Thursday's Scrapbook Basics!

New to scrapbooking? Let's look at the basic elements of a scrapbook layouts.There are no rules in scrapbooking, however, you will notice several standard elements on most pages.I recommend you start with these standard elements and later you can add or take away from your layouts as you become more comfortable with your own style of scrapbooking.
Standard Elements:
1) Page Title - A title doesn't have to be at the top of the layout. It can be placed anywhere. Usually the viewer's eyes will scan the layout for the title when looking at a layout, this will give them a quick idea of what they are looking at, as with a well written article, the title is what grabs the viewers attention. Use your title to highlight, summarize or suggest the page theme, simple titles are usually best. You can use sayings, quotes, phrases or something else that will grab the attention of your reader. The title can be made with stickers, paint, handwritten, computer generated, stenciled and of course, STAMPED.
2) Pictures - many people think of this aspect when thinking of scrapbooks. While most layouts do contain one or more photos, I like to think of each scrapbook page as telling a story. Ask yourself, Do I need a photo to tell this story? Do I have a photo to tell this story? Can I use a program, advertisement, label, journaling or anything else to tell the story without a photo?
3) Journaling- For me, this is the most important part of the layout. Thinking again of your story, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but, what words do you want your reader, or viewer to think of when they look at your layout? While a short description of your photo will do, I like to tell the story behind my photo. For example, I might have an adorable picture of my son on a layout, would I rather the reader (In this case, probably my kids, grandkids, etc) to know that it was Sunday and we were at the zoo, or do I want my readers to know that I loved my son more than anything and this particular picture is what I remember most about his 2 year old personality. If you find it difficult finding what to say at first, think or a phrase, poem, saying, song lyrics that will describe what you are feeling. Again, the point is the story behind the photo, not necessarily always the photo itself. I mean how many times can you journal about the kids playing in the backyard? You can however, use one of those 200 pictures you took of the kids in the yard last weekend, to journal about the funny thing your tween said, the thing you want to remember and know you will forget if you don't write it down. Journaling can be done on the photo, on a stamped journaling block, a sticker, a card, right on your background paper or even hidden from view.
4) Page Accent (AKA embellishment) - This includes stickers, flowers, slide mounts, buttons, ribbons, chipboard, brads, eyelets, receipts, etc. Anything that is used to dress up your page. Every scrapbooker has their own style, some like a lot of embellishments and some like a page-full. I prefer embellishments that add to my layout, without overwhelming or drawing away from the photos and journaling. Sometimes I use a cute little embellie to take up some negative space on my layout. You will learn, with practice, what your style or preference is.
5) Mat- Simply said, this is the layer of paper under the photo, which leaves an all-around border that helps your photo stand out. A mat can be made of cardstock, patterned paper, acrylic paint and other decorative elements. A mat can also be thin, thick, dimensional, flat, plain or elaborate depending on the effect you want to create.You don't have to mat all the photos. You can just mat your focal-point photo, you can also choose to mat all the photos and then double or triple-mat the focal-point photo for extra attention.That's It! These are 5, very simple standard elements of scrapbooking. Again, there are no rules, these are simply meant to give beginners a starting point from which they can develop there personal style. To get your beginning scrapbooker started, all they need is some cardstock, DSP, scissors, next, of course add a good letter stamp to use for titles and some versatile phrase stamps to help them with journaling. Next, add some buttons and ribbons as embellishment. Or, A simply scrappin kit has everything a beginner needs, if they arent quite ready to start matching their own colors and designing their own pages.
These ideas came from SUDSOLS newest Scrap101 Coordinator, Angi Anderson - Thanks Angi!