Your Personal Scrapbook Ideas: How to Create.

If you are looking for a creative scrapbook ideas you should read this article. If "a picture's worth a thousand words", then imagine the power of a thousand pictured words. Sometimes pictures keep secrets. They don't always tell the whole story. Complementing pictures with the written word can shed some light on these secrets, a light unique to you and your experience. The lens of a camera can't catch everything. Wielding words can add feeling and flavor to your scrapbook like nothing else.
  
Once you have an experience to scrapbook, picture it in your mind. What do you see? What ideas come in? Now picture it with words. What words best describe the experience? What aspects need embellishing? What hidden things do you wish to expose? What words will help others to see your subject and ideas the way you see it? Try this exercise, even if that other person is just you.

Start the flow to generate some scrapbook ideas .

Give yourself one minute. On a sheet of paper begin writing about your subject. Write down anything and everything about it that pops into your head. Don't stop until the minute is up. You may be surprised at the outcome.
Consider the photographs you will use. Use words which state the obvious to embellish certain features.

Go beyond the picture and reveal the rest of the story. Details only you know. Your story. Your scrapbook ideas.
It may take only a few vivid words. Sometimes concise phrases can express your train of thought better than a long series of sentences with correct grammar. However, your story might require such lengthy descriptions, or journaling.
Explore the parts of speech.

Use action verbs to give your experience hands and feet and heart.
Vary them in tense, past or present. embarked - pushed - climbing - flying
Use adjectives to describe. bright - breezy - fresh - exciting - exhausting

Adjectives can also illustrate emotion. eager - driven - free - fulfilled
Use adverbs to embellish action. They can tell how things happened. Your picture may show a girl swinging. How did she swing? high - far - gently - independently - alone

Phrases can also act as adjectives (describing things) and adverbs (describing action). with a gentle push - all by herself - into the air - toward the shining clouds - giggling all the way down
Keep in mind the importance of nouns. Nouns tell who is pictured and how they are related to others. niece - seven-year-old - second grader - future aviator
Common nouns name a thing. swing - girl - park - trees - sunshine - springtime

You may want to get more specific with proper nouns. Erica - Uncle John's Face Plant Park - Monday, March 8, 2011
Pronouns rename the noun. These words can be vaguely personal. she - herself - I - someone - many
Prepositions can be the springboard for phrases. up - above - with - toward - into

Conjunctions connect and may prove especially significant to your experience. she and I - so close yet so far away - not only my niece, but also a mirror of me
Interject expressions or exclamations. Wheeee! - hee-hee-he-he
Take this farther to include a soundbyte of the experience. Shwoooosh! - Errrreek, errrreek.
Use the list of prepositions, pronouns, interjections, and verbs. Use them as springboards.
Write the spoken word.

As you picture your experience, don't forget to write down what you've heard as well as what you've seen.
What sounds fill the background? bird chirping - children yelling and playing - breeze rustling the leaves in the trees
What things were said? Look how high I'm going! - I see over the trees! - Can you give me another push?

You don't necessarily need to record the whole conversation. The parts of it you remember are probably the most important. In fact, sprinkling only bits of the conversation throughout your writing can be very effective.
Who said it? Erica: Can you take me to the park to swing? Pleeeease? - Me: (smiling) Oh, all right!
The only words you use may be an entire conversation in script form (like above).
How did they say it? "I just felt my tummy jump!" She shouted down to me, between the giggles.

What potential words of wisdom can you glean? Everything looks better when you're swinging above it. -- Erica
Dig through a dictionary or thesaurus. Once you find a word, define it.
Make up your own definitions of real words or words that may not even be found in a dictionary: inside jokes, made up words, mispronunciations, names, etc.

Be redundant and say the same thing several different ways. carefree - lighthearted - blithe - untroubled - content
Utilize on-line dictionaries and thesauruses.
Utilize your ABC's for scrapbook ideas.

Find a word for each letter of the alphabet that define you or the experience you're scrapping. This is a good exercise whether or not you incorporate each word.
Go farther and define each word you choose.
Go even farther and journal about why that word fits.

Incorporate these words into your journaling and accentuate them (in bold, italics, bigger font, etc.). For an added challenge, incorporate them in alphabetical order.
Don't forget your 123's. Try Roman numerals and spelling them out.
Incorporate time. Not only the 24 hours in a day. Go beyond into the minutes and seconds that were lived.

