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Scrapbooking
| Scrapbooking Teen Memories |
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Written by: Rachel Paxton Date Submitted: 03/25/2003 | |
By the time your teen is in high school, you probably aren't
taking as many pictures of them as you used to. I have to keep
reminding myself that I only have a couple of years left and no
time to waste trying to capture fleeing teenage memories.
You might be thinking that I'm really organized to be already
working on scrapbooking my daughter's high school memories. To
be honest, I have a shoe box full of pictures of my daughter
waiting for me to get to someday.
But if I wait until "someday" to continue taking pictures because
I already have so many pictures I haven't done anything with,
then my daughter's teenage years will come and go while I try to
catch up.
I don't want to chronicle every detail of my daughter's life (nor
would she want me to!), but I was trying to think of some
memories that she might want to laugh about and maybe even
treasure someday. So how do you do that without ending up with
pages and pages of memories?
I decided to do two large (12x12) pages (facing each other in the
album) for each year of high school. I will challenge myself to
use this space creatively to tell the story of each year. When I
started thinking of all the the possibilities, it really inspired
me to start getting organized and collecting some great memories.
And don't limit yourself to just photographs, your scrapbook
pages can really be accentuated by other types of memories. Here
are some ideas to get you started:
Photograph Ideas:
High School Dances
First Date/Boyfriend
School Building
Church Events/Retreats
Braces (the day they're removed)
Hair Styles
Clothing Fads
Learning to Drive
First Job
First Car
Best Friends
School Plays/Concerts
Family Vacations
Favorite Family Pets
Babysitting
Sports/Band/Cheerleading
Musical Instrument Practice
Other:
CD Covers (scanned)
Favorite Song Lyrics
Drivers' Permit
First Pay Stub
Programs from Play/Concerts
College Brochures
School Newspapers
ASB Card
Awards/Certificates
Ticket Stubs (concert, movie, sporting events)
Report Cards
You can be creative when you're arranging your layouts. Don't be
afraid to cut pictures down or cut out portions of play programs
or school newspapers. Just cut out enough to accentuate the
other items on the page. You will create the overall effect from
the entire page, not necessarily from an individual item.
Have fun and don't worry if you don't get it done all at one
time. I figure if I can do one every summer for the previous
school year, by the time she finishes high school (she's a
freshman this year), all of her high school memories will be
recorded in the family archives.
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of
What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick
easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home
decorating, crafts, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at
http://www.creativehomemaking.com. To subscribe to their monthly
newsletter send a blank e-mail message to
FreeRecipes-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
| Easter Scrapbooking Ideas |
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Written by: Rachel Paxton Date Submitted: 04/09/2003 | |
Easter is a great time to capture family photographs for
scrapbooking. Even if you don't scrapbook, planning your picture
taking ahead of time ensures you won't miss any of these great
family memories. No family traditions? Then this is a great
time to start!
Here are some Easter photograph ideas for scrapbooking:
Photograph spring flowers in bloom. Daffodils and tulips will
make a colorful contrast to your other photographs.
Have your kids help you make Easter cookies or an Easter cake.
Snap a picture of them working in the kitchen and then make sure
to take a picture of the finished product. We made a layer cake
and arranged it on a thick piece of cardboard covered with
aluminum foil. It was lemon cake with lemon filling and pink
frosting. We decorated it with store-bought Easter candy.
Around the base of the cake we arranged Easter grass and added
chocolate eggs and peeps for decoration. It made a great
picture!
Gingerbread houses aren't just for Christmas! Make a gingerbread
house and decorate it for Easter with pastel colors and lots of
Easter candy. The possibilities are limitless.
If your family attends Easter church services, make sure to get a
picture of your girls in their Easter dresses. Dressing up is a
great excuse to take a picture.
Coloring Easter eggs never gets old, whatever the age of your
kids! They never get tired of showing you how creative they are.
Join in on the fun and then take a picture of the finished
product.
