You’ve probably heard the quote, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This summarizes one of the main reasons why I love scrapbooking so much. Instead of writing about my day, week or month, I get to show it with physical things like plane tickets, stickers, handwritten letters and playbills that capture little moments I want to remember forever. Scrapbooking is a great way to document your life and a form of creative self-expression. That said, it can be a bit intimidating if you don’t know where to start. In this article, I will dive into a few ways to take the pressure off of making a perfect scrapbook page and have fun with it.Â
Getting Started
There’s no perfect way to begin creating a scrapbook. If you’re new to the scrapbooking world, the best way to start is with a single page instead of committing yourself to completing an entire book. To do this, you can choose one specific event or memory, like a weekend trip, a concert, a play you saw or a note someone wrote you. Focusing on one simple event makes the process feel less tedious and daunting and allows you to be intentional with how you want to document your experience.Â
Nothing is Off LimitsÂ
Now is the time to get creative! Scrapbooking does not by any means have to be an expensive new hobby. You don’t need to buy a bunch of expensive supplies or decorations to have a beautiful scrapbook. You can use things you already have, like receipts, notes that people have sent you, pictures or even just little mementos you collect from living your life. Adding these personal touches makes the pages you create in your scrapbook even more meaningful and unique to you.Â
Ditch the Idea of Perfection
Learning to love the messy look of your scrapbook and embracing how raw and authentic it is is the way to go here. In this case, perfection is overrated, and it’s important to remember that the scrapbook that you create is for you, not for your Instagram story or your Pinterest board. Every item doesn’t need to be perfectly cut and glued. As long as you get it on there and document the experience, that’s all that matters.
Try Different Layouts
If you don’t know how to arrange the items you’re looking to put in your scrapbook, that’s totally fine. You can get a lot of ideas and inspiration from platforms like Pinterest. You can start by putting items together, perhaps from the same day or the same weekend, and experiment with your layout and practice different ways to set it up before gluing anything down.Â
Make Sure to Set Aside Time to Scrapbook
Life can get crazy when you’re on the go, but setting aside time to scrapbook can be a therapeutic and enjoyable experience that can help you remember significant moments in your life. Something I like to do when scrapbooking is to keep all of the different items I want to put in my scrapbook in my plastic folder. Anytime I go to a concert, receive a nice letter or receive anything tangible that would look nice in my scrapbook, I always keep it so I can put everything together once I have time.
Lastly – You’ve Got This!
In a world where most activities and conversations happen online, scrapbooking is a great way to get off your phone and dive into a hobby in the real world. It’s a refreshing way to have a new creative outlet that can allow you to create physical representations of different events or times in your life. You can also fill your scrapbook with your favorite photos and write them in your own handwriting. So grab your glue, your scissors and your memories, and get to scrapbooking! Your scrapbook doesn’t have to be perfect by any means; it just has to be you by all means!