Scrapbooking Layouts - Creating the Perfect Memory

One of the benefits of scrapbooking is the organized and attractive way your memories are preserved. It's important to take your time with the initial layout because that's what really makes the core of your design. A good layout will be beautiful to look at and it will preserve your memories so you and the generations to come will truly enjoy them.

Your imagination is one of the best places to start your layouts. Just take a look at the number of pictures you have and the themes you'd like to create and go from there. But, if like everybody, you find yourself stuck for ideas sometimes that's OK. There are lots of places to look for inspiration.

Scrapbooking idea books and magazines are great for getting ideas. They have lots of layouts and you can often find them centering around a theme, such as "baby's first year" or "school days." This will help jump start your own creativity.

You can also find lots of layout ideas online. Spend time browsing scrapbooking sites and looking at galleries of the pages others have put together. You'll get some excellent ideas.

Don't limit yourself to just scrapbooking resources, though. Pay attention to the layouts of your favorite web pages and magazines. You'll find a wealth of beautiful layouts to draw inspiration from.

Kits and software are excellent sources of pre-made layouts. If you're just getting started with scrapbooking they can help you create beautiful pages right away. You will find that you can come up with your own ideas more easily as you gain experience.

Start planning your layout by taking stock of what you have to work with. How many pictures are you going to be using? Do you want to add a lot of words (journaling) to this particular page or spread? Is there children's artwork to be incorporated into the layout. How about mementos such as napkins, invitations, or programs? These things will all influence how you should lay your page out.

Are you going to have one picture be the focal point, or will you have many pictures and mementos working together to build your memory? Layouts often center on details of each photograph, in which case the pictures are cropped and several smaller pictures are used together. Then there are always classic pictures that deserve to be the focal point of your entire page.

Go with simple layouts. Pictures and words will get lost on a page that's too cluttered. It also helps to have a consistent look and feel for an entire album, so consider what will be going into it. Don't forget to leave space for journaling.

Remember that themed kits can be a great way to get started with scrapbooking. They're also wonderful if you're going to be creating your scrapbook as a gift for someone else. They contain a nice selection of stencils, card stock, and embellishments that match the overall theme of the kit. You'll find kits for everything from babies, to weddings, to anniversaries, to graduations, to birthdays, and more.

Taking the time to plan out your layouts before you actually start working on your scrapbook pages will help you create the perfect memory in an attractive and organized way. So spend a little while thinking about it and trying different things to get the look you want.

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Creating Digital Scrapbooking Layouts - Resizing Your Photos

If you are new to creating digital scrapbooking layouts, there are a few skills you will want to master early on. One of these is: How Do I Resize a Digital Photograph to fit the digital template I've chosen?

Let's look at a typical scenario:

• A new mom has taken tons of pictures of her child (what new mother doesn't?)
• She loves scrapbooking, and wants to create a mini-album with digital layouts featuring several small photos, or just part-photos, on each page.
• She plans to use mostly head shots, and the standard 6x4s are too large for use on her page.
• She wants to be able to print the multi-photo page(s) as a part of her mini-album.

She already has Photoshop Elements, but you'd follow the same overall process for most photo-editing software.

First, Open a Blank Canvas, then

• Define the size and resolution of the page (250-300 dpi should give a good result when printing the page)
• Choose RGB color mode, unless you want a monochrome grayscale finish
• Set background color to transparent

You now have a canvas and are ready to start scrapbooking

Side Note: I find the checkered background you see (when color is set to transparent) makes it very easy to align photos and embellishments.

In PhotoShop each part of your design will be placed on a separate layer and you can adjust how far forward an item is by moving it up and down the layers.

Next, Open the Photo File to be resized.

There are now several options to resize your photo:

1. Simply make the whole photo larger or smaller.
2. Crop to a section of the photograph, thereby removing all that extra sky or foreground, then sizing the cropped image to what you need.
3. Use a mask which is an easy way to create identically sized photographs in a multi-photo layout.

1. Resize your whole Photograph:

• Go to Image, resize, image size
• in the 'Document size' section select your units (inches, mm, cm, pixels, etc) and enter the width or height you want
• you will want a resolution of 250-300 dpi to get good printing results

2. Crop a Section of the Photo:

• Select the crop tool and define the area to be kept
• Drag the crop 'window' around your photo to make the best selection

Side Note: if you want several photos exactly the same size in a layout I recommend using one of the fixed options instead of the freehand ones.

