Things You'll Need:
- Craft papers
- Scrapbook with ready-made pages
- Stamps, stickers or other embellishments
- Photo corners
- Paper/craft glue
- Scissors (straight and patterned edges)
- Buttons, ribbons and other small fabric trim
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Step 1
Decide what type of scrapbook you would like to make. There are many options, so consider the following:
* Making a mini-scrapbook and decorating every page yourself
* Purchasing a scrapbook and decorating a few (more complex) pages, and leaving the rest blank or with simple layouts
* Purchasing a scrapbook, decorating several pages and giving the materials in a nice package for the mother to personalize the rest. -
Step 2
Choose a theme or color scheme. You may wish to use the same colors or theme as the nursery or simply pick a pretty baby-appropriate color scheme. If you do not know whether the baby will be a boy or a girl, using natural tones such as browns, tans and sages is an excellent choice.
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Step 3
Research scrapbook layouts. You can find books and magazines with sample layouts, as well as plentiful Internet tutorials and directions. You don't have to follow another person's design exactly, but it can at least give you some ideas to work from.
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Step 1
Choose a scrapbook. There are numerous sizes and styles to choose from, and this is just a matter of personal preference. Be certain to note the dimensions of the book that you choose when you are shopping for supplies, as the background pages must be the same size as the book. If you are worried about being able to choose and coordinate trims and embellishments, you can buy a scrapbook kit that comes with matching backgrounds, trims, embellishments and suggestions for layouts.
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Step 2
Choose backgrounds. Get paper in the same size as the scrapbook to use as the backing for your designs. You can mix and match patterns and colors as you like.
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Step 3
Choose embellishments. Embellishments are anything that you add to decorate the background of the scrapbook layout. You want to create a frame for pictures with your design, so choose items that will help you do that. If you don't think that you will use the supplies again, you might want to purchase small assortment packs that have many embellishments and trims to try. Embellishments include anything from stickers, buttons, quotes and eyelets to stamps and ribbons. You may already have things around the house to use as well.
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Step 1
Choose a background and complementary embellishments and decide on a layout. After you have some idea of what type of layout you like, you can start to put together the elements of a page. Get out items and arrange and rearrange to see how they work together. Don't affix anything at this stage.
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Step 2
When you are happy with the layout, begin affixing items to the background. You can use double-sided type for very lightweight decorations, but you will need heavy craft glue for heftier things, such as buttons. Be very clean with your glue so that you don't have any smudges or dried glue around the edges.
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Step 3
Allow the page to dry completely before returning it to the plastic sleeve in the scrapbook.
Comments
janellephant said
on 2/21/2009 Wow this is a great article! You clearly have taken time to write this. 5* and rcmnd. One question- how did you make the sections like "Putting a Page Together, Purchasing Materials, Planning the Design"