concept behind building a scrapbook of memories hasn’t changed much. You can still put photos, cards, newspaper clippings, poems, tickets and odd bits of stuff that remind you of events, people, those times you cherish into your scrapbook to preserve and/or display those memories.

Scrapbooking techniques and tools, however have changed substantially since you were a kid. Scrapbooking albums have replaced the messy bundles of paper. These albums are generally bound or placed in a binder. In this way, all your hard work stays together and won’t fall apart. Furthermore, new specialized covers provides protection from the outside elements. Read the rest of this entry »

Scrapbooks are great fun to make and to look at. They tell a story about the person who made it and the people preserved in its content. Scrapbooks can include photos, journals, letters, report cards, tickets, greeting cards, certificates, stories, school exercise books,  dance cards and programs, brochures, footprints, pressed flower corsages, ribbons, lace and so much more.

Each detail that goes into your scrapbook will add to the memory package you build. When you create the time capsule – your scrapbook – you carefully preserve the period of time covered in your story. Time capsules can include just about anything – photographs, clothes, hand/foot prints, CDs, details of family members like names, weights, heights, relationships, genealogy and more. For instance, you can make a scrapbook that covers the time from your baby’s first step up to this very moment – however old your ‘baby’ is now. Read the rest of this entry »

Adhesives – Which Ones to Choose?

Using the right adhesives to keep your scrapbook materials together is really important. Equally, chose the correct adhesive to use with your photos.

You can choose glues, paste or tape to create your scrapbook. The best materials to use should always have the words “pH neutral”, “Acid-free”, “Archival Safe” or the “CK OK” seal somewhere on their labels. For best results, your adhesives should also be lignin-free.

The Photo Activity Test or PAT is an internationally recognized, standardized test used to determine  whether or not materials such as papers and adhesives can be used for photo storage or archival purposes and won’t damage your scrapbook or whatever you put in it.

Adhesives which are safe include acrylic-based or starch-based products. Mounting square, photo corners, tape runners, double sided tape, vellum tape and acid-free glue (liquid or stick forms) can all be used safely.  Avoid purchasing adhesive that run, relax, transfers or have a strong odor.  Recent studies have shown that rubber cement and other strong smelling adhesives will damage photos over time.

TIP: Use heavy papers when crafting your scrapbook.

In craft stores, you will find a wide selection of glues, including sticks, bottled liquid glues, glue pens, etc. Always read the label and test the products, if you can, to see which are best suited for your scrapbooking projects. For smaller projects, the glue pens are great. Apply enough force to stick smaller objects together or onto the pages.  If you want to embellish, you can use the two-way pens. Avoid ordinary glue sticks or the glue your kids use at school.

Cellophane tape is great to use as an adhesive. Tape is usually easier than glue to use. When choosing tape, however, makes sure you use a tape roller. Using tape also allows you to change your mind and easily remove and re-stick the item.

Using Photo Splitters. 

Photo splitters are easy to apply, acid free, photo safe and convenient mounting squares that permanently attach memorabilia, photos, certificates and awards, news clippings, letters, post cards, and other papers in scrapbooks or memory books. They are double sided, so just peel off the protective cover and stick the item onto your scrapbook page.

Glues and tape are cheaper to use than the Xyron machines, however these machines do help make up quality scrapbooks. Xyron machines can be used as laminators and for making stickers. The machines are also ideal for creating multi-scrapbook projects.

In addition to the machines, glues, tapes, you may want to invest in photo splits and precut tape, and a pair of Honey Bee Craft Scissors from EK Success. With their non-stick blades, the stickiest of adhesives won’t be a problem because the blades stay adhesive-free and smooth.

Scrapbooks are a way to bring your family together.

Scrapbooks help to recall memories of the people and event in your life, they spark fragmented memories, and bring the past to life.  When crafting your scrapbook, you’ll want to use only those materials that will keep your memories safe.  With all the time and effort you put into scrapbooking, you don’t want to have it all fall apart because of the wrong choice of something so elemental as the correct glue!

Choosing The Right Adhesives for Your Scrapbooking