3. Use a Mask to Reveal only the Part of your Photos You Want to Display:

This is a technique I wish I'd learned about much earlier in my journey into Digital Scrapbooking...

• Create a new layer and select the Marquee Tool
• Select the size you want (choose from freehand, fixed ratio, or fixed size options)

if you chose either the fixed ratio or freehand option:

• Draw your mask shape on the new layer while holding down the left button on your mouse;

If you chose the fixed size option: (good when you want multiple images the same size)

• Click on your new layer, and the fixed size you've chosen will appear in outline with the 'marching ants'

Whichever style you used, the next stage is to

• Select the Paint Bucket Tool and fill the shape with color (just so that its easier to see while you are working)

Now you have a photo mask layer ready for use in your current project. You can also duplicate the layer for as many photos as you plan to use.

• Place your photo on the layer above the photo mask, and clip the two layers together. You can still move your photo to select the best part, and you can grab a corner to adjust the size.

Do this for each photo until you have all you need for your digital scrapbooking layouts.

Genie Balfour: As a paper crafter and scrapbooker for many years, Genie is well-versed in the ins and outs of paper and digital scrapbooking. As the founder of the popular website ScrapbookingGems.com, she writes regularly on paper and digital scrapbooking topics. Click this link to read Genie's step by step photo resizing instructions and other digital scrapbooking layout tips. Or click here and check out her free scrapbook sketches and layouts series.

Premade Scrapbook Layouts - A Variety to Add Personalization

It cannot be denied that mothers and young people from all over the world are getting more and more engrossed with the hobby of scrapbooking. When you go to bookstores and craft stores these days, you would notice that there would always be scrapbooking kits for both the beginners and the experts. Most of these kits already include premade scrapbook layouts.

But have you ever heard of the new and more modern concept of scrapbooking? Digital scrapbooking is the term used when you plan to make scrapbook albums without having to leave your seat in front of your computer. It offers a wide range of available premade scrapbook layouts that you can use to incorporate your photos with.

To get started with this modern way of scrapbooking, all you have to do is to choose first from the many premade scrapbook layouts that you will be presented to online. Then you can start creating your very own embellishments by using graphic and photo programs along with your selected photos. Nowadays, there are many interactive websites which can give you more ideas on this new innovation in scrapbooking.

The hobby of scrapbooking has been known all over the world for encouraging majority of the female market into getting involved with it. For mothers, it has contributed to improve their lives by adding variety to their everyday routine and for some, has even become a form of additional income. This can be said true for the young female market.

Teenagers have also fallen in love with this idea of scrapbooking that they have even formed clubs and organizations that encourage everyone to be an enthusiasts as well as a member. In nursing homes for the elderly people, scrapbooking has also taken a place of its own as a form of hobby for those who have been starting to lose their capacity to remember memories in their lives.

Do you need Scrapbooking Ideas? Check out Premade Scrapbook Pages and Scrapbook Page Ideas

Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants Cricut Cartridge

Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants Cricut cartridge includes fun and exciting images of Spongebob and his friends which you can now more easily cut and paste and use as design for your custom made scrapbooks. It is a package of bright and amusing pictures and letter fonts that pertains to Nickelodeon's longest running Nicktoon show next to The Rugrats.

For the customer's excitement and delight, this cartridge has included the following features that let you choose from a wider variety of Spongebob icons: Body/Detail 1, Outfit/Detail 2, Eyes/Detail 3, Icon, Icon Layers, and Shadow creative features.

These very special features can only be found when you buy Nickelodeon's Spongebob Squarepants cartridge by Cricut. This package has been enjoyed by buyers, especially to children who love Spongebob Squarepants because they can now easily create and cut his likeness without the use of computers.

With only one click of Cricut's button, the compact cutting machine will do everything you want to do from accurate and artistic cutting to producing the icons exactly how you like them to be.

In addition to this, this cartridge also contains lots of different cool shapes and letters. His friends' shapes and images are also available such as Patrick Star, Squid Q. J. Tentacles, Sandy Cheeks, Eugene H. Krabs, Sheldon J. Plankton, Gary, and many, many more!

You can now cut out letters, names, and fun phrases exactly the way you see them on TV while watching your favorite Nicktoon show. Not only that, they are also available in the precise colors and layouts the way they are shown on TV.

The Spongebob Squarepants Cricut Cartridge is designed for children who want to make not only scrapbooking projects, but also greeting cards, paper crafts, beautiful designs, artistic alphabets, home or room decors, and a lot more using pictures, logos, and signs from the Spongebob series.

