How to Make Scrapbook Gifts

Scrapbook Gifts: Getting Started
Every once in a while, you are looking for the right gift for someone who has a unique hobby or has thought about doing something different. Well, if you know of someone who is getting ready to have a baby, getting married, celebrating a special birthday, or is totally into scrapbooking, you have come to the right place. It will be very easy to get a special gift together that will make your celebration special. That person will know that you put some special thought into your gift.

What Occasions Fit a Scrapbook Gift?
Birthdays: Birthdays are a perfect time to create a scrapbook gift. Especially if the birthday is a special milestone. Create the mini-scrapbook with the birthday theme. Leave plenty of space for pictures. That way the recipient can add pictures after the event. You can also use a standard 12" by 12" size album when the birthday is extra special.

Anniversaries: When someone is celebrating a milestone anniversary, a scrapbook gift is a perfect remembrance of the occasion.

Weddings: Everyone wants to remember a wedding. Not only are there formal pictures, but other attendees will take pictures too. All of these pictures can fit in an album that you create.

Births/Showers: Every new Mom would love to have a mini scrapbook to celebrate their new blessing. Any size scrapbook would be appreciated.

Retirements: What a great gift for the retirement of someone in your family or a favorite coworker

For Someone in a Nursing Home: a gift of a small scrapbook filled with pictures of grandchildren and great-grandchildren would be welcome by anyone living in an assisted living facility or a nursing home.

Celebration of Life: When someone passes, it is very thoughtful to give them pictures in a scrapbook of the person who has passed on. This is a very personal gift that should be given by someone close to the family.

How to Create Scrapbook Gifts
Creating Memorial Albums After Loss
After losing a loved one, the days, weeks, and months that follow are some of the most difficult we will face. Learn how creating a memorial album can be therapeutic and preserve the memory of your loved one.

Selecting an Album for Your Scrapbook Gift
The first step to making your scrapbook gift is to select the album where you are going to place the photos. There are many options.

Scrapbook Sizes Vary
The 12" by 12" size scrapbook is the most popular size. It allows you to add the greatest number of pictures. A two-page layout can actually hold 10 or more pictures.

There is an 8 1/2" by 11" size that would be the size of a three-ring binder. Think of it as the size of a piece of copy paper. It is a little less expensive than the 12 " by 12" size but it holds fewer photos than the 12" by 12" version.

There are even smaller sizes that are square scrapbooks. They come in 8" by 8" sizes. There are even smaller sizes at 6" by 6" square. These smaller sizes are only going to hold one picture per page. These smaller books are most often used for theme albums (special occasions or events).

Album Types
Three-ring binder: This type of album uses D rings. This is the easiest type of album to use. You just slip the pages on the rings. However, this type of album cannot be expanded. The number of pages you can add is dependent on the width of the album.

Post album: The most common type of album that is included in scrapbook kits. The page protectors have holes punched in them where the posts are inserted to hold them securely in the album. The reason that these are so popular is that you can add extra posts which screw onto each other to extend the width of the album. Generally, the page protects from the top.

Book-bound: This type of scrapbook has a sewn binding very similar to a book that you are used to. Pages cannot be added, but there are perforations that allow you to remove pages. Pages would be removed if you have added a lot of embellishments and the book has become too thick.

Strap-hinge: These scrapbooks use pages that have staples built into the edges. Plastic straps slide through these staples and hold the pages in the book. Since the pages themselves are bound into the book, page protector sleeves are slid over the pages to cover them. To add or remove pages from the album the strap-hinge assembly is taken apart.

Most of these scrapbooks will come with page protectors in them. A thoughtful thing to do would be you include some extra page protectors so that additional pages can be added. I add paper to these extra pages so that they are ready to go.

Scrapbook Basics
Even working with a kit, there are just a few things to know when creating a scrapbook gift. It is all simple and easy to do, so let's get started.

Cardstock is the paper that is used or included in your kit to create the pages of your scrapbook. It should be the same size as the page protectors you will use. It comes in solids and patterns. Generally, you would use a good strong paper as your base because of all of the weight of the things that are adhered to it.

Create a title page. This is the first page of the scrapbook. You would want to title it with the person or people's names, the occasion, and the date. You can use letter stickers or create titles from the word processor app on your computer.

The page title is important too. Think of every page telling a story. Every story has a title. You can place the title anywhere on the page design. You can use stickers, letters, cut from a magazine, words from your word processor, or words from an electronic cutting machine like a Cricut.

A layout has two pages that look similar facing each other. They do not have to be duplicate pages, just similar in color and design.

The pictures are most often mounted on cardstock just slightly larger than the picture itself. The pictures and mats are mounted together and on the cardstock base with double-sided tape. It is cleaner to use, and you will not get any bubbles.

Page protectors hold the scrapbook pages so that they stay clean and put together. Pages are usually placed on both sides of the protector. It is a nice idea to include some extra pages with your gift. Include the cover sheet from the page protectors that are used so that the recipient of your gift will know what to get to add to the book.

Embellishments are the things that are used to decorate the pages and layouts. They can be stickers, gems, die cuts, stamped pieces, washi tape, and so much more.

Journaling on a page is often included. Journaling tells the story of the pictures. And all the details of the occasion.are included in a journaling piece. It can be in your own handwriting or written off of a word processor app and mounted on some cardstock.