How Can I Crop Interesting Scrapbooking Shapes

CIRCLE CUTTER
Scrapbook tool used to create circles from photos and mounting paper. Circle cutters vary in type from tower to template style, fixed blade to separate knife systems. Different circle cutters suit different people so it is best to try a few before you commit to one.

TEMPLATE
Plastic or card sheet with punched out shapes that can be used to crop photos and photo mounting paper into shapes. Some templates are suitable for drawing outlines or journaling lines.

Birthday Guest Balloons
When it comes to a small kid´s party, it is sometimes impossible to get a decent group shot. Instead, try photographing all the children in small groups. Later, crop the processed photos into balloon shaped head shots. Silhouette a photo of the Birthday Child which can then "hold" the balloons and there you have all the party attendees nicely accounted for on your layout.

Group Layout Idea
Next time you´re at a function, instead of getting a standard group shot of the guests, photograph each individually from the torso up. Ask for double sized prints and then silhouette each one. Placed around the side and bottom of a scrapbook layout these make an interesting border and you´ll have a nice close up of each guest.

How Can I Plan A Scrapbook Album

Planning a scrapbook album - Pencil titles on pages
When planning a theme album you need to think about where in the album your groups of photos will go and what decorations and title you should use. I find the easiest way to remember my choices is to write them in light pencil directly onto the album page. For example - Title Baby´s first bath - lemon and sky blue card, CM girl first years´ bath stickers. Once the page is assembled the pencil writing can be erased. It is a good idea to write the title on the outside of the photo packet as well.

Tribute Scrapbook Albums
Tribute albums can be created to celebrate a birthday, engagement, anniversary or just because you care about someone. If the tribute album is to be presented at a special gathering ensure that you leave a page decorated only at the margins for all guests to sign. Tribute albums lend themselves very well for showcasing something special about the recipient or for adding that extra special touch using journalling, exceptional photos and tribute letters from friends and relatives. At a 40th birthday recently I put together an album for a friend. His wife chose a beautiful baby photo of him holding a toy lamb to use on the title page. At the celebration my friend´s mother presented him with the same toy lamb (still in one piece after 40 years). A perfect photo opportunity to complete the album.

This Is Your Life Scrapbook Album
Whereas a tribute album can concentrate on a certain area of an individual´s life or hobbies a "This is Your Life" album is usually restricted to chronological order starting at birth (or even before if you wish to include pictures of the individual´s parents and continuing to the present. Choose the size of album to suit the number of photos you have. A few photos suit a small album while more will mean a larger album. If there are photo gaps fill in with journalling even if it is only anecdotal. Stories from special friends are also nice to include. Don´t forget that there is also a place for school reports, certificates, resumes and dreadful driving licence photos and a sense of humour in a This Is Your Life album.

12 by 15 inch scrapbook albums
Finding border embellishments for this size album can be difficult as standard album size is 12" by 12". Thinking laterally you can make your album easier to decorate by turning it sideways. Yes it makes them more awkward to read but the landscape pages are wonderful to work on and you will not have to search for extra length borders. A sideways 12" x 15" album page is perfect for the display of panoramic photos.

ABC SCRAPBOOK ALBUM
An album assembled using layouts representing each letter of the alphabet. For example: the A layout would have a large A and photographs, stickers and diecuts along with journalling and labelling highlighting the letter A.

What Scrapbooking Plastics Are Safe?

POLYETHYLENE
A chemically stable, transparent, food safe plastic used in photographic preservation materials.

PVC (POLYVINYL CHLORIDE)
PVC is a common plastic which because it is chemically unstable releases a chlorine gas. When this gas settles onto a surface it turns into hydrochloric acid. This acid will cause photographs to fade and discolor.

PAGE PROTECTOR
These are protective plastic sleeves which cover your scrapbook pages. They are available in a variety of sizes and can be side-loading to cover scrapbook pages that are bound or top loading which means that the protectors themselves are usually incorporated into the binding and require that the scrapbook pages be slipped into them. Polypropylene and Mylar are two of the most highly recommended plastics for protectors.