Those who still want to purchase a Spongebob Squarepants Cartridge are advised to do so as soon as possible. Cricut has been receiving thousands and thousands of orders because of the popularity of Spongebob amongst children and youngsters.

Scrapbooking Websites - Some Of The Best Ideas Can Be Grabbed Online

Looking at your marriage album? Found good snaps that tend to bring back fond memories? Retaining the photos in the same album doesn't distinguish itself from the others. Such pictures need a special place. Scrapbooking these photos can make it exceptional. Worthy!

When scrapbooking strikes you, you are automatically attracted to provenances such as journals, websites, magazines, newspapers, print ads etc... Such provenances are always reliable as they portray very well what the determined product exactly brings out!!

Details regarding the start of a project, required materials-that are worthy and how to proceed with scrapbooking are elaborated well.

Hearing your friend's talks on what they actually do with their scrapbooks, you must have imagined more on how to explore it yourself. Your interests may be boosted with the photographer's ideas of preserving the pictures in a impressive manner.

Don't be afraid if you are new to scrapbooking. One does not require professionalism in photography for this. There are ample quantities of websites that provide you with scrapbooks. So what improves the quality of your scrapbook? What makes the photos prominent? What are the steps to be followed to create a scrapbook?

Basic Thoughts:

Wondering how your start can stay for days? In the end, the difficult thing in scrapbooking is the optimization of the design and the preferred design. You can then move on to think about the products that can be utilized for scrapbooks after the opinions are recognized. With all these confusions, the required help and guidance can be sought from the websites that you consult.

Behind every remarkable scrapbook are highly refined supplies for it that has been mixed and matched artistically. Nothing would cherish in a scrapbook when the supplies are not considered. You can get amazed when you look at scrapbook supplies that online stores sell.

They are available in many colors and designs. They come in different shapes and sizes too. So when you are ready for scrapbooking, what you have to do is just choose and conclude which scrapbook supply to put in use.

Now your caption for your scrapbook is your wedding day. Select the colors that perfectly suit your theme. Take special care that it should also match with the garments in the photo (worn on that day). The color combinations of the material should correlate the colors in the picture.

Some colors that would fit a wedding album are gold, silver and white. But you can have it as per your wish. Dealing with the content you can start the first page with the wedding invitation narrating the story to give it a good start followed by the remaining pictures.

Decorate the borders and male it attractive. You can choose your favorites and leave the remaining. Exceptions arise when you would like to have your scrapbook, a worthy of remembrance.

Scrapbooking websites-in the round:

People often surf the internet for scrapbooking websites. On visiting them, you can come across loads of ready-made designs and contents you need for your scrapbook. Some websites allow you to print them. Some do not. If you can utilize the internet to its maximum then you can extract very good ideas from such websites. In the end, it's their service for our purposes.

Scrapbooking websites teach the beginners on how to use its supplies to bring out an outstanding product. It also teaches the steps to be followed, and designs to make it stylish. In short they can be merely called tutorial websites.

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Scrapbooking Tips For Your Invitations Of Marriage.

It becomes increasingly popular to conceive the single invitations of marriage. The declaration with your family and friends whom you will marry is one special moment, and you can create some manners amusaèves of announcing them your plans for this special day!

Your single invitation of marriage is your first impact on your family and friends about your marriage. It is the first stage towards your marriage. You can depict to feel it totality of your day of the marriage in your single invitations of marriage.

If you are a jokester, you could want to do something which will mystify them at the beginning and then you can announce at the person that you marry. If you are romantic, you could want to create a quotation of your experiment with your been engaged and how you consider your life will be as like a couple wedded.

If you are an occupied person who travels much, you could choose to send the advertisements outside to your family and friends who show your love of voyage. A single idea of invitation of marriage is to create the plane tickets false which have an image far with far from a destination (or of much far with far from destinations if you desire).

That have your specific information of marriage printed on the � of “ticketâ€. If you like the time and the money of economy, you can send your advertisements like easy and creative invitation single complete of marriage. There is a broad set of the models to choose of by selecting your own invitations of marriage, if you want to do it the formal manner with a gracious single invitation of marriage.

Your basic elegant colors: black, white, silver plated and gold are always an astonishing manner to conceive your invitation for a formal business. However, and your fiancé be distinctive for you. If you want to show your individuality, you need one or the other find that a place which can help you to adapt your invitations or you can conceive your own single invitations of marriage.