Easter egg hunts are also fun for the whole family. Take some
good action pictures and get a picture of your kids with their
Easter baskets.
Easter dinners are a great time to take family pictures. It's a
good time to take pictures of relatives you don't often see, and
fun to get pictures of the family laughing and enjoying a meal
together. Take pictures of any of the good food you want to
remember later.
Have fun picture taking, and have a happy Easter!
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of
What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick
easy dinner ideas. For recipes, tips to organize your home, home
decorating, crafts, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at
http://www.creativehomemaking.com.
| Friends are Forever Scrapbooking Layout (II) |
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Written by: Rachel Paxton Date Submitted: 01/19/2004 | |
Create a scrapbooking layout as a tribute to a favorite friend.
Here's what you need to get started:
Patterned paper for background
White paper for captions
Glue
Paper cutter or scissors
Eyelet accessories
Computer/color printer
My sister-in-law is graduating from high school this year, and my
mother-in-law and I are starting a scrapbook for her to give to
her as a graduation present. One of the pages will be a layout
of her and my step-daughter.
First I went to the computer and typed out some captions. If you
don't see a font you like, go to Google.com and type in "free
fonts" to download a variety of great scrapbooking fonts. I
typed my step-daughter's name vertically in a very large font (in
a color that coordinated with the background paper) and printed
it out on a piece of paper. I then typed "Friends are Forever"
on a separate sheet of paper, in the center of the page, and
printed it out.
For the first caption, I used the paper cutter to cut my
step-daughter's name into a long, narrow strip.
The next caption took a little planning. I started out with a
white piece of paper with "Friends are Forever" printed in the
center. I then glued the two photos I had chosen on the sheet of
paper, directly above and below the caption (see photo). I next
used my paper cutter to trim away the excess white paper, leaving
about 3/4-1 inch around the edges.
I glued the paper with the photos glued to it on the lefthand
side of the patterned paper, and then inserted the eyelets to
accent the corners of white piece of paper (see photo). I then
glued my step-daughter's name vertically on the righthand side of
the page. Picture perfect!
Photo of finished layout:
http://www.crafty-moms.com/articles/011904c.shtml
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom. For scrapbooking,
card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making
activities, visit http://www.Crafty-Moms.com.
| Memory Planning: The Art of Documenting Your Family Vacation |
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Written by: Colleen Langenfeld Date Submitted: 08/07/2003 | |
You have saved and planned for your family
vacation.
You are drooling with anticipation.
You dream of idyllic time spent with your spouse
and children.
Of course, you'll be taking photos to remember
this great time spent together.
Maybe using a video camera, too!
Would you consider doing one more thing?
Locking in those great moments forever with a
little 'memory planning'?
What's that, you say?
Memory planning. Simply put, plan the 'taking'
of your memories and you will end up with a
more vibrant and satisfying collection of
momentos. Much better than just a few rolls of
film or cassettes of videotape.
Intrigued?
It's easy!
- Start by collecting brochures, postcards,
ticket stubs.
- Keep a small notebook or assign a family
member to take notes. At moments when someone
says 'this is the best time ever' ask him or her
to describe their feelings & jot down the details.
- If using a video camera, narrate what was
exciting or compelling about the event you are
taping.
- Try to identify scents and sounds with events
as well as visual clues. Write these things down
in your notebook and collect samples when possible.
- Be a reporter; always ask yourself and others
'why' when they say they love something. Identifying
the why helps to stamp the event firmly in our memory.
Doing these steps faithfully will really help later
on when you are pulling all of these independent
parts together. Your accurate journalizing will make
all the difference, says Lygia Brown, Independent
Scrapbook Consultant:
'After safely preserving our photos, the most
important part of scrapbooking is journalizing. Compare
a beautifully decorated album with no words, to one
with words and you will see the value of documenting
events, people and places. Journalizing adds meaning.
Use the questions of a journalist as a guide. (Who,
what, when, where, or why?). Journalizing is a
priceless enhancement.'
