How to Crop Interesting Shapes for Scrapbooking

Cropping interesting shapes out of construction paper and card stock is a hallmark of scrapbooking. These cropped shapes are used to decorate scrapbook pages, making them more attractive and reinforcing any themes on the page. If you are a scrapbooker, it is time to learn how to crop interesting shapes for scrapbooking.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Template of your choice
• Scrapbooking pen
• Paper (archival quality and practice)
• Magazines
• Scrapbooking punches
• Scissors

Crop Interesting Shapes for Your Scrapbooking Projects

1. Use a template. You can find templates for scrapbook cut-outs in the scrapbooking section of craft supply stores. Use a scrapbooking pen to trace these templates onto the acid-free paper of your choice, and then crop them out with a pair of sharp scissors.

2. Design your own shapes. If there is a fanciful shape you have dreamt up that you would like to try, just get out your scrapbooking pen and draw it. Practice your new shapes on non-archival paper, and then cut them out from archival quality paper.

3. Find pictures in a magazine. Cut out any pictures that have shapes you would like to crop for use in your scrapbook. You can affix the image from the magazine directly to your scrapbook or you can trace it onto archival paper and cut it out.

4. Punch it out. Buy a selection of punches from a craft supply store such as ScrapbookSupercenter.com (see Resources below). Punches are scrapbooking tools that cut out whole shapes from paper.

5. Use the right scissors. Large and blunt scissors are all right to use for long, straight lines and round shapes. However, for shapes that have more detail to them, particularly small corners and tiny holes, you will want to select the smallest, sharpest scissors you can find.

Tips & Warnings

• Make copies of any interesting shapes you create on your own to use as templates for future scrapbooking projects.
• Consider getting a circle cutter. As the name implies, circle cutters make it easy to crop photos into circle shapes. There are various circle cutters on the market for scrapbookers, so you may want to try several.
• Make sure small children are well-supervised when cropping shapes for scrapbooks. Only let them use blunt scissors on their own. Help them cut out more intricate shapes by using the small, sharp scissors for them.
• Think before you crop! Don't sacrifice important historical elements of the photo to get an interesting shape, or you'll regret it later.

Resources

• Get scrapbook punches at ScrapbookSupercenter.com