Baby Scrapbook Ideas For You and Baby

Everyone knows that a scrapbook is a way for you to document your child's life and show off his many accomplishments but how do you make the scrapbooks appealing and exciting without spending a fortune?

I have spent the last 2 years going through 6 years of pictures and getting them all scrap booked so now I feel a little bit of an expert on the subject. Throughout those 2 years money wasn't always readily available, especially when trying to do 6 years worth so I had to get creative and it turned out great. Some of my favorite pages are ones I didn't spend money on. So what do you use?

You probably have a few pictures of your son in just a diaper or getting change or something of that nature. So I took those pictures and put them on dried out wipes cut the wipes to frame the picture nicely and had an instant hit, total expense: Nothing. Okay maybe just a few pennies for each wipe put I already had plenty of those on had.

After I had my baby shower or bought clothes I would keep any tag that had a cute little picture or world's like "Baby" "fun" or anything I thought I might use. Then I would use them to decorate my pages. I have one page that has on the top a tag that says "Baby's World" and then it has 2 picture of giraffes from tags on it.

I also loads of pictures of my son eating so with those I put a little spoon on the page, and used one of his old bibs to frame a picture. I used band aids and gauze on a page where we had pictures of his first goose bump right on his head. He also tore up a book of his so we used picture from that and cut out some of the words and pasted it on a page of him holding various books.

One last note is to cover a page in pictures. I took all of my favorite faces of him cut them out and then pasted them all to one page. It was really heavy but it looks adorable.

Making a Scrapbook is a Great Way to Treasure Your Memories

Most of us have shoe boxes or plastic bins filled with photos from the years of our lives. If we are lucky, we have managed to sort the boxes into various years or decades, and there is some semblance of order to these memories. Amid the photos may be ticket stubs, greeting cards, and various trinkets that we want to remember but we are not quite shore how to organize. Imagine leaving this legacy to your children. They would spend days sorting through the boxes trying to order the material, piecing together a life they want to understand, but just cannot get a grip on when it is stored in a box. Chances are there are photos of people they will not recognize, curious pictures of events they do not recall, and questions about why certain items were saved and others were not. Maybe you have saved all of your graduation cards but none from birthdays or anniversaries. Maybe you kept the ticket stub from the first baseball game you ever attended but did not save a wedding program. Your kids and grandkids deserve to understand your way of thinking and why you held on to certain things. A scrapbook is a great way to help them understand once you are no longer here to explain it. Compiling one now can be a lot of fun and it organizes your memories before it is too late.

You may want to ask your children or grandchildren for assistance. They may remember stories now they can share that can be included in the scrapbook and they can read about them in years to come. Maybe last Christmas was the best ever for your six year old granddaughter. She can share those memories with you, you can write them down in a scrapbook besides the family Christmas photos, and 20 years from now she will remember the day as told in her own words.

You can also document the time before you had children and grandchildren. Start with your earliest photos and label the people in each picture. You can include stories about your relationship with each person, or include a message directly from them if they are still in your life. Future generations will appreciate the effort you made to inform them and share their heritage with them. There may be stories you forget to share when you are alive, or these stories may not capture the interest of surly teenage grandchildren. However, a few decades into the future they will be fascinated with the time and effort put into chronically their family history. You can create a scrapbook for each member of the family so they can share them and piece together their common history, or you can create all-encompassing books with copied photos. Do not forget to include things other than photos in these books. Scraps of paper, swatches of fabric, important documents, and family recipes all make great additions to traditional scrapbooks. Your relatives will truly appreciate your effort in documenting the family history.

Scrapbook Defintions

Acid-free: Means the product has a pH of 7 or higher. Acid is a chemical used to make paper. This makes the paper break down easily. The higher the pH in the paper, the more durable the paper is. If the paper you are using contains acid, it can discolor, damage, and deteriorate your photos.

Adhesive: Glues or tapes that hold items together. Adhesives come in different forms, including, tabs, glue sticks, double stick tape, and glue dots. Some adhesives are removable to allow you to reposition them.

Archival quality: This term is used to describe the quality of the paper or material. This insures the product you are using will not discolor or disintegrate over time.

Buffering: This process is used in adding calcium carbonate to neutralize acids. Paper that has been buffered contains alkaline filler. This will protect the paper from absorbing acids in the future.

Cropping: To crop a photo, means to cut out the elements you do not wish to display. This will take away any distractions from your subject. There are several ways to crop your photos. The most common way is to use a straight edge. This can be achieved with a paper cutter or scissors.

Die Cuts: Die cuts are paper cut outs used to enhance your scrapbook pages. They come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. You can purchase die cuts in a craft store or other retail stores. You can customize your own die cuts using a die cut machine.

