Scrapbooking is the art of telling a story, of a moment in time using photos, notes and anything else that has significance to your story and the event. It is a way to combine all of those different components onto a page that tells a story. Believe it or not scrapbooking dates all the way back to the time of Aristotle and Cicero where these men would use these early forms of scrapbooking for everything from philosophical, religious and rhetorical discussions. Not only does scrapbooking tell a story but also in its creation where the time and effort put in should be as fun to create as it is to look at. By using materials to signify that moment in time you are trying to capture, there are an unlimited ways to create a page. The number of layouts possible is only limited by your imagination and the time you want to spend making the scrapbooking pages.

Still not sure where and how to begin your scrapbook? Today in the advent of specialty craft stores and the internet there are many resources to find ideas and a place to begin. Sites like Creative Memories, has layout samples to look at as well as a place to purchase products. There is a wide array of papers to mount photos on as well as creating borders and cut outs and adhesives to hold pictures, notes or even newspaper clippings within the scrapbook. As there are no rules to how scrapbooking is done consider also using stamps on paper to give a more personalized flair. A website like Stampin Up has high quality stamps and inks that would work best with scrapbooking paper to hold up without fading for many years.

Scrapbooking should be looked at as one would look at a mounted picture frame. Matted and framed upon a wall that picture provides many years of enjoyment. In many ways scrapbooking is the exact same concept of pictures mounted on decorative paper that is bordered by decorative borders, however scrapbooking takes that concept one step further by including the story with it. By adding words or titles, a date or a newspaper clipping, a journal entry or even a small description of what happened creates a more complete story of the picture or pictures that becomes the center of that story.

In this way scrapbooking is fun to create and creates memories that last for many years to come. Not only does it makes your pictures come alive with colors and a vivid story but it will be enjoyed for many years to come as you share the memories with family and friends.

The beauty of scrapbooking when creating memories for many years to come is the endless possibilities of how they look or are created. Perhaps you want an intricate look with an intricate design but upon heading to the store or searching the internet you find that die cuts or computer cutters are just too expensive for you right now. A great alternative that is easier on the pocket book are stamps.

Stamps are a wonderful choice as there is a wide variety of them to choose from that will reflect your personality and choice while still offering your pocket book a bit of relief. The wonderful thing about stamps as well is that they are reusable and easy to take care of not to mention they take up far less space than die cut plates. Another beauty about stamps is that stamps are not limited to the size of cutter or even the paper size. Stamps can be used on almost any surface and thickness of paper matters not.

Find a supplier such as Stampin Up to find the stamps that will best fit your personality and style. The next important step is the ink and inkpad. To best protect your photos for many years of enjoyment use acid free paper along with acid free adhesives, but don’t forget about the ink. You will want ink that does fade with time or erode your pictures that you have taken great strides and care to protect. Use an ink that are permanent, acid free and won’t fade over time. Pigment ink might be the best choice but take care in choosing an ink for your scrapbooking as you would choose the paper. For each color that will be used in a project a separate inkpad will need to be purchased. If that is not desirable there are inks that can be brushed onto a stamp. By this method the color variation can be endless by being creative in adding more than one ink color to the stamp at a time which cannot be achieved as easily with an inkpad.

Stamping is as simple as ink, press and release. Anyone of any age and skill level can learn to stamp quickly. When applying a stamp to the paper press the stamp with even pressure to the paper. Do not rock the stamp as it can smear to where the edges will not be crisp. Lift the stamp straight up without any side motion and you will have a crisp and clear image. Repeat as necessary until your desire image is created. To clean your stamps simply wipe off all of the ink or use a cleaner designed to clean them. Do not use rubbing alcohol as this will dry out the rubber.

Use stamps to create a background or a border for your stampbooking project. Or use it in conjunction with various cuts of paper along with stickers. By using your imagination and creativity you will have a beautiful scrapbook of memories for years to come.

Paper is made from a wood based pulp to where if its lignin, the chemical compound that makes up the cellular structure of plants, is not completely removed will cause the paper to yellow over time along with any other items attached to it such as photos. Lignin makes a paper more acidic to where light or heat will cause the paper to break down faster therefore causing the yellowing effect that can photos can become brittle over times as well.

