How to Plan an Album

The most memorable scrapbook albums are organized around a central theme, even if that theme is a loose one. Having a theme helps you keep your project on track and makes a scrapbook more fun to view. In order to put together a good scrapbook album, you must learn how to plan one.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Empty scrapbook album
• Selected photographs to represent your theme
• Decorations, such as stickers and borders
• Plastic sheet protectors

Plan Your Album Like a Pro

1. Choose a theme for your album in advance. This will help you choose photos and organize your supplies later. It will also help you decide what supplies you still need to buy to fit your theme.

2. Select photos for your album based on your theme. For example, if your album theme is your summer vacation to Hawaii, then you would select photographs that were taken during that trip. You could also choose photos that were taken while you were packing for the trip, while you were on the airplane going to Hawaii and just after you arrived home from the trip.

3. Pick out supplies that match your theme. You will need embellishments for your scrapbook pages such as stickers, borders, brads, ribbons, die cuts and paper piecing (pictures made from different colored or patterned pieces of paper). If your theme is your senior prom, for example, then think about what decorations would enhance that theme.

4. Plan your color scheme for each page. Most scrapbook pages have a central color that everything else on the page revolves around. Try to plan a color scheme that harmonizes with the photographs you will be using.

5. Think about journaling details. You will, of course, want to journal on each page of your album. As you put together your album pages, think about the details you want to include in your journal writing on each page.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure any products you use in your scrapbook album are acid-free and archival safe. This will ensure the photographs and artwork inside the scrapbook remain in excellent condition for a long time to come.
• Plan to make your entire album visually appealing by choosing decorations to match an overarching color scheme. Pick a dominant color or two, and then decide what colors you will use for accent pieces.
• Plan out your journal entries before you add them to the album by jotting down notes on a separate piece of scrap paper.
• Acid from fingertips and accidental spills can damage or even ruin your scrapbook album. Avoid taking this risk by putting your scrapbook pages in plastic sheet protectors.