Emboss: A technique used to create a raised image on paper. Heat and powder embossing are the two most popular ways to emboss.

Journaling: This can be used to document your feelings, memories, or tell a story about the photo you are displaying. It can be as simple as writing the names and dates of the event in your scrapbook.

Inking: This is a technique to use to create a different type of image on your scrapbook pages. Inking can also give an antique or weathered look to your page.

Lignin-free: Paper that is lignin-free will not disintegrate or become brittle over time. You should use paper that is acid-free and lignin-free in your scrapbook.

Mat: To frame a photo with paper so there is a layer between the photo and the background. Cardstock is used in this process. You can use printed or plain background paper. Use a color that stands out in your photo.

Mylar: Mylar is a protective covering to use for your scrapbook photos.

Page Protector: A page protector is a plastic cover to insert your pages into. This can be removed to design your scrapbook page and replaced once it is done.

pH: pH is the amount of acid your paper contains. The pH in scrapbook paper should be at least 7. The higher the number is the lower the acid amount.

Photo safe: This label is used on products that are safe for scrapbooks. This term is used to indicate acid-free and lignin-free products.

PVC free: PVC stands for Polyvinyl chloride, a plastic used in sheet protectors. Scrapbooking products should be PVC free.

Templates: Templates come in acrylic or plastic sheets with cut out shapes. They can be used to crop photos or too cut your cardstock into the shape you desire.

Making a Scrapbook For a Gift

If you are a scrapper, you know the sentimental value that a scrapbook holds. Each book represents a special time in your life, memories you don't want to forget and events that made you who you are today. Taking photographs of important life moments and arranging them so they are not only beautiful to the eye, but to the soul as well, is something you know all too well. Those who take pride in the scrapbooks they create may find that providing another with such a wonderful keepsake would be a beautiful gift idea. Straight from the heart, the gift of a scrapbook is something to be cherished, just as the photographs in there are treasured.

Below are a few occasions for which you might consider creating a scrapbook for a loved one. You can do a mini scrapbook that measures 7 x 7, or go all out with a 12 x 12 scrapbook, depending on the occasion and how many pictures you have to include.

Weddings and Anniversaries

Among the most popular reason for creating a scrapbook, weddings and anniversaries are definitely occasions to remember. As one of the most important days in most married people's lives, the day a couple was joined as one is a momentous one. Consider creating a wedding or anniversary scrapbook as a gift only if you are closely acquainted with the couple, since you will be more familiar with their design taste, and you'll better know which family photographs mean the most to the lovely couple. One great idea: include a decorated page with quotes, good luck wishes, or congratulations from guests of the wedding or anniversary party.

Babies and More Babies

The number one reason moms get into scrapbooking is to make a permanent record of their beautiful child's upbringing. Babies are so special, which is why many mom's make "baby books" when their children come along. If you know of a new mom who isn't into scrapbooking, consider asking her for copies of the best photos of her little one. You can create a small memory book that showcases the baby's birth and homecoming, or consider a larger scrapbook that chronicles the child's entire first year. If you'd rather let the mom get into the process herself, you can also wrap a blank book, scrapping papers, pens and other cutting tools together as a baby shower or 1st birthday gift.

Important Travels and Adventures

Sometimes a vacation deserves its own scrapbook. Perhaps your parents went on a week long trip camping at the Grand Canyon, or maybe your children took your grandkids to their first Disneyland vacation. Travel destinations and other adventures are perfect for scrapbooking, and work equally well for a large or small scrapbook. For that once in a lifetime trip or occasion, consider asking for a copy of your friend or family member's photos and creating a gift for them.

Anyone Can Make a Handmade Scrapbook Using My Step by Step Process

Sharing Your Photos

You went to a special event or party and took a lot of pictures but what are you going to do with them now? If you are like most people, you'll view the pictures on your computer or from the envelope that they came in and that will be the end of it. They will be filed away never to be seen again.

That is a shame. I know, because I have boxes and boxes of pictures that are rarely seen because it's too difficult to get at them. Conversely, I also have several scrapbooks that are just a joy to look at. To me, they are heirlooms that I can't even put a price on.

The idea of putting my photos into a handmade scrapbook came to me after I attended a certain event and several people asked me for copies of my pictures. Rather than make a bunch of copies of random pictures and pass them out, I decided that this certain event deserved more than that. It was special and so I wanted to showcase the pictures in a special way. I wanted to tell the story in pictures and words.

Although handmade scrapbooks take a lot of time to make, they can not be beaten for quality and uniqueness. I started with that first special event and have made several books since then. Follow the steps below to make your own:

To Make a Handmade Scrapbook

Mount prints on 8-1/2 x 11 white card stock. In addition to the prints and card stock, I recommend getting a paper cutter and a corner rounder. The paper cutter allows you to precisely cut your photos and card stock to size, and the corner rounder is really nice for shaping the corners of your photographs.