So when you look at the photos that hang upon your walls carefully encased in a beautiful frame look to the mat and most likely that mat is made of a high grade quality of paper that has its entire lignin removed making the paper ph neutral or acid free. With this in mind when you are looking for paper for your scrapbooking projects, find paper that are archival safe and acid free. Also keep in mind that everything else that touches the photos must also be acid free such as any adhesives, markers or pens that are used. Newspapers contain a high level of lignin within them therefore breaks down faster so if you want to add newspaper clippings to your project, photocopy the article onto acid free paper (use off white to emulate the color of a newspaper).

Spend some time in your local craft store or scrapbooking suppliers like Creative Memories or Sizzix for archival safe lignin free paper. Somewhere it should state if the paper is in fact acid free or lignin free. If not go ahead and ask to find out more about the paper or be directed to where you can find this kind of paper you are searching for. The higher quality of paper that is used the longer your scrapbook and photos will last. And last but not least if you plan on protecting your work in a plastic sleeve make sure that the sleeve is acid free or archival safe as well. If they are not they will break down even you’re carefully purchased and protected projects faster than normal.

So how important is your Scrapbooking paper, extremely important if you want them to last for years to come. By going the extra acid free mile your scrapbooking project should last for years to come keeping your photos protected just like the photos in your professionally mounted picture frames.

]]> http://www.buythatfrom.us/2008/07/scrapbooking-paper/feed/ 0 http://www.buythatfrom.us/2008/07/scissors-and-cutters-for-scrapbooking/ http://www.buythatfrom.us/2008/07/scissors-and-cutters-for-scrapbooking/#comments Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:20:03 +0000 Wendy http://www.buythatfrom.us/?p=13 Once upon a time there was the strait edge scissors that could cut different shapes that were simple as well as the tried and true straight edge. Then there was the craft knife and ruler to cut perfectly straight lines to create borders and mats to go around pictures. But today scrapbooking has come into the twenty-first century with an array of scissors and cutters to create those impossible cuts that a scissor could not accomplish or only the steadiest hand with a blade could create. These new scissors have brought a whole new look to the images you can create with scissors.

Scissors have come a long way from the straight edge days where scrapbooking paper and photos can take on a beautiful beveled edge. Scissors now have patterns in their blades to create a variety of decorative edges. Now cut hearts can have a scalloped edge or a diamond can have a Victorian flair. But that’s not all that can be done today as well. There was the day where the hole-punch was used to punch holes in paper to fit in a three ring binder, now paper punches can put a smiley face or animal shapes to your project. Large paper punches can create miniature mats for your photos or stylish edges.

Remember cutting boards? Where you put a piece of paper in it to cut a straight edge with the rolling edge of a blade? They didn’t really do much for a piece of paper other than to cut them down to a proper size. Those too now have revolutionized themselves as they now have edges that can create a zigzag, wave or scalloped edge. Straight edge cutting has also run circles around itself by creating edges that cut in circles and ovals as well.

But that’s not all, as scrapbooking takes its leaps and bounds into the technological world there are even die cutters that can cut even more intricate details at a push of a button or roll through a tray. There are basically two different kinds of die cutters available. One uses standard die cutters like the Quickutz that are plates with designs on them that are attached to a press and when paper and rolled through them they are cut into the shapes upon the die. The other uses a computer chip like the Cricut to store images in its memory that when accessed a single blade moves across the paper cutting the image upon it.

Finding these new tools for scrapbooking can be found at your local craftstore or by heading to providers like Creative Memories or Sizzix to find all of your scrapbooking cutting needs. Today there are no rules when it comes to cutting paper that will allow your imagination to run wild in displaying your pictures and memories with flares and splashes of paper fun. By adding these new cutting tools to your scrapbooking arsenal you can create intricate and beautiful memories cutting in less time that before.

]]> http://www.buythatfrom.us/2008/07/scissors-and-cutters-for-scrapbooking/feed/ 0 http://www.buythatfrom.us/2008/05/how-to-scrapbook/ http://www.buythatfrom.us/2008/05/how-to-scrapbook/#comments Thu, 15 May 2008 12:00:56 +0000 Wendy http://www.buythatfrom.us/?p=4 Let’s face it scrapbooking isn’t rocket science. Scrapbooking is relatively easy to do and can be done by people of all ages, even younger children, and skill levels. There are several companies to assist the modern scrap booker. Companies such as Creative Memories, Cricut, Quikutz, Sizzix and Stampin’ Up, have a bevy of choices to enhance memorabilia with.