You can conceive something exclusive that nobody could find in any " of ½ of ¿ of ï of store; in line or with far. You can employ astounding colors, or the earthy colors invite the family and the friends with your ceremony of marriage. The majority of the couples choose to conceive their invitations of marriage around their colors wedding chosen, however you can choose to make the opposite.

A fantastic manner to conceive your own single invitation of marriage is to visit a store scrapbooking. You can find all the materials which you can imagine to conceive your own imaginative and single invitations of marriage. You could have a time crafty one to obtain your fiancé to be implied by doing them, however.

However if you ask him that to carry out an easy task of invitation for you (like putting the chart of RSVP inside the invitations carried out) and to make your request resemble He relieves much of weight in addition to your shoulders, should easily obtain the assistance to you which you want.

Not to forget to have the recreation with finding the good invitations of marriage for you and your fiancé. By maintaining it similar to your own interests, your own single invitation of marriage will become an enormous memory to remember your very special day.

A Very Unique Wedding Scrapbook

We have all been to weddings where the bride and groom have placed a pretty signature book somewhere near the entrance. A pretty pen or pens usually accompany this pretty signature book.

While these books are lovely, they almost never are looked at again. I know when I looked back at my own wedding guest book there were actually a couple of names I couldn’t read.

With some planning, you can create a guestbook that will be created as the guests arrive. You’ll need to choose a scrapbook prior to the wedding. You’ll also need to hire someone who can take and print digital photos on the spot. Next, find a local scrapbook consultant who will put together the album as the photos are being taken, so that by the end of the evening, you’ll have a scrapbook-guestbook that everyone can enjoy.

As your guests arrive, you’ll have someone at the entrance taking their photos. I am not a fan of Polaroid photos. This is why I recommend digital photos. With a laptop and photo printer, the photos can be printed out as they are taken. There are electrical outlets in almost every lobby I’ve seen.

You’ll also want to have available precut acid free paper and pens that your guests can write a personal message to you on. After their photo is taken or while they wait to have their photo taken, they can both write you a personal message and sign their names.

If you have someone there who can create the pages as the photos are taken, you’ll have a completed guest book by the end of the evening. Embellishments and enhancements can be added by the bride and groom after the wedding, if they want to add these items.

This is a very unique way to create your guestbook and have a lasting memory of your very special day that you and others will look at over and over again.

Audrey Okaneko has been scrapbooking for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

by Audrey Okaneko

Capture That Special Day with a Wedding Scrapbook

Nothing is more special than the union of two people, and a wedding can be the inspiration behind starting to take up scrapbooking as a hobby. Wedding scrapbooks ensures that the day of joy and celebration lives. A couple can bond through reminiscing on the feelings and events of their weddingand can be captured through your wedding scrapbook.

Your Wedding Scrapbook is more than just memories

It is clear that as time goes by so do the memory of events in our lives. Your scrapbook can be worked on as a present to yourself and others in the future. The crucial thing to remember when starting your wedding scrapbook is that you need to work on layouts. This will ensure that you have a firm foundation upon which the wedding pictures will be showcased.

Wedding scrapbooking is more than just putting pictures into a fancy book. It is a story of its own that can be retold with the visuals provided, and in the end you could use your wedding scrapbook for your children to see and experience the beginnings to their past.

Helpful tips for creating Wedding pages

You do not have to feel alone and overwhelmed with your project. There is a whole lot of help to be found so that you get the right steps in making your wedding scrapbook project a reality. You can often go to search engines and find out how to tackle the project and get some great advice. There are books and magazine written out there that will help with layouts and techniques you can use to liven up your pages.

Save your favors, cards and wrapping papers to add dimensions to your pages. If you haven't had you wedding yet, try having your guests write a special moment they remember of you or your spouse and leave it is a vase at the guest table. Use these thru your scrapbook pages as part of your journaling.

Remember that a scrapbook is a journal as well as a photo album. Take the time to write memories down shortly after your wedding so you don't loose the little details that you remember so much at the time. A great way to do this would be to write them on the back of family pictures when they are returned from the store.

Find a color combination that will bring the colors of your photos out. Try and stay with that theme thru out the book.

At the end of your project, remember that this will be a cherished family gift for years to come for all to enjoy.

Marcy Larsen - Close To My Heart Consultant. CTMH offers much more than just scrapbook supplies, including opportunities to make money while scrapbooking. I love to help people get started in scrapbooking. To learn more, please visit my website at http://www.marcylarsen.com.

by Marcy Larsen