( For scrapbooking questions Lygia can be reached
at mailto:Lygiabrown@yahoo.com )
So make sure you plan your memories this vacation
with as much care as you plan your route. Pack a
small bag designed to hold the memorabilia you will
collect plus your journal. Schedule the time now
that you will need after your trip to complete the
archiving of your vacation memories.
You'll be so glad you did!
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Colleen Langenfeld delivers deals, tips and
creative resources to working moms who want
the most out of their homes, families and
careers at http://www.paintedgold.com . Sign
up for our free newsletter and get an
online Creativity Toolkit as our gift to you!
| Organizing Your Craft and Sewing Supplies |
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Written by: Rachel Paxton Date Submitted: 03/25/2003 | |
If you're a weekend crafter like me, you probably have a lot of
crafting odds and ends laying around that get all jumbled
together depending on what project you're working on at the
moment.
Over the years, I have found several ways to organize my craft
and sewing supplies in a way that I can actually find them again
when I need them. As I went through the process of organizing
them, I was able to identify items I no longer needed and
separate the remaining items into logical groups. As a result, I
now have all my supplies limited to one corner of a room and well
organized. Now I can find things when I need them.
When I first started sorting through all my supplies everything
was thrown together in a lot of cardboard boxes up in a
hard-to-reach closet. The first thing I did was dump each box
into a big pile and start sorting. My piles were: lace, trim,
buttons, quilting supplies, cross stitch supplies, ribbon roses,
fabric scraps, craft books, and misc.
I first discarded the odds and ends I knew I'd never use again.
I then bought two very large Rubbermaid containers (great for
stacking) to store my supplies in. You may need more depending
on how many supplies you have accumulated. I also bought some
gallon-sized Ziploc bags.
I sorted through all the lace and trim and put lace in one Ziploc
bag and trim in another. The ribbon roses went in another. I
put all the buttons in a plastic container with different
compartments--sorted by color. All these items, plus other misc.
like styrofoam balls, contact paper, plastic canvas, went into
one Rubbermaid container.
All my quilting and cross stitch supplies (mostly fabric scraps
and cross stitch fabric) went into the second container.
All my unfinished projects went into a cardboard box, and all my
yarn for plastic canvas projects went into another.
The containers and boxes stack on top of each other and fit
nicely underneath a small square "craft table" I have set up in
the corner of my home office. It's all out of the way and
everything is easily identified.
On top of the table I keep little projects I'm working on, like
cross stitch, or photo albums for working on scrapbooks. My
embroidery thread is organized by DMC number in plastic
containers made for storing embroidery thread. These containers
are also stacked on the table.
My sewing machine thread is organized on a small wooden board
with small spindles you can buy that is designed to hold spools
of thread. My sewing machine sits on the floor next to the craft
table while not in use.
Next to my craft table is a stand-alone cupboard that is sold as
a pantry cupboard that you can probably find at Walmart for about
$100. In the cupboard I store a lot of multipurpose items like
my glue guns, all kinds of glue, paper, scissors, and all of my
scrapbooking supplies. This cupboard works great for items other
family members also use a lot, like tape and scissors. My paper
cutter and long stapler are stored on top of the cabinet.
I also have several bookcases in my office, and I use a couple of
shelves on one of them for organizing my craft and sewing books.
The books are organized by craft type.
All of my small sewing supplies I keep in a couple of small
sewing baskets that I can move with me from room to room. In
these I keep sewing needles, embroidery scissors, measuring tape,
pins, seam ripper, etc.
Hopefully these ideas will help you get in the mood to start
organizing your own craft and sewing supplies. It's so much more
enjoyable to work on projects when you know what you have and
where everything is.
Copyright 2002. Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom
helping other moms to organize their families and their lives.
For other organizing hints visit http://www.Organized-Mom.com or
sign up for her newsletter by sending a blank e-mail message to
Organized-Mom-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
| Easy Fabric-Covered Photo Album |
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Written by: Rachel Paxton Date Submitted: 01/19/2004 | |
These thoughtful, inexpensive keepsakes are easy to make and personalize for any friend or family member.
