How to Create a Baby Themed Scrapbook

Having a new baby in the family is a great excuse to create a baby themed scrapbook. Babies grow so fast and it seems as if everything they do is a keepsake moment. Whether your new bundle of joy is a boy, a girl or maybe even twins, creating a baby themed scrapbook to capture all the special moments is well worth the effort it takes to put it together. Read on to learn more.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Scrapbook
• Acid-free colored papers
• Scrapbooking materials and supplies
• Baby photos

1. Gather all your keepsakes and photos of the baby for which you wish to create the baby themed scrapbook. If you are not going to get to the scrapbook right away, write the date and the age of the baby on the backside of the photos.

2. Use desired colored paper for the background of each scrapbook page. There are endless selections of colored papers to select from. Craft and hobby stores sell themed packages that may help you get started if you are having trouble. Use paper photo frames to coordinate with the background and the theme of the photo.

3. Take advantage of using computer programs that help you apply your digital photos into ready-made baby themed pages that you print off when you get the desired look. This really cuts down on having to glue and paste photos.

4. Attend a "crop" class at a scrapbook store or hobby store. Check the ads for baby themed days for crop classes. The store will have all sorts of samples and staff there to help you with your page layouts.

5. Embellish your framed photo pages with baby themed stickers. You can use stickers that depict the occasion such as baby's first Christmas, Easter, first birthday, Halloween or first trip to the beach. Page borders are also really eye catching and easy to add.

6. Describe the event shown on the page of the scrapbook. You can write little explanations or paragraphs to scatter here and there among your scrapbook pages to give a little detail to your photos. Be sure to add dates and the baby's age in the photos. These descriptions can be hand written with a special colored ink or use your computer to give you a special font. It looks more coordinated to use the same pen ink color or same computer font throughout all the pages in the scrapbook.

Tips & Warnings

• Purchase a small scrapbook page cutter to help with having clean cuts to your photo edges. These are inexpensive and can be purchased at hobby and craft stores.

[CrunchyMama]

on 5/14/2008 JOURNALING - You think the details will stay crystal clear forever, but you forget so fast! Here is my journaling tip. I tried to sit down at my computer once a month for my daughter's first year and write something about that month. I didn't do anything fancy with it, just saved it in a word doc. When I was ready to scrapbook, I had the whole year's worth of journaling ready to go. (Mostly!)

You can also use a spiral notebook to jot down notes, funny sayings, details about an outing, etc. Anything to GET IT WRITTEN DOWN so you don't forget it!!

[CrunchyMama]

on 5/14/2008 My favorite baby album is the simplest one I've made... I used a 6x6 album. Each 2 page spread covered 1 month. On the right, I put one 4x4 photo, my favorite from that month. On the right, I journaled. Some months I actually wrote out journaling. Some months I listed dates and special events that happened (ie, May 14, got first tooth; 18, tasted first food; 24, visited grandma & grandpa). Some months I forgot to record journalling, so I put a poem or wrote the lyrics for a special song. The last 2 page layout is just a photo collage of favorite pictures from the whole year. You can also add in layouts for special holidays & baby's first birthday party in addition to the months.

It was really fast and easy to create, and it's so much fun to flip through and see a fast snapshot of my daughter's first year! Make sure that you take time to sit down at the end of each month and write some