Super-Fun Scrapbooking!!!

Are you the organised type of GG who has all her photos beautifully presented in a fab photo album? Or are you slightly more chaotic and have them in piles in a shoebox under the bed? Either way, why not try the new in thing and get into scrapbooking? A scrapbook is kinda like a photo album on steroids. Not only do you have your all time fave photos, but you include other memorabilia as well – such as ticket stubs, invitations, special cards you’ve been given, train tickets from exotic locations. And you include a paragraph or so about the event and pictures displayed. Then you jazz up the whole page with colour and stickers, glitter and glue – whatever takes your fancy. So basically it becomes like a work of art, a whole memory picture, a photograph album on steroids. A bit of work but lotsa fun and great to look back on.

What do you need?

You can buy a special scrapbook album. You can get these from most craft type stores such a Spotlight and also at some stores like Whitcoulls. The cheapest I’ve seen is around $25 – so you might have to save up a bit of pocket money or maybe ask for one for a Christmas or birthday present. The scrapbook album has a hard cover and then inside has around 10 plastic sleeves with paper in each. You slide out the paper, decorate it with your pictures and other stuff and then slide it back into the plastic which then protects it. You can then buy additional pages in packs of ten as you expand your album. The important thing about the albums is that they all use ‘acid-free’ paper – normal paper has some acids in it which, when enclosed in plastic, eventually eat away at your photos – destroying them ultimately (in the long, long term). By using acid-free paper, you protect your precious memories. You also need to use acid free glue and stickers when you glue in your pictures and decorate the pages. You can buy these special glue sticks from Spotlight and also many photo stores have good acid free photo glue and stickers.

What do you do???

Once you have your album and glue, the world’s your lobster. It’s best to plan your pages before you start gluing – and think about what you want to write for each one. As this is going to be a public record – that one day your great-great grandchildren are going to LOVE reading, it’s best not to include anything you might be embarrassed about. At the same time, it’s important to be true to yourself and let your scrapbook be a reflection of YOU!!! Also, as you’re kinda limited for space, you don’t want to include every single shot you have – just pick the best of the bunch. You can use others in a normal album, or to decorate a corkboard or homemade cards or something.

To decorate your pages, use felts, crayons, glitter pens and stickers. From stores such as The Warehouse you can buy craft scissors very cheaply that give you a cool edge for borders, and you can get pretty patterned hole punches that also give cool effects.Scrapbooking has become so popular that specialist scrapbooking supplies stores have opened up in several of the major cities. Some even run scrapbooking classes!!! These stores sell albums and also a huge variety of coloured and patterned paper to slip into the plastic – as a variation on the plain white. You can even buy themed pages – for a birthday or season or something. They also sell acid free decorative stickers and borders etc. Spotlight and other stationery stores also stock a range of these papers. BUT all of this can get to be a little expensive and really, you can create pages that are just as fab by simply using your own creativity and crayons!!!

You can have one huge scrapbook to cover everything, or if you wanted you could have more than one – one for GGs, one for family, one for your favourite hobby…. The possibilities are endless!!!

Alternative Options!!!

If all this sounds like too much for you, why not keep a memento packed journal? Charlie’s Angel Drew Barrymore keeps a diary with one page per day. On each day she glues or staples ticket stubs or things related to what she’s done that day and also includes inspirational quotes and affirmations for her to think about. You can easily do the same. Maybe include details of exciting (or not so exciting) things you’ve done that day. If a news item really grabs you or makes you think, why not include a copy of an article about it? Maybe there’s a quote from a book you’ve been reading that you really like? Or from a fave telly show? Come the end of the year, you’ll have a fascinating piece of your own personal history to look back on. And think how fascinating it would be for your great-great granddaughter to read – a snapshot of your life and times!!!