I decided to make mini cloth-covered photo albums for my mother and mother-in-law. These instructions apply to any size photo album--you just have to measure the album to get an idea how much fabric you're going to need.
Materials:
- 3-ring binder/photo album (doesn't have to be new--you are going to be covering it)
- Pages for photos (add when album is finished, or you might get glue on them)
- 1 large sheet white poster board
- 1 can spray adhesive (3M works well)
- Craft glue or glue gun
- Scissors and/or rotary fabric cutter
- Fabric—1 piece long enough to cover the outside of the album, and 2 pieces to cover each of inside covers. Allow extra inch to fold over edges of album.
- Silk flowers, appliques, beads, ribbons, lace (optional)
You will need three pieces of fabric. You want the piece on the outside of the album to be one piece that folds around the outside of the album. Leave 1 inch of material around the edges.
Use spray adhesive (available at most craft stores) to glue the fabric. Make sure to lay newspapers all around you and spray carefully or you'll end up with a big sticky mess. Also try not to let your fabric stick to the newspaper. Spray the glue directly on the outside of the album- -one side first, then the spine, then the other side. Smooth the fabric as you go, gently smoothing out any wrinkles quickly beforeit dries (you have a few minutes). You should now have the outside totally covered with fabric with 1 inch extra all around the edges of the album. Glue the extra inch of material on the sides down to the inside of the album. Now fold the top and bottom edges down and glue in place. The inside of the spine will still be visible after the inside covers are in place, so fold the extra inch at the spine in half first, then again and glue in place. The remaining exposed top and bottom edges will be covered with the inside covers.
The next step is to make the inside covers. Cut 2 pieces of poster board approximately 1/8-inch smaller (on all sides) than the inside covers of the photo album. Make sure to lay them in the photo album after you cut them to make sure they're the right size. You want to make sure the album can still open and close easily when they're in place. Cut 2 pieces of fabric to be 1/2-inch bigger (on allsides) than the pieces of poster board. Using spray adhesive, glue each piece of poster board to a square of fabric. Fold over the remaining ˝ inch of fabric on the top, bottom, and sides, and glue to the back of the poster board. You should now have completed inside covers with no exposed fabric edges. Using spray adhesive, glue the inside covers into the inside front and inside back of the photo album,again making sure the album can open and close easily. You're done! Now you can add the pages for the photos. Here are some more options:
- If the album is big enough, you can cover a photo mat with fabric and glue it in the center of the front of the album. You can purchase the mat already cut, or you can make your own out of extra poster board, making it any size you want.
- If you want to have lace around the edges, glue the lace around the edges of the album after covering the front of the album with fabric, and before gluing in the inside covers. The inside covers will hide the bottom edge of the trimming. Glue in place with craft glue or a glue gun.
- Embellish the cover with appliques, beads, and silk flowers. Glue in place with craft glue or a glue gun.
After you practice on one of these albums, you'll see how easy it is and you'll be able to see all the millions of possibilities. These albums can as fancy or simple as you want, and can cost a lot or next to nothing. I made one for my sister as awedding present that cost about $50 after I bought the nice fabric, appliques, lace, etc.
For Mother's Day, however, I found some mini photo albums on sale 2 for $3. They hold up to 4 x 6 photos. I'm going to find a photo to cut down a bit to fit on the front cover, one for my family, and one for my husband's. If I get in a bind for time I will try to find some fabric on sale (should only require approximately ˝ yard each for the small albums). If I have time I'll do a little yard sale shopping and try to pick up some fabric that way. If you sew or do many crafts, you may already have some fabric on hand. It's also a good idea to stock up on different sized albums when they're on sale. Keep on the lookout for extra trimmings on sale and at yard sales. Don't forget the unconventional, like sequins and buttons. These thoughtful albums make great gifts for all occasions.
Originally published at http://www.suite101.com. Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.
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