How to Make a V-Day Scrapbook

Details like stickers and borders will help you customize your scrapbook.

Whether you make one for yourself, or make one as a gift, a scrapbook is a creative way to record memories and celebrate special occasions. Scrapbooks are especially good for marking holidays like Valentine's Day in an artistic fashion. They also provide many options for personalization, allowing you to create a book that expresses your personal feelings about Valentine’s Day. No matter if you make your scrapbook by yourself, or with your family, you'll find plenty of ways to put a creative spin on Valentine's Day.

Things You'll Need

• Scrapbook album
• Scrapbook paper
• Card stock
• Photos
• Pen
• Valentine's Day cards
• Glue or double-sided tape
• Craft scissors
• Paper trimmer
• Decorative embellishments

Instructions

1. Choose a Valentine's Day theme that will become the centerpiece of your scrapbook. All images and pieces should relate to this theme, so you should pick something broad enough to give you versatility. Specific Valentine's Day themes such as romantic quotes, famous love stories and animal pairs will allow you to express your creativity. Each page in the book should focus on your theme, and express that theme in a different, but cohesive, way.

2. Choose an album and paper for your scrapbook that will complement your chosen Valentine's Day theme. Utilize various shades of red, white and pink, the colors associated with the holiday, along with neutrals and pastels. Also, select card stock that will complement, yet stand out against, your paper. Choose backgrounds and borders with Valentine’s Day-related shapes and icons, such as hearts, flying cupids and kiss imprints.

3. Organize the materials that will go into your scrapbook. Sort pictures, romance-themed journal entries, cards and notes into piles that will be added to separate pages. A typical scrapbook page will hold four to six photos. You can choose images of couples in your family, heart-shaped items you’ve come across, romantic locations in your town and other Valentine's Day related subject matter.

4. Make your journal entries look more artistic by cutting them into heart-shaped snippets. You can also create a similar effect by writing love notes or quotes on heart-shaped stationery.

5. Crop your pictures using the paper trimmer to make neat, even cuts. Glue or tape your pictures, notes and other elements to the card stock, creating a thin frame around each item. Glue the matted elements, borders and titles to the page to make your Valentine’s Day scrapbook not only creative, but also cohesive.

6. Add decorative embellishments like Valentine's-themed stickers, stenciled designs and rubber stamps to give your book a finished look. Use a heart-shaped hole punch to include pages with holes in the book.

Tips & Warnings

• Add a plastic pocket page in the book to hold Valentine's Day cards for safekeeping.

• All products used in your scrapbook should be acid-free for the protection of your photographs and mementos.

Resources

• Better Homes and Gardens: Crop and Mat a Photo
• Essential Scrapbooking Techniques: Corrine Mihlek-Brzys: July 2010