How to Create Graduation Scrapbook Pages

Graduation inspiration: my diploma, honors cords and badges, sorority cords; I can't scrapbook all of these but at least I can look to them for ideas.

Whenever I start a new scrapbook page, I like to lay out my assets. In this case, I have photos (duh), my tassel, cards, the commencement program, and a few other USC-related items. Scrapbooking tip: If you know there's going to be a chance you'll scrapbook any random occasion (graduation, a family vacation, baby's first haircut--whatever!) SAVE what you can! Some of my best scrapbooking assets come from maps, ticket stubs, and cards; they truly define the occasion you're remembering, and you can save money by not spending it on stickers and paper (though if you're anything like me, you're going to go crazy at the craft store anyway.)

When it comes to scrapbooking supplies, I like to keep it pretty basic. Scissors and glue are a necessity; I personally prefer glue sticks over liquid glue since they are easy to use and not messy. Liquid glue is also risky because it can create bubbles in paper and photos--icky! Photo dots and sticky photo corners are also popular with scrapbookers. If you plan to do any labeling, such as names or dates, I advise using a thin, black pen.

Ah, scrapbooking paper. What scrapbooker doesn't love a fresh pad of colorful 12x12 paper? I like to start every scrapbooking project by establishing a color scheme. For my graduation scrapbook, it was obvious that cardinal and gold (USC's colors) would be the base; however I wanted to add in a third color to balance things out.

I stumbled on my third color shade when I found this striped paper in my scrap pile; I loved that it incorporated cardinal and gold, and the teal would enable me to stretch my color palette for stickers. It's a completely personal choice whether or not you want to back your photos; sometimes I do it, sometimes I don't. Since this first page is my "introduction" page of the graduation series, I felt like the striped backing was a good idea to help establish that cardinal-gold-teal color scheme. I always like to lay out my photographs on the page before I glue them on. If you don't have the time or energy to cut out perfectly-straight edges or align your photos exactly the same distance from the edge of the page, consider placing them on a tilt; it's a fun layout and also hides imperfections.

You have choices when it comes to making the title for your scrapbook page: you can handwrite the title with pretty colors; you can type it and print it out; you can use stamps; you can use alphabet stickers. I personally prefer alphabet stickers because they come in so many varieties. But they are a fickle friend, because you are almost always inevitably one or two letters short. Vowels run out fast. Don't be the foolish scrapbooker who realizes she ran out of As before the second one in "Graduation" (this was almost me!) Count out all the letters before you start making the title. It's also wise to create the title on a different sheet of paper. This is aesthetically-pleasing because you can make the title pop against the rest of the page. And it's also smart because if you make a dreaded mistake (come on, why are there so many Ms in "Commencement"?) you haven't ruined all of your work.

Ooooh, stickers! Now, I know I said that I like to work with my own FREE assets...but scrapbook stickers are SO MUCH FUN. These graduation-themed stickers are perfect because they aren't overly colorful or flashy. They work great to fill in empty space without looking random.

Back to the free assets thing: when you're scrapbooking something official, such as a graduation or a wedding, it's always smart to add the program or invitation to your page. It's a built-in memory, but it also means that you have less work to do: instead of having to write out the date and location in your prettiest cursive handwriting, it's already printed in a fancy style.

Graduation is one of those occasions that is accompanied by a lot of official paraphernalia: in my case, a cap and gown, tassel, honors cords, honors badge, sorority cords, and diploma. There's no way I can scrapbook all of that stuff, but it is nice to have a little piece of it in my scrapbook. The tassel was the perfect 3D addition to my scrapbook page. To add it, I located the plastic cover in which my page would live inside the actual album. I cut a small incision into the plastic, just large enough to pull the top of the tassel through. (Instructions continued on next image)

To secure the tassel and stop it from sliding out of the plastic, I stapled it to the page. I also wrapped the excess cord around the staple a bit to try to hide it.

For my second page, I decided to tone it down a bit and focus on the photos. I didn't need a title or any text since I figured I'd always remember the people in the photos (in the left photo, my boyfriend Bryce, and in the right photo, my parents). I'd also recently received some junk mail from USC with a great photo of Tommy Trojan. The photo was already framed with a white border, so I added borders to the other two images and then tried to line them up evenly against the edges.

I used some more of those fun graduation-themed stickers on this page.

The day after the graduation ceremony, my parents hosted a graduation dinner. My mom created special USC-themed invitations and menus, and I received plenty of cards from my guests. I wanted to use some of those assets on my final page.

After studying the cards long and hard, I opted for a very simple layout: a copy of the graduation dinner invitation (on the right) and a copy of the thank you notes I sent to my guests (on the left). It would have been really nice to somehow scrapbook the cards, but they were all very heavy and some even played music, so they would have been difficult to assemble onto a page. I found this adorable printed scrapbook page at a craft store and felt like it would appropriately balance the simplicity of this layout.

I did add one element of a card to this final page: this adorable little owl.

In a way, this final page sums up all of the graduation festivities: it's got elements of the actual ceremony, memories of the graduation party, and references to my guests and supporters.