You are so clever! You are truly creative! You are artistic! That is ingenious! I’ve never seen anyone with such an inspired way with collages!

If friends or family make comments like those about you, you will probably enjoy scrapbooking. Let’s look at some scrapbooking tips for you.

Scrapbooking Tips #1 – Personality

A beginner’s how-to of scrapbooking tips should always begin with scrapbooking tips that will help you determine whether you have the personality needed for scrapbooking. Answer honestly to the following five questions.

* Do you enjoy detail work? If you were to clean the inside of a car, would you be sure to clean the smallest places?

* Are craft stores attractive to you? Do you like to look at the many supplies and imagine how you might use them?

* Have you ever enjoyed doing a collage, overlapping photos and other materials to express a theme or idea?

* In school, would you have been likely to help decorate for the prom or other party?

* Do you love being creative, but are not really gifted in drawing, painting, or other similar arts?

If you answered a clear “yes” to the above five questions, you probably have the personality for scrapbooking.

Scrapbooking Tips #2 – Time

A beginner’s how-to of scrapbooking tips should include scrapbooking tips about time for scrapbooking. What amount of time does it take to create a scrapbook? Do you have that kind of time?

Actually, anyone has time for scrapbooking. It is a pastime that can be done gradually, over a period of days, weeks, or months. Fifteen minutes in a weekend might be enough to sort a few photos. A half hour on another day is enough for many people to complete a 2-page spread. The thing to remember is that you don’t have to do your scrapbook at one sitting. If you keep your supplies in one place, easily accessible, you can quickly get out what you need and make progress on your project.

Scrapbooking Tips #3 – Organization

Keeping supplies organized is a key scrapbooking tip. Organize papers, photos, scissors, adhesives, embellishments, and other supplies in containers. Organize the containers in a closet near your workplace. You will save a lot of time, and your finished scrapbook will come into being more quickly.

Scrapbooking Tips #4 – Yourself

The best scrapbooking tip is to put you into every step of it. Don’t visit a scrapbooking store, buy a simple kit, and throw together a quick scrapbook. That may be all right for children, but teenagers and adults should use put themselves into every scrapbooking effort. True, scrapbooking papers can be beautiful, but you can print out scrapbooking paper (acid-free, remember) that incorporates a collage of your personal ideas. The result will be scrapbooking pages that are like no other, right down to the background.

Conclusion

A beginner’s how-to of scrapbooking tips could fill an entire book. The few given here, however, can get you started.

Page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts and their activities were discussed in Parts 1 and 2 of this article. We discussed how to create page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts by following the Boy Scouts of America’s objectives. We considered:

• page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ character development
• page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ development of citizenship
• page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ personal fitness

We described specific page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts developing character. The same ideas are useful for scrapbooking boy scouts’ development of citizenship.

Personal Fitness

In this final article on the subject, we look at page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ personal fitness efforts. What goes into physical fitness? Seven components are included in the BSA Physical Fitness Award’s core requirements.

1. Posture: A perfect background for this page would be 12″ x 12″ paper wearing clipart of a wooden artist’s mannequin. Use any complementary color of paper. Arrange 3 or 4 photos showing improvement in posture. Add a note from the scout master.

2. Accuracy: Page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ personal fitness efforts should include a page showing mastery of this fitness activity. Background paper can be covered with circular targets. Use circular frames for photos, placing the scout in the bull’s eye.

3. Strength: Boy scouts work on physical strength, too. For a page celebrating progress, choose background paper that shows strength. It might be elephants, barbells, or a group of scouts exercising. Be sure the background pictures are faded so they will not distract.

4. Agility: Boy scouts measure agility by sidestepping alternately left and right between two lines 8 feet apart. Use lined paper for your background – even something as simple as yellow lined legal paper. Be sure the paper is acid-free so it does not harm your photos. Tear darker paper into jagged backgrounds for the photos. Each should be just a little larger than the photo it will frame. Write a note on the lines.

5. Speed: Any page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ personal fitness should have a page that records improvement in speed. Use background paper that suggests speed: a running cheetah, or a flying comet. Frames should have a feathered, comet’s tail look.