Be poetic (even if you can't rhyme).
Summarize your experience in one word. Then create an acrostic.
Acrostics can be composed in practically limitless ways...
Each line can contain one word (Jaunts / Outings / Yesterdays) related or unrelated to the others.
You can include the word's definition on each line.

They can express one thought, or many, each thought begun with the appropriate letter of your main word.
Create phrase poetry. The only rule is that the words beginning each line have the same endings.
Try haikus to create anusual scrapbook ideas.
Pick descriptive words that rhyme. Can't rhyme? Make WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary your new best friend.
Go beyond yourself and delve into another's related experience.

Glean quotes from scrapbook sites.
Incorporate related Bible verses or proverbs. Look up Bible verses from several different translations at BibleGateway.com.
Excerpt a part of a book: your favorite, travel books, magazines, how-to's, used, outdated, etc.

Use lyrics from your favorite song, or lines from your favorite movie or TV show.
Try saying the same thing in another language. Use translation tool. Works well as backgrounds or hidden journaling. Don't forget to archive an original translation as well.
Interview those who shared the experience with you.

When scrapbook an ideal, like faith or joy, get your friend's and family's view.
Pass on the things your mother always told you.
Record things that you or those you know say often.
Archive family anecdotes (like the ones your uncle always told whenever the family would get together).

Write down things other people have told you that have impacted your life.
File notes you've taken at an event.
Write what's significant to you. Once you have, set the photos aside for a moment and re-read your own words to savor the picture you have painted.

Now that you've added words to your picture, think of in terms of your scrapbook layout idea or design. Which words should be featured in the foreground? Which ones will you fade into the background? Will you snap a close-up (a few accentuated words) or go for a landscape shot (words tied together with journaling)? What do you wish to expose? What aspects do you want to keep hidden? Choose your angle and get your pictured words ready for exposure.

Cast the characters. It's can be a great source for new scrapbook ideas.

The way you picture your words depends on how they relate to your experience.
What parts of the picture are most important to you?
Which words best describe those parts?
What is characteristic about those words?
Do they stand out? Or do they play more like background music?
Can you sum it all up on a few significant words? Or do you need to elaborate through journaling?

Set the scene.

Once you've picked your words, consider how you will picture them. What scrapbook ideas you can realise? You may already have a picture in your mind - how do those words fit into it? Words, having their own definitions, almost design themselves, based on the font you choose.
What design comes to mind when consider the meaning of those words in light of your experience?
Say your words out loud. They way they sound can contribute to the design.
What do you have to work with? What materials do you still need?
And most importantly ...what font will you use? Haven't a clue? Check out web-sites.

The best cure for design block is to surround yourself with designs. Peruse design galleries and see how others have pictured their words. Think of ways you could incorporate their scrapbook ideas.
Your picture is set. You've found your angle and your focus. Everything looks perfect through the "viewfinder". All that's left is to snap the shot. The words you've fashioned wait to be designed and incorporated into your layout. Expose your scrapbook to your pictured words.
Other scrapbook ideas include:

Handwrite your own journaling, to make it personal.
Design your own style of lettering and use it in your layouts.
Visit your local scrapbooking or craft store and you'll discover a variety of pens, pencils, and markers: classic colors, fluorescent, metallic, thin, thick, super-thick, paint, gel, watercolor, and so much more.

Every scrapbooker loves their fonts, so design your words on the computer. You can print your words on all different colors and patterns of paper, cardstock, vellum, transparencies, and even fabric.
Once printed, cut out whole words to use as headers or embellishments, or take some more time to cut out each letter and adhere in place on your page.
Print your words on your background, pre-designed to fit your layout, and leave the page as is.

If you look hard enough you'll find word stamps for any scrapbook layout. Stamped words can be heat embossed. Words fresh from your printer can also be heat embossed.
Incorporate die cut words or cut outs.
You can find stickers with all kinds of alphabet fonts and design.

Try hidden journaling.
Add your words to tags.
Visit a used bookstore and purchase some old books and sheet music. Use their pages as backgrounds.
Explore resale shops for old clothes with logos, labels, and fabric you can use.