First, organize the memorabilia by dates, events or person. This will give an easy sequence of events to follow. If that seems overwhelming, try doing it from present day to past. Then reverse the items and there you go – you’re ready to place the pieces on your new scrapbooking pages pages.

Next, select the type of book you want to use. There are many different sizes and colors to use, but make sure the pages are ph balanced and acid and lignin free, as this will decrease the rate of natural decay, making your wonderful scrapbook last longer. Older magnetic albums are notorious for damaging photos beyond repair.

Now that you have your book, pick out some paper or stickers to enhance it with. The paper and stickers should also be ph balanced and free of acid or lignin. Background paper comes in plain or printed versions.

Now start journaling. This is important in order to preserve your personal or family history. Thomas Jefferson and Mark Twain were avid record keepers. Scrapbooks with journaling back then were more of personal diaries and sometimes were not seen publicly until after the person’s death. Thomas Jefferson even had rough drawings of new constructions he was working on. Your journaling style is your own and is a form of your own history. Don’t be afraid to instill your own humor in it. Poetry looks beautiful and you can keep your individual writings all in one place.

What else can you do? Embossing is a beautiful technique to enhance your pages. It presses the paper to create raised areas of design. The raised areas are naturally shadowed so that they are easily visible.

There are also die cut machines on the market. They are able to create any font, shape or alphabet available and can be hooked up to your home computer. Cricut and Quikutz are two companies offering die cut machines, plus many other products. Stampin’ Up offers these products as well along with rubberstamping supplies.

After your pages are just perfect, it’s time to put on those all important page protectors. They do what they say – they protect. They protect your pages as you work on them and protect your pages long term. A Midwest scrapper lived through a tornado and was thrilled to find out that her scrapbook lived through it as well – just a couple of fields away. There was a little water damage, but the bulk of her book was unscathed! None of the pages came out and all her pictures were intact. If that’s not a perfect reason to scrapbook, what is? Your history is too important to not take care of!

During the Renaissance, scholars and philosophers used what were called “Commonplace Books” to jot down their thoughts and ideas in. They would record conversations, jokes, ideas, poetry and anything else they wished to preserve and remember at a later time. Even young women used Commonplace Books to keep devotional phrases or musings of their day. The modern scrapbook keeper is doing the same thing only with more sophisticated methods and materials that are now available.

People of all ages and economic means practiced scrapbooking in the US. Thomas Jefferson along with Mark Twain, were great record keepers in their time. Jefferson even preserved drawings and sketches of new ideas and projects for construction, along with news clippings and dried leaves. Twain would spend Sundays working on his books and then sold them through Montgomery Ward.

By the 19^th century, most people had a special book. It might have contained baseball cards for young men and flower printed paper and cards with hand written endearments on them kept by the young ladies. Brightly colored papers that could be easily torn apart, thereby the name “scraps”. Victorian ladies used these scrap pieces in their books for decorations, thereby deriving the name scrapbooks.

In the 1970’s, Alex Haley wrote a book called “Roots”. This book became a miniseries soon after and prompted a renewed interest in genealogy. What better way to preserve one’s heritage than by a new way of scrapbooking?

Scrapbooking has now evolved to a multi-billion dollar business in the US. Many companies have a full range of materials available: albums, paper, markers, stickers and adhesives. These companies include Creative Memories, Cricut, Quikutz, Sizzix and Stampin’ Up.

Scrapbooking has become hugely popular in recent years and has become a multi million-dollar business. There are so many choices for the “scrapper” to enhance their pages. Papers come in printed and plain versions. Die cut figures and stickers are also available. Other embellishments include lace, ribbons, fabrics and buttons. Locks of hair have been saved, highlighting a baby’s progression into childhood. Concert tickets and birthday cards are popular entries into scrapbooks. People get together in groups at churches, conference halls, and retreats and even cruise ships. A strong, social community has grown around scrapbooking that transcends generations.

Mothers and daughters are frequently seen scrapping together.

Dates, events, people and important times of your life can all be chronicled easily with all the materials available to the modern scrapper. Scrapbooking isn’t new and it isn’t hard. With a little organization, a lifetime can be preserved for your future generations. Doesn’t that make it all worth it?

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