6. Balance: Balance beam and balance scale patterns are great page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ improvement in balance. A balance beam is not difficult to sketch, and you can readily place several sketchy beams on any color paper for a background. Use oval frames around your scout’s squat stand photos.

7. Endurance: The final physical fitness component can be improved by taking long bike rides or hikes. Background papers with long roads running into the distance are a good choice here. The background may even have a faded picture of hikers or bikers. A clever trick is to enlarge a photo of the scout engaged in an endurance activity. Make a faded copy on acid-free paper, and use it as background for the real photo.

These free page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts will get you started. Take time to think through each page. Consider what you want to commemorate. Focus on a single idea per page, and you will have a great scrapbook album.

Page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts and their activities were discussed in general in Part 1 of this article. We looked at the best way of gaining page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts - following the Boy Scouts of America’s objectives. We considered page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ character development. We looked at possible ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ development of citizenship and personal fitness.

In this segment, we will describe specific page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts developing character.

Page ideas for scrapbooking boy scouts’ character development should focus on a single character trait per page. Here are three ideas for scrapbooking that you can use. Place all of your elements before gluing. Use copies of photographs in all ideas for scrapbook pages.

Cooperation

Begin with 12″ x 12″ scrapbook paper that features a picture of mules. The picture should be light so it will not detract from photos. Mules, or donkeys, are notorious for being uncooperative, but your boy scouts will have overcome that, and this is one of several ideas for scrapbooking success.

* Select three photo frames about 5.5″ x 4.5″ in size.
* Place two vertically 0.5″ down from the top and 0.75″ from each side.
* Place the third horizontally, 2.25″ from left side and 5.25″ from the top. Then tilt the left side of the third frame down 12 or 13 degrees. Its top right corner should overlap the top right frame.
* Twist a length of 0.5″ ribbon and place it across the bottom of the page, 0.75″ from the bottom edge.
* Write the word “cooperation” in bold script on paper a lighter shade of the ribbon color. Cut out the word and place it diagonally, beginning 0.5″ from the lower left corner and ending along the bottom of the third frame.
* In each frame, place a photo showing boy scout cooperation.
* Finish your page ideas for scrapbooking cooperation by adding stickers of mules cooperating in pulling a load.
* Have boy scouts think of other ideas for scrapbooking cooperation.

Self-Control

Of many ideas for scrapbooking character, this one begins with selection of scrapbook paper in a color that complements your photos. Write the word “self-control” in various styles, colors, and sizes on your paper.

* Arrange two vertical frames on the left side of the page, touching one another, 0.5″ in from top and left edge, 1″ up from bottom edge.
* Place a third, smaller frame at the top right, 0.5″ from edges. Tilt the top right corner of this third frame 25 to 30 degrees to the right.
* Below the third frame, add a large sticker appropriate to ideas for scrapbooking self-control.
* Place photos showing self-control.
* Run a 0.5″ ribbon across the bottom, sliding a small buckle onto it.
* Add your journaling note in a circle or “talking balloon” placed in the blank part of your page.
* Create similar ideas for scrapbooking self-control.

Loyalty

Ideas for scrapbook pages on loyalty often feature blue. “True blue” is a common term used for a loyal person. Use deep marine blue for this page.

* Run a border of 1″ wide, marine blue, textured ribbon around your page, about 0.5″ from the edges.
* Along the left side, line up four slide frames in progressively lighter shades of blue, lightest at the top.
* In the horizontal center of the page, place a marine blue, vertical frame about 4.5″ from the top edge.
* Link a second frame to it by cutting through one side. This second frame should match your lightest slide frame in color. It should be about 1.25″ from the top edge, and 2″ from the right edge.
* Add embellishing tags to the two top slide frames.
* In each frame, place a photo showing loyalty.
* Write the word “loyalty” on light blue paper, cut it and place it across the top of the large, light blue frame.
* Beside the central frame, place a stickers or embellishments that depict loyalty ideas for scrapbooks.
* Add a journaling note at the bottom.
* Encourage boy scouts to brainstorm new ideas for scrapbooking loyalty.

Continued in the next article…