Purchase a spare dictionary and thesaurus and clip out definitions or synonyms for more ideas.
When writing about a location, add a map of the place to the picture. Search Internet for several different kinds of maps you can print off for your word pictures.
Incorporate scanned or photocopied pages from a family Bible, your diary, or other documents.
Rub your words onto bottlecaps, metal tags, and mica.

Frame your words with bookplates, slide mounts, and specimen slides.
Visit scrapbooking manufacturers' websites and you'll find dozens more products and ideas to help you picture your words.
What ideas and experiences in your life are waiting to be exposed? Capture them in your scrapbook. The scrapbook ideas are endless when it comes to picturing your words.

Scrapbook Ideas for a Themed Scrapbook.

A themed scrapbook can be created with one theme. This scrapbooks can be dedicated to a specific event or occasion, such as:

Trips: vacations, cruises, camping, skiing

School: first day, graduation, prom night

Birthdays: each birthday in a different color

Weddings and anniversaries

Baby: first year, christening, baptism

Reunions: family, school

Family history: each member of the family can contribute a page or section

Annual events: Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, New Year's

Clubs and organizations: historical societies, gourmet groups, adventure clubs, scouts, theatrical, Little League, soccer, football, swimming, gymnastics, dance

Other: building or remodeling a home, photo of the month, grandparent's album, recipe book, poetry and thoughts, inspiration, business promotion

Scrapbook Materials:

Scissors
Punches
Paper cutters
Glue sticks
Double-stick tape
Pens
Acid-free paper
Laminate
Envelopes
Calligraphy or other stylized writing instruments
Photographs
Optional: alphabet stamp sets, embossing inks and powders, stamps, stickers, computer images

Tips for a themed scrapbook:

Begin with the result in mind. Tell a story with the photos you take, and keep notes and souvenirs to add to the book.

Don't spend much money on the album. Buy plain, inexpensive albums, then dress up the insides and outsides with decorated laminated sheets.

Keep photos in an acid-free file. These become the master photos. Make copies of photos to put in memory books. That way, you can have copies enlarged or reduced so the photos are different sizes.

Copy several photos on one large sheet, and cut them apart to save money rather than copy each photo individually.

Old yellowed letters and papers can be copied so they turn out white.

To make photos look old, photocopy colored photos in black and white, then deckle the edge with scissors or a deckle cutter.

Use acid-free paper, and laminate each page so your album will last a lifetime.

Western Scrapbook

Materials:

Photos
Copies of photos
Denim jeans
Inexpensive acid-free three-ring binder
Flag-patterned fabric
Laminating sheets
Paper punches
Decorative-edged scissors

1. Have photos copied in various sizes. Place several photos on one sheet, and cut the copies apart.

2. Copy the seat of a pair of denim jeans with back pockets for background. Copy the leg of the jeans for a plain denim background.

3. If you want to introduce a Fourth of July theme, so you can copy a piece of flag-patterned fabric.

4. Laminate the copy of the flag fabric, and stick it to the cover of an acid-free three-ring binder with acid-free double-stick tape.

5. Laminate the copy of the denim fabric. Place copies of photos on the background, and decorate with cutouts that fit the theme - in this case, a blue ribbon, star punches and written messages. Cut the edges of the photos with decorative-edged scissors.

Old-Fashioned Scrapbook

Materials:

Black-and-white photos that have been copied
Acid-free black paper
Acid-free pen with white ink
Decorative-edged scissors
Hibiscus-patterned rubber stamp
Acid-free white inkpad
Embossing powder
Heat tool for embossing

1. Cut the edges of copied black-and-white photos with decorative-edged scissors. Stick the photo onto black acid-free paper with acid-free double-stick tape. Outline the photo, following the decorative-edged design, with an acid-free pen that has white ink.

2. Load a hibiscus-patterned rubber stamp with white ink. Stamp the image on the black paper near the photo. Apply embossing powder to the image, and heat to emboss with a heat tool.

A themed scrapbook lets you bring back the emotions of the event or occasion and make it fun to look in the future.

Heritage Scrapbook Ideas With Or Without Photos.

Here are some heritage scrapbook ideas to honor your heritage. Scrapbooking your family heritage is a wonderful way to document for future generations everything you know about your ancestors. When family photographs are available, and are in good enough condition to use, it's fairly simple to use them in scrapbook layouts. However, if photography is hard to come by or non-existant, it's still possible to include the information you have about your family members by thinking creatively. Consider all the different items you have available that can be included in your heritage albums.

Photocopies

Good laser-printed copies of photographs can often be easier to scrapbook than the originals. They can be resized and color-corrected, and some areas of damage can be mended with the right graphics software. Best of all, these copies can often be saved to a disk or CD for later use or sharing among family members.

Documents

Whether you have originals or photocopies, documents can be included in scrapbooks, and are a delightful addition in many cases. Look for:

Birth certificates
Birth announcements
Christening invitations
Graduation announcements
Marriage announcements or certificates
Wedding invitations
Military records
Bible record pages
Newspaper articles
Census records

All of these documents can tell about a portion of your family's history. Combine them in layouts with journalling telling what you know about the particular event. If you are using original documents, be sure you de-acidify them and mount them non-permanently on acid-free papers. Often, it is simpler and safer to use high-quality laser-printed copies.

Memorabilia and Ephemera

Medals
Jewelry
Buttons
Pins
Ticket Stubs
Greeting Cards
Postcards
Maps

Basically, any items that have been passed along in the family, are found in your attic, or even those that have been aquired at thrift and antique stores can be used in your scrapbook layouts. As long as the item helps you tell the story of your family and the times in which they lived, it can be incorporated into your heritage album. If the items are small enough, use them directly on your pages, or incorporate small pockets into your layouts to hold them. If you're not a fan of dimensional pages, put the items on a scanner or photocopier and use those flat images instead. Include any information about the items you've chosen and how they relate to your family members.

Other scrapbook ideas for items to use in heritage layouts include copies of census pages, historical photos from the area in which your family lived and newspaper clippings of historical events. All of these items can be used to give a feeling of the appropriate time period when actual photos of your family are unavailable.
These heritage scrapbook ideas can give your family a peek into their ancestors' lives.

A Random Scrapbook Ideas.

Travel scrapbook ideas. Buy at least one postcard each place you travel (even if it just to a nearby city) and write the date, events of the trip, and who was there. Write quick notes about fun experiences on the trip and then mail it to your home. For long trips try to write yourself a postcard each day.
When you return home put these postcards with your travel photos and memorabilia. Later when you scrapbook the events, not only will you have a great collection of postcards to add to your scrapbook layouts but you will have the details needed to get your journaling done!

I literally, picked up an old shutter at the side of the road and now use it for a photo/memorabilia/reminder board in my scrapbook "area". After salvaging, I sanded, painted and glued strips of thick cardstock to the back and bottom of each slat. This created a hidden ledge to rest a photo, card, or list on. I love it and it is a great conversation starter. (And helps my scrapbook table clutter free when not in use)

If I ever get stumped while scrapping, I sit down with my little boy and a watch a video. It really helps to get the creative juices flowing. Fantasia is nice too. I think it's the combination of classical music and art that helps to inspire me. Scrapbooking really is an art.

Journaling scrapbook ideas. The best way to get past writer's block when journaling is to do what writers do: keep writing. Feel free to jot down drivel on your scrap pad; you have the freedom to write drivel every now and then! The important thing is that by keeping on writing, you will eventually get back on track. You can't write anything good if you're not writing at all!

Cure ho-hum journaling by focussing on action words, a.k.a. verbs. After you've drafted a paragraph, re-read it and replace the blah phrases such as "we went" or "we enjoyed" with more interesting and specific phrases such as "we ambled" or "we giggled." By focussing on strong verbs, you'll infuse your journaling with energy and interest. Verbs rule!

Vacation scrapbook ideas. When my family is on vacation I always mail a post card home addressed to my 3yr. old daughter. I also buy a duplicate post card which I pack away in my luggage. I write about where we went and what my daughter did for fun while on our trip. When we arrive home my daughter has a post card that I put in her scrapbook. I take the duplicate card and have one for the front showing the picture and one with the journaling that has been post marked.

