The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[iammissruth]

Ok, so I finally decided on what to get the great grandparents for Christmas. They hardly ever get to see dd unless we fly out to see them, so I decided to make them a scrapbook. The only bad thing about that is that I have no creativity. My aunt suggested doing an online digital scrapbook, but after looking at a few different sites, I got sick of looking at pink. The ones I looked at all seem to be topic specific and let's face it, pink get boring after awhile...
Is there anyone who scrapbooks that could offer some insight on this overwhelming world? (Overwhelming because I am not creative and stay far far far away from crafts.)
Thanks in Advance!!

[Mike]

Di used to be a Creative Memories consultant. She's very creative with them and has made I don't know how many. Send her an e-mail.

[bikipatra]

The easiest thing to do is just find some pictures you like and start making a type of collage. You can do it with most picture or photo software. If you want to add an image you don't have, just do a search on the internet for it. Like if you need a shark-type in shark then hit the images tab.
This is a Valentine I made for my husband. He thinks he looks like Robert Redford so I got a picture of Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford from "The Way We Were" and put our faces on them. Then I added a picture of our dog and my husband sleeps with some Barney dolls so I added those and just started decorating it and added text. You can go to Corel dot com and download a free version for 30 days of Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and see how simple it is to use. It has a "Learning Center" that will explain what all the buttons are for and how to cut and paste images. It really is easy. I taught myself in a few hours.

My sister is always sending me pictures of her dog Henry and asking me to put him in different scenarios. She wanted a "royal" picture of him so I made this:

[Diana]

Hiya, Ruth.

Biki does some AMAZING things with photo/digi scrapbooking stuff!! (Check out Mike and me as Scarlett and Rhet). Robert Redford!! ..::swoon::..

Here's my suggestion: The most important part of the scrapbook is the story it tells. Don't worry about the crafty part of it.

Go to a craft store like Michael's (or a scrapbooking store) and get the block of paper in a pad. I like the 5x7 ones. Use the papers to frame some of the pictures, but not all of them. You can also angle a paper on the page and just stagger the pictures around a bit. Take a few of your pictures to the store. If you've got mostly jewel tones in the pictures, pick up jewel tone/primary tones/black, white and greys. If it's mostly neutrals, go for browns and greens, etc. (Generally, I keep lots of neutrals, greys and blacks on hand.)

The other really handy thing is a small paper trimmer -- it's faster and more precise on straight edges than freehanding it with scissors. You can crop the pictures to draw focus to only what's important -- for example if you've got too much wall or too much sky or someone's thumb in the frame (but be careful not to crop out anything of historical significance -- cars, furniture -- unless it's just really gotta go).

You'll need two pens: one thick and one thin, both black. The thick one you use when you want to put a title on a page that starts a sequence of a certain event -- kind of like chapter headings. The thin one you use to tell the story in a journal box on the page (or next to specific pictures).

The last thing you'll need is a good adhesive. I like the Creative Memories tape runner. There are similar things out there -- basically double-stick tape that has some repositionable quality to it but does become permanent.

Dayna (my sister) and I made a scrapbook for our uncle. It was a small one -- 7x7 and about 10 pages. We wrote is as "Lessons from the Unc." He STILL loves it and talks about it often.

When you journal, you can make a list (event, date, location, people, one line that tells more about the emotion or importance of the event) or write a paragraph or copy part of a favorite text or quote your children or...

When putting the page together, no more than 2 or 3 pictures on an 8x10 page and no more than 4 or 5 pictures on a 12x12 page. Your journalling box is included in these counts. Start with whatever color you want in the back ground (up to 3 of the pieces of 5x7 papers). You can over lap them diagonally down the page, place them different colors, keep them square or tilt them. Then place the photos

Don't worry about getting fancy with stickers, etc. If you do, here's my suggestion: don't use a bunch of little ones when one good big one will do. If you do use little ones, take the thin black pen and freehand a gentle, wavy line, and "sprinkle" the stickers along the line. This keeps them anchored somewhere.

Don't strive for perfection. This is a scrapbook, not a graphic arts presentation. If your kids are old enough, ask them to write some of the journalling boxes. They should write them BEFORE you tape/glue them down.

Enjoy. Hope this has been helpful.

[bikipatra]

Wow Diana. You know your stuff! I am surprised how universal the scrapbooking phenomenom is. My husband's niece in Zimbabwe is a scrapbooking junkie but supplies are limited there (this is a country that ran out of Coca Cola) and online stores won't ship there for some reason so we order the items and once we receive them ship them to her. And my husband's nephew's wife is addicted too and goes to special conventions and scrapbooking events in California. I am just going to stick to my computer stuff because with my addictive personality I am afraid to get started!

[iammissruth]

Thank you Diana for the suggestions. I am currently dinkin around with picaboo dot com on their program. So far it's been working great for me. (And I love the fact that there is no mess for the little one to get into.)

[Diana]

no mess is a HUGE plus!! Glad you've found a starting point!