Scrapbooking. How to create an album step by step?

Scrapbooking...

is one of the fields of artistic craftsmanship based on decorating photo albums, memorial books, notebooks, diaries, boxes or other items with a variety of decorative accessories including coloured papers, washi tapes, ribbons, stickers and stamps. The manual decoration technique, which is scrapbooking, can be used by anyone, without any restrictions. But to do so, you have to equip yourself with some necessary accessories.

But before you go into technical issues, think about it, what kind of a story do you want your album to tell. Memories of the wedding? The birth of a child? Or maybe a report of a trip abroad? When you choose a theme for your album, it will be easier for you to match specific decorations to it. After deciding what story to tell with your album, you have to start making it by choosing a strong and preferably stiff base.

How to choose a base, i.e. a scrapbooking album?

The basic stage of making an album from scratch is choosing the right base to guarantee durability of an already finished album. We can make it ourselves from thick cardboard, but a lot quicker and more convenient solution is to buy a ready-made photo album.

Photo scrapbooks must be made of high quality, durable materials, which will guarantee its durability for many years. It is best to choose albums with stiff pages that will not bend under the weight of the decorations attached to them. What is more, the stiff pages turn more easily.

The albums come in a variety of colours, shapes and sizes. Among them, the most popular are photo albums 13 x 18 cm and 15 x 21 cm which will perfectly display large-size photos and accommodate many spectacular decorations. Albums also differ in the number of pages. There are models with a dozen pages, but also those that can hold up to 100 photos. We are sure that you will easily find the perfect base to create your album!

How to make a scrapbooking album?

Making an album from scratch is so much fun! How to decorate an album for pasting photos? What accessories and tools will you need? You will find the answers to these and other questions about scrapbooking later in this magazine.

Scrapbooking paper

We have the base ready, so it is high time to start preparing the next elements determining the appearance of the scrapbooking album, i.e. choosing the right type of paper and a number of decorations and accessories.

Decorative papers are one of the most important elements of scrapbooking. They serve primarily to cover the base, but also to create various decorations. Decorative sheets of paper are available in a variety of designs, colours and sizes. They also have various weights. Colourful papers can be bought in sets which are grouped based on their colour or theme, or individually, and their choice depends primarily on the theme of the album and our imagination.

Decorating accessories

When it comes to scrapbooking, the only limit for choosing decorations and ornaments is imagination, because everything depends on our ingenuity and creativity. All kinds of washi tapes, laces, strings or ribbons are perfect for decorating, because they can mask the place where the papers connect and you can tie a bow with them.

An interesting gadget, with the help of which you can create a great decoration for the album, are decorative hole  punchers that allow you to cut out any shape, e.g. a heart, which will be perfect for a children's album, or a lace pattern to perfectly decorate and complete the wedding photo album.

What other ornaments can we choose from? There are all kinds of stickers and stamps, as well as templates for drawing or cutouts in the shape we choose, ready to stick in the album. 3D decorations and other convex elements, such as buttons, pebbles, sequins, pearls, flower petals or shapes made of wood or epoxy resin, also look very interesting in the album. You may also need crayons, markers or paints.

The decorations should be selected properly so that after sticking them inside, the album opens and closes easily. You also need to spread them evenly on each side. Otherwise, one of the corners of the album may become bent, which will not look too good. Decorating is a very enjoyable and engaging activity, but remember not to go overboard with the amount of decorations, so that the pages are not covered too much, after all the pictures need to fit in there - they are the most important! For the album, choose the best-quality photographs - sharp and well lit. Try to choose matt pictures, which are less prone to fingerprints.

It is worth adding that the individual elements of the album, i.e. the base, sheets of paper, selected decorations and photos, should match each other in terms of the theme, colour and style, forming a coherent whole.

Necessary tools for scrapbooking

The basic tools that will certainly be useful for decorating your album are: scissors, glue, ruler, set square, pencil or adhesive tape. Hole punchers can also be helpful for precise cutting of various shapes.

Scrapbooking is a creative, imaginative activity that allows you to create unique and exceptional works that can be a wonderful family heirloom for many generations.