Using those spare photos...The last couple of free scrapbooking ideas
blog posts have been about photos, so I thought we would continue with that theme.
I'm sure that we all have stacks of different pictures that we don't want to throw away
but don't know what to use them for, sound familiar? Well how about using them to make an
ABC album?
For instance, your 'C' page could have a photo of little Jimmy's birthday Cake (or even
the Candles), use up that shot of the Cat sleeping in the armchair, a photo of your new
Car parked in the driveway, etc…
Decorate the page with some appropriate stickers, die-cuts or other embellishments and
then add a little journaling - do this for each letter of the alphabet and hey presto, you
have an ABC album.
This is a great way of using up those odd photos we all have lying around and even if
you don't have young children of your own to give the book to, I wager there's a young
grandchild or a niece, nephew, cousin or even a friend's child somewhere who would love to
have it.
Labelling your photos - Part Two ...
As promised here's part two in our mini series…
Part one was all about how to save your information safely without damaging your
photographs - Part two is about what info to save.
Usually "Who, Where, What and When" should be all the info you need to save,
sometimes you may need to write more but these basic details should be enough to jog your
memory when you start journaling.
Most scraper's leave their photos for several weeks, months (sometimes even years)
before using them in layouts, so it is important to have some details to help you
remember.
My friend has three children (one girl and two boys) now all in their teens and a
couple of years ago she started scrapin' an album for her daughter. When she finished she
began one for the eldest boy, but she ran into problems.
Although the boys are completely different now when they were babies/toddlers they were
so alike that in some of the photos you could not tell which boy it was.
Of course, when she took the picture she 'knew' which son it was, so she never labelled
the photos or even put a small note inside the wallet, but that was over eleven years ago!
Even if it's only a quick note, jot down something that will help you have the relevant
info handy when you finally do your layout and start journaling.
Labelling your photos - Part One
To keep important information safe many people write down details on the back of their
photographs. That way it won't get forgotten and it'll be nice and handy when they finally
get round to doing their layout and journaling.
Photographs are delicate things, so this first free scrapbooking ideas blog entry gives
you a couple of tidbits and guidelines to help you record information without damaging
your precious pictures:
Label the back of your photo with either a soft pencil or a 'fine' photo-safe permanent
marker/pen, a fast drying one is best as the ink won't smudge or mark any other photos
placed behind. ;o)
Never use an ordinary ballpoint pen as the pressure applied to the nib whilst writing
will leave an impression that will be seen on the front of the photograph.
Part Two coming soon!...
Scrapin' and decoupage …
Have you ever thought of using decoupage on your layouts? It adds something a bit
different and unusual to your layouts giving them a layered, 3d appearance - and best of
all it's quite simple to do!
Get three copies of a photograph that you want to use. Glue the first one in place on
the page. Take the second one and cut out the focal point (such as a person) and with some
double sided 3D tape stick this over the same part of the first photo. Repeat again with
the last photo, but define the focal point even more, ex the person's face.
Don't restrict yourself to just photos, this technique also lends itself to letters,
die-cuts and stickers. You can even use it to decorate embellishments like tags or
envelope pockets - have yourself a bit of fun and give decoupage a try!
More on photo weaving ...
Following on from the last free scrapbooking ideas post I have been thinking about a
couple of variations on the photo weaving theme.
Rather than cut the photos with a pair of scissors or a knife you could do some paper
tearing instead to achieve a rustic, country feel. If you're not sure about your paper
tearing technique then use a ruler to help with the tearing.
What about doing a mix-and-match effect? Again use two copies of the same photo - but
have one in black and white, the second in color and weave these together as described in
my blog posting of 26 October, found on our archived scrap book ideas
page.