I usually put my prints in chronological order first, crop them to size, round the corners (personal preference) and then mount them with glue sticks.

In addition to the photo pages, adding a one page family tree or an itinerary page can really help tell the story. My scrapbooks usually end up being 20-40 pages with 3 to 5 pictures on each page.





Put words to the pictures. After all the pictures are mounted onto the card stock scrapbook pages, I bring them to my computer and simply go through each page and type into a blank Word document the captions for each picture.

When I began making these books, I purchased a disk of really cool fonts called "The Best of Creative Lettering" from my favorite scrapbook magazine, "Creating Keepsakes Magazine." If you want a great scrapbooking resource, this magazine is it!

After the captions are in the Word document, I print them, and mount each one by the appropriate picture using glue sticks.




Embellish the pages. Now that the pictures and captions are mounted, I dress up the pages with memorabilia, such as, golf score cards and ticket stubs, and I add stickers to limit the amount of white space. Don't use metallic stickers as they do not copy well.



Copy, Laminate and Coil. The cheapest way to make copies of your original pages is to go to a copy place, like Kinkos or Reprographics, and make the color copies yourself (bring your own cardstock). It's more expensive, but they will do it for you if you prefer.

This is the best part of making this kind of scrapbook. You can make as many copies as you like of the original and everybody gets a copy of their own to take home. You can't do that with scrapbooks made in those big, fancy albums.

To make the scrapbooks more durable, I laminate the front and back covers. It really adds to the quality of the book. Lastly, the books need to be bound. I like to use the black coil type because they hold up well and look really nice.

I spend a lot of time and energy creating these handmade scrapbooks to commemorate special events or to honor special people. When I give someone one of these extraordinary gifts and see their expression, it truly warms my heart and makes it all worthwhile.

Use Premade Scrapbook Pages to Create a Quick, and Snazzy Holiday Photo Album

As holidays come and go, you probably have plenty of photos to captivate those memorable moments. There are photos of family gatherings, gift exchanges, children exploring their new toys under the tree on Christmas morn, New Year's celebrations, Easter egg hunts, and more. The usual photo album protects and organizes your photos, but that's about all! Scrapbooks bring your photos to life and enable you to keep notes or depict a theme for specific occasions.

Maybe you don't have time to create memory albums from scratch. A good solution to make a creative holiday scrapbook is to purchase premade scrapbook pages. These come in a variety of holiday themes ready-made to include your favorite photos.

Themes for Christmas may include snowmen, elves, ornaments, wrapping paper designs, Christmas stars and more. Premade pages for Thanksgiving usually have harvest designs with turkeys and pumpkins. Easter scrapbook pages often feature spring flowers, Easter eggs and rabbits. Premade scrapbooking pages are available for Mother's Day and Father's Day if you want to honor your parents with a unique photo album or help your own children surprise the other parent! There are also custom scrapbook pages for St. Patrick's Day, 4th of July, Halloween, New Year's Day and Grandparents Day.

Premade scrapbook pages can be added to your current album if you already started making one on your own and haven't had the time to update it. These also make great holiday gifts for girls who enjoy scrapbooking, although most girls prefer to create pages from scratch! Another idea is to create a few pages for a loved one as a gift using keepsake photos and premade scrapbooking pages. It's a gift that will be treasured for life as you remind them of a sentimental moment or perhaps even a funny moment. You might include a card that says, "Remember this moment?" and send their new custom scrapbook page by mail.

Durable Protection for Your Holiday Photos

Shop for custom scrapbook pages that are clearly marked "acid free." Paper with high levels of acid can add to the acid already present on photos. This is called acid migration, and can cause a chemical reaction that can distort the coloration of your photos over time. Custom made scrapbook pages are usually hand made with special care to ensure long-lasting enjoyment of your photos. These usually cost between $5 and $20 depending on the style and materials used, but they're well worth the investment if you want your photos to be around for future generations to enjoy.

Some companies allow you to custom order your pages and specify the theme and artwork based on your needs. For example, perhaps you'd like to create a special wedding photo scrapbook and want to use your wedding theme and colors as a springboard for the scrapbook pages. You might not be able to find the exact designs needed, but a scrapbook designer can create the pages from scratch to your specification.

A premade scrapbook page also enables you to document each holiday photo for future viewing. Imagine your grandchildren looking through your memory albums years later with no documentation. They will not know who is in the photo or when it was taken. Documentation eliminates the worry that your photos may one day be discarded because they are not clearly labeled.

Holidays are meant to be remembered. Premade scrapbook pages make it possible to preserve your memories in a fun, creative way!