Preserving Memories - A Basic Training About Scrapbooks For The Kids

Memories express the events that had happened to people in the past. They try to remember them often. Such memories must be preserved so that they are easily recollected. Parents had realized its necessity and they started encouraging their children to involve in scrapbooking at an early stage. They encourage them to make their own scrapbook in to preserve their childhood memories.

Want your memories to be safe and funny to look at? Scrapbooking is one of the effective methods to do so. Anyone can narrate a story with their photo collections. The reason is memories are always intact. These experiences and practices can teach something to children. They can learn on how to be patient, how to be creative, value of resourcefulness and how to persevere, etc?

The Initial Phase:

Your work on scrapbooking can be shared with your kids. It is a pleasant activity. Scrapbooking is restricted to kids when it comes to sharing. They can be shared with your friends and co-workers too. But there are few essentials that you have to imbibe before you start sharing your scrapbook works.

Make sure that your kids develop some liking and interest for arts and crafts. This is very essential in making a kid work on scrapbooks. Kids who have interests in arts and crafts can be easily are the perfect ones to learn the activity. This is because they already possess the talent of creating wonderful works.

But it does not matter if your kid has no interests in arts and crafts. Do not conclude that they can never be trained for scrapbooking. It is now time to expose them to a completely new world of fun and joy.

The next thing that comes into consideration is the workplace. The work place should be spacious for the children to do their work. Scrapbooking needs a lot of papers and other materials. It comes easy when they can find the required things from the scattered materials. This thing is very essential for developing the habit or interest of scrapbooking. The kids can leave their work as it is so that they can continue it the next morning. The work is left undisturbed.

The kids need materials to work on a scrapbook. They should be provided with sufficient amount of materials. To start with the basic, basic materials must be made available to them as they are common. The most basic materials that are required for training kids for scrapbooking are: scrapbook paper- size of 12x12, color pencils, pens, pictures, scrapbooking die-cuts, rubber stamps, cut-outs, tools like punchers, scissors, trimmers, rulers, foam, glue, removers, stickers of various designs, color, tags, templates, totes, organizers, and transparencies, albums or old scrapbooks, alphabets, books or scrapbooking magazines for inspiring ideas, old cards, eyelets for adding beauty, brads, nails, tacks, colored, some specialty papers, and few apparels like as scrapbook kits that can be used as starters.

Some parents cannot afford to buy some scrapbooking materials and supplies that are expensive. But they have a desire to involve their children in scrapbooking. Here are some tips that make scrapbooking a low-cost activity.

1) Collect old pictures and hand them to your kids so that they can make use of it in scrapbooks. Make sure that they are not important.

2) Get some double prints for your kids from the developing center whenever you visit them. Ask your kids to use them on their scrapbooks.

3) Usually, there are some materials left over after the completion of a project. Do not throw them. Instead collect them for so that your kids use them in their next project.

4) Inspect your old usages so that something can be made use of it.

5) Teach our kids the value of time. Teach them on how to make efficient use of the time available by discarding the unnecessary materials, supplies that are of no use.

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A Basic Guide to Simple Scrapbooks

Have you ever tried creating simple scrapbooks? Most scrapbookers have, although they are often unsure about the differences between a simple scrapbook and what should be considered as a "normal" one. So how can you tell which is which, and what are the ingredients that make it a "simple" in the first place?

When you want to create simple scrapbooks, the first thing you should do is to ignore the habit of designing them according to chronological events, like what you would usually do with your projects. Simple scrapbooking themes are not dependent on the common subjects like weddings, birthdays, Christmas, or heritage and family traditions. You will be creating something that doesn't take a lot of time doing, small in scope, and not overly complicated. In short, it is different from what you would expect in a traditional scrapbook album.

This can be readily defined as a project that focuses more on the simple things in your life. It does not need a worldly subject like your family tree, your hopes and dreams, etc. Instead, creating this kind of scrapbook is more like preserving a few details in your life that is not normally seen or noticed by others. It is about highlighting the tiny but significant moments that surround the bigger picture. For example, you might create a traditional scrapbook about your daughter's wedding, but you can also create simple scrapbooks about the menu, the dances at the reception, or even about the wedding preparations.

All you need to think about when planning this scrapbook are these factors: freedom, format, finished, and fast. I will provide a more detailed explanation below for these concepts.

Freedom, as it relates to simple scrapbooking, is the liberty of being able to simplify an event and reduce it to its most basic form, then translate that to the scrapbook. It is also the freedom to capture other aspects of an important event or moment in your life, as opposed to the main subject or topic that is usually preserved on regular scrapbooks.

Format means that the uniqueness of a simple scrapbook's layout and design will stand out from the rest of the regular scrapbook albums, primarily because of the way that the contents are laid out and presented. You will be able to recognize the work as a scrapbook, but it will still have a uniqueness that makes it different from the rest.

Another defining feature of a simple scrapbook is that it is easier to finish once started. Think about all the scrapbook albums that you or your friends have started, then think about how many of those albums have actually been finished as of this moment. Simple scrapbooking means that you are creating something simple, small, and manageable that it can be finished much more easily and quickly than regular albums.

This is because a simple scrapbook is not dependent on chronological events alone, thus it doesn't need to be filled up once in a while when new events happen in your life. A chronological scrapbook takes a lot of time to create, and some may take years to finish. A simple scrapbook, however, can be finished once you started it. As a matter of fact, once you have gathered all the contents needed and you have an idea how to lay them all out, you're halfway done already.

