How to transform treasured photos into scrap-booking masterpieces.

Our guest blogger is the very talented Kittysmum who is an ex-illustrator and Graphic Designer, living in Cheshire, England. She describes herself as “a scrap-booker, Methodist, camper, writer, simple living enthusiast and mom” – though, not necessarily in that order.

What is scrap-booking?

I have a bit of a guilty secret. You see, I’m a scrap-booker who’s all about the scrap: I can’t be doing with spending money on fancy stickers to frame a print.

Scrap-booking needn’t be extravagant, you can make embellishments from cereal boxes and print everyday snaps taken on your phone.

In scrap-booking, beautiful, interesting pictures – ones that tell a story and are a bit of eye-candy to look at – are like the bricks and mortar of your scrap-booking house. Try starting a layout with a dud and you’ll see what I mean.

Exercise Creative Freedom

The thing I love about scrap-booking is that there’s no right or wrong way to do it: it’s your time to be creative in whatever way you choose. Want to layer it all up on a panel of cardboard? Go right ahead. Fancy stamping all over your paper in paint-covered boots to make an interesting background? Knock yourself out. It’s like playtime and you get to choose the game every time. You might look at that picture of your kid drinking a strawberry milkshake and think: ‘Sugary – the layout needs to look sugary’. That’s your starting point, right there. You then notice coral on her t-shirt and the pink in her milk and dig into your box of collected bits and bobs to pull out things that somehow make you think of pink milk and children’s parties.

Cost-Effective Fun

And scrap-booking really doesn’t need to be an expensive hobby as there are next to no limits to what you can make instead of buy: flowers, bunting, little flags, heart shapes, frames… a few scraps of wrapping paper and a glue stick and you’re off to the races!

For me, the joy of scrap-booking is in the process and that sense of losing all track of time because you’re just having too much fun; of course, it’s also a brilliant way of recording your family’s story. When she’s fifteen, I think I’ll really enjoy telling my daughter’s boyfriend that when she was five she would put bath foam on her face and pretend to be Santa Claus.

There’s something restorative in scrap-booking, too. I struggled as a first-time mom and found the whole thing pretty much completely overwhelming. But I look back now on layouts that feature that smiling baby and I can’t help but feel good about the past. Yeah, it was tough, but I’m also forced to remember the better times and that’s incredibly valuable.

So much therapeutic value can come from so few things: a few oddments of paper, some pretty buttons and a simple wallet of photos. An unassuming little package that comes plopping innocently through the mailbox one day only to release untold joy and a floor-glittering torrent of messy experiments and crazy ideas. Creativity fodder in matte finish. Your Snapfish scrap-booking photo prints or custom photo book!

Snapfish design layouts for scrap-booking excellence

We wish we had half the skills that Kittysmum does – if you are like us, then perhaps one of the Snapfish photo book layouts might help bridge that gap. You could even photograph your scrap-booking creations and include in a personalized product such as a canvas wall print.

Scrap-book-style Snapfish tools for you

With dozens of different fonts, themed embellishments and icons available, you can retain the authentic feel of a traditional scrap-book, but give it a modern-yet-handmade look.

For example, with city names, stamps, famous landmarks, travel quotes and sayings, you’ll have everything at your fingertips to make a truly stunning, scrap-book-style Travel Photo Book.

Using a collage layout, you can reminisce and remember the sights, sounds and smells of your family adventures on a single page. Instead of grouping photos of you, your friends and family, consider marrying your memories with some scenic snaps of your surroundings. Not only does this style of layout look the part, it’ll add a level of context (and envy!) for anyone having a browse of your photo book over a coffee and some cake at your place.

Collages are a great way of displaying multiple photos together in a single-page layout. They’re also brilliant for photographic storytelling. Think about grouping images together separate collage layouts – possibly chronologically – to tell your photo tale from start-to-finish.

Choose a gloss finish to truly bring your photos to life and make those brighter colors really pop on the page.

Whichever layout you choose, we know you’ll end up putting together something guaranteed to warm your heart and lift your spirits for years to come… Your inspiration and ‘scraps’ may come from many different sources but your book will be 100% YOU.

Feeling inspired to create your own scrap-book creations? We love seeing what you make, so be sure to share your photos with us on social media! You can tag us using @snapfishus on Instagram or Facebook with photos or use the hashtag #snapfish. Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Pinterest too!

Post originally posted on Truprint, which is part of Snapfish