When I go on vacation, I keep a daily journal. At the end of the day, when my husband and son go to sleep, I sit in the hotel room and write myself a letter about our daily excitement. When I get home, my journaling is done! For my last Disney trip, I created my scrapbook pages, numbering each one on a paper punched Mickey head. When the book was completed, I typed up my journaling, referencing the pages showcasing photos on the subject. To "read" my travelogue, you take the journaling booklet, read along, and turn the pages of the scrapbook as indicated. This has enabled me to create the scrapbook without worrying about pulling the correct journaling sections for inclusion on the actual page, and enables me to include journaling without the worry of fitting it on my pages.

Before going on vacation with my husband and boys I purchased three spiral bound notebooks. I gave one to each of the boys and I kept one for myself. We journaled about what we did everyday (what we did, how we liked it, anything of importance about it, etc). This will make it so much easier to scrapbook our vacation and will also allow me to include my sons' (and occasionally husband's) perspective about our trip.
Use these scrapbook ideas if you need a new creative outlet.

Scrapbook Ideas to Add Style to Your Scrapbook.

Scrapbook ideas to add style with serendipity squares - small collage pieces that can be used on virtually any layout. The variety of colors helps pull out the colors in your photos, and the squares serve as visual "bridges" when you're combining two different-colored photo mats.

I make a full sheet of serendipity squares at a time, mat them, then attach them to layouts as needed. Depending on your personal tastes, you can add as much torn paper or rubber stamping as desired.

Scrapbook Supplies. To create serendipity squares, you'll need: solid-colored cardstock, patterned paper that includes colors from your photos that you want to emphasize, adhesive, archival pigment inks (pinwheel pads and rainbow pads that pull apart work the best), rubber stamps, embossing powder and a tool for heat embossing (optional).

Steps. Once you've got the scrapbook supplies needed, follow these steps:
1 Choose the solid cardstock that will serve as the background for your squares.

2 If you plan to emboss any of your stamped images, stamp randomly on your solid paper with pigment ink. (If you don't plan to emboss your images, skip to Step 8.) Sprinkle the stamped images with embossing powder, then melt it with a tool for heat embossing.

3 Starting with the lightest color of ink, daub randomly onto the paper to make small, irregular shapes of color. This type of application is called "direct-to-paper." Don't worry if you cover an embossed image—the ink will wipe off. Cover 10-20% of the page with your first color.

4 With the next lightest color of ink, use the direct-to-paper technique again, making small irregular, color shapes. Partially overlap your second color of ink over your first to make a third color.

5 Use this scrapbook technique with as many colors as you'd like to add. Work from light to dark and add metallic inks last. Leave some areas of your background paper uncolored.

6 If you embossed, use a tissue to wipe off excess pigment ink from those areas.

7 Blot your paper and set it aside to dry. Give it adequate time to dry to avoid smearing.

8 Select your rubber stamps. Good choices include large background stamps that can cover several squares and small images that can fit easily into a single square. I like to choose 4-5 stamps that fit a theme, plus a large background stamp of script.

9 Using permanent black ink, stamp your larger images randomly on your background paper.

10 Rip your patterned paper into strips that are approximately ½" to 1" wide and 6-8" long. Adhere strips randomly all over your background.

11 Restamp if necessary. With black ink, stamp smaller images in any unfilled space. Don't worry about overall composition of the full sheet, but try to have at least one element (ink, stamp, paper) on every square inch of the paper.

12 Use a paper trimmer to cut your large sheet into uniform-sized squares. I like them in 1¼" or 1½" sizes. You'll end up with dozens of delightfully unique squares.

13 Mat each square onto a metallic- or solid-colored background layer that's ¼" larger than the square.

Want to know one of the best scrapbook ideas you can do with chalk? After stamping images with an untinted or slightly tinted ink pad, use chalk to add color to the images. This gives you great versatility with color and a beautifully soft, pastel look.

To create a 3-D sticker, first find a plastic surface that will let you easily remove the sticker once it's assembled. Select three stickers with the same symmetrical design. Sticky side out, fold the first sticker in half and place it on the plastic surface. Fold the second sticker the same way and align the folded edge with the first sticker. Take the third sticker and place it sticky side down on the folded back halves of the first two stickers. Remove the 3-D sticker from the plastic surface and adhere it to your page. Apply chalk to a stamped image with beautiful results.
Use these scrapbook ideas to enjoy your scrapbook creations.