Aside from being an accomplished artist and art/design teacher, Kimmo Hakonen is also the author of "Scrap Ideas". You can read more about Kimmo and the "Scrap Ideas" e-book here: scrapbooking ideas

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6 Basic Steps to Become a Scrapbooking Pro Using Clear Rubber Stamps

Think back to your very first scrapbooking project. You were probably very young. You likely pasted newspaper clippings and memorabilia onto the papers you decorated with ribbon and other elements that you had at your disposal. The finished project often presented itself as a stack of pages stapled or glued together to form a book. Often those pages included not only memorabilia, but your own drawings and art work. Those projects introduced you to the basics of the world of scrapbooking.

Now as an adult, scrapbooks are a little more sophisticated with more embellishments and tools such as clear rubber stamps available to help you make scrapbooks that will last your lifetime and beyond. The concept of scrapbooking really hasn't changed since grade school. It still encompasses the process of placing photos, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia together with images and textures to create an overall aesthetically pleasing work of art. Scrapbooking has also expanded from saving and placing memorabilia into your scrapbooks to also creating your own memorabilia. As such, scrapbooking techniques are used to make gift cards, art work, birth announcements, party invitations, recipe books and much more.

Scrapbooking Tools

Some of the most essential tools you will use in creating your scrapbooks include an x-acto knife which will allow you to cut out almost any shape. As long as you are careful you do not risk ripping or bending the image you are cutting out whether it is a photo or a design you made with your clear rubber stamps. Be sure that the object you wish to cut is first placed upon a cutting mat or an old magazine so you can protect the surface of your work area. Another important scrapbooking tool you will need will be a pair of tweezers. Tweezers make it simple and easy to place tiny pieces of paper or other embellishments without getting your fingers into the glue that will hold them in place.

The Designing Process

The first thing you will need to determine is the theme you wish to carry through your scrapbook art. Be sure to plan your pages in pairs so that when the scrapbook lies open, both pages echo the same theme and colors. Your theme can be built around a birthday, baby shower, wedding or holiday. You may choose themes from nature such as leaves or insects. You may wish to create an artistic theme focusing on the scrapbook recipient's personal interests which include colors, sports, music, outdoors and even cultural influences. As you choose your theme, be sure that you consider the overall purpose of your scrapbook, the recipient of the scrapbook and the subject that the scrapbook will be about. Clear rubber stamps can help develop specialized themes through both image designs as well as sayings stamped as backgrounds or borders of you accent papers.

Next you will want to choose a title that captures the sentiment of your pages. A title defines the whole basis of the scrapbook or page(s) you are working on. It will tell the viewer instantly what they will see on those pages and conveys the purpose of your work. Titles can be as basic as a date or name or even a specific event. However, titles can also be more interesting and exciting by including a quote, a simple phrase or a saying that defines your subject. Clear alphabet rubber stamps are ideal for stamping custom titles or phrases. They allow you to choose the style and size of the text you use and can be added in a number of creative ways.

The next step will be to decide on a color system for your scrapbook design. Highlights and accents will be formed by the color combinations and contrasts that you use in your color scheme. A well-chosen color scheme can define the page more than any other element. Coordinated colors add depth to your scrapbook art. Contrasting colors focus the eye. Adversely, a poorly chosen color combination can weaken and detract from your scrapbook art. It is a good idea to pull colors from the photos, mementos or embellishments you plan to use on your pages. Let the pigment inks you use with your clear rubber stamps reflect those colors on the background papers you create and accent them to enhance your project.

As you choose and select photos to use in your scrapbook art, do not be afraid to cut and crop them to uniform sizes and shapes. Having oversized or off center photographs prevents balance and design elements from working together. If you find your background paper is distracting, try matting the photos in a solid color that complements your color scheme before mounting them to the page. Photos can be placed in any order you desire such as a collage or chronological placement.

Always plan to add journaling and text to your scrapbook pages. Without the text the page is nothing more than an elaborate picture book. It is through the text that you add to your scrapbook art that will define the feelings and activities that the pages celebrate. There are a number of ways to add text to a page. If it is a caption, you may find it fun to use your clear alphabet rubber stamps. If you are writing an activity summary, clear journaling rubber stamps can come in handy making lines as dark or light as you wish that will guide your script. When placing text on your pages, be sure to define the area where the text belongs and do not wander outside that space.

Before you secure the basic elements of your scrapbook page in place be sure to check the spacing. If items are too closely spaced together the viewer may find the page confusing or overwhelming. If elements are too far apart the viewer will likely feel like something is missing or the page wasn't completed. Experiment with the spacing by arranging elements with wider and narrower spaces, clustering 2-3 items together and leaving wider spaces around other items. Determine if you need to simplify your page or add more to it.

Once you have chosen a theme and a color scheme, added a title, selected and cropped your photos and planned for text upon your scrapbook pages you have successfully built a scrapbooking project. You can at this point call it complete or, continue to embellish and elaborate on your theme. If you choose to add more, be sure to evaluate the changes before adhering them to the page. No matter how you choose to finish off your scrapbooking project, by following the basic guidelines of building a successful scrapbook design, you are well on your way to becoming a scrapbooking pro!

I hope this article has helped you plan and design scrapbook pages you will love to show off and share. For a few of my free scrapbooking layout ideas you can visit http://www.clearlyrubberstamping.com/scrapbooking-layouts. To help you further, you can download 1500+ Free Scrapbook Page Toppers from the following link. http://www.clearlyrubberstamping.com/free-stuff