Scrapbook Video Saturday: Types of Scrapbooks

It's Saturday, and time for one of our videos for beginning scrapbookers. This time we're talking about one of the things I wish I'd known when I started scrapbooking: different types of albums. These refer mainly to albums you find in the craft store. You can also make your own album out of just about anything; mini-albums are especially popular to create. For today, though, let's take a quick peek at the albums you can buy, and the pros and cons of each.

If you have trouble viewing it here, you can view Different Types of Scrapbooks on Howcast.

What kind of album do you prefer? Where do you buy your albums?

Thanks for watching, and until next time….

Nancy's Birthday Album

Carla here today, with a special project for a special friend! 

I met Nancy though my running club, and we immediately hit it off. As it turns out, pretty much everyone who meets her feels that way; one of our other friends from the club calls Nancy "everybody's best friend."  So when Nancy turned 50, I knew I had to give her something out of the ordinary.  I decided to create a theme album, with input from our group of friends:  “50 things we love about Nancy.”  

I was inspired by Graphic 45’s Olde Curiosity Shoppe line, because its vintage look and amusing icons suit Nancy’s quirky nature.  I decided on an 8 x 8" album, with two “things we love” per page, for a total of 25 pages -- plus a cover page and a few additional pages at the end for her friends to sign the book.

To number the "50 things," I wanted to use my Tim Holtz Idea-ology wooden game pieces, because Nancy likes to play bingo.  But I couldn’t include 50 thick wooden pieces that way, because they'd create way too much bulk. So instead, I found an image of the numbered pieces online, and printed it on cardstock.  I punched out the circles in sequence as I created the album, and I used thin 1/16” foam dots to give them just a little dimension without making the book too thick.  I varied the paper from page to page, but tried to keep the layouts simple for faster assembly, and to allow the photos and journaling to take center stage.

I was pleased with the finished album -- and Nancy clearly was, too!  I had a lot of fun with the cover, but I still need to photograph it (if Nancy lets me borrow it back!), so that will be a separate post for another time!  Here are a few pages from inside the book, starting with the title page.

It was a real joy to make this album, because I knew Nancy would appreciate it.  Have you done a theme album like this for someone? Tell us about it, and/or link us to it!

Paper:  Graphic 45, K&Company, ephemera & paper scraps from my stash

Stickers:  7 Gypsies, Martha Stewart Crafts, Echo Park, EK Success

Circle Punch and Circle Cutter:  EK Success

p.s.  Edited 10/26/13 to add the cover: