Scrapbooking Baby

When it comes to that delightful news that you are pregnant, about the first real view you get of your gorgeous new baby, are the ultrasound pictures.  They are usually very special and very important to you so it makes perfect sense to start your scrapbooking baby album off with the ultrasound pictures.  Not forgetting that some parents like to also include things like a photo of the pregnancy test which first confirmed the happy news, so this may in fact be the first layout in your album, but the ultrasound pictures are definitely a must have in your scrapbooking baby album.

Now it depends on your doctor as to how many scans you have throughout the duration of your pregnancy, but most commonly it around the 12 and 20 week mark.  Your first scan you are full of anticipation and fear, you want to know your baby is okay, and the 20 week scan is an exciting time to see how much your baby has grown and if you want to know the gender of your baby, this can often be looked at on this scan.  Whether you decide to use both the 12 and 20 week ultrasounds in your scrapbooking baby album is up to you, some parents only put the 20 week pictures in as they show so much more of the baby.

If you don’t know the gender of the baby, then choose mutual colors that would fit with both a baby boy or a baby girl, you may even add some quotes questioning whether the baby is a boy or girl.  On the other hand if you do know the gender, feel free to do a very blue or very pink layout to reflect what you know.  Most ultrasound pictures are black and white, (unless you are lucky enough to have a new 4D scan pictures) so you can easily pick any color to suit the images.  Quite often many members of your family and even your friends will want to look at these pictures before your baby is born, so having them safely mounted in your scrapbooking baby album can really help to preserve them when many hands and fingers will be touching them.

Another idea is to add some notes from your pregnancy journal to the layout.  If you only have one or two pictures and there is a lot of room left over on the page, you can combine the ultrasound pictures with some of your baby journal notes to help fill the page and it adds a story to the pictures, has it been an easy pregnancy so far, any complications, fears, dreams, hopes.  It can all be added quite nicely and it can really make an ultrasound page complete especially when you don’t have many pictures.

Whichever way you choose to create your baby’s ultrasound pictures layout, I am sure it will turn out beautifully, just make sure you put them into your scrapbooking baby album as they really are such an important part that you don’t want to leave out.  They are the things you look back on and treasure, and so will your baby in the years to come.

Many thanks to Wes and Eli for the ultrasound layout image above.

One of the most beautiful scrapbooking baby layouts that I don’t see too often that actually works well for any age subject is scrapbooking the meaning of someones name.  I have seen some wonderful layouts done like this and it is a really good idea for a baby album and something I would feature early on in the album.

Whether it be the traditional meaning of your baby’s name and/or the reasons as to why you gave them that name.  Was it a family name, was it out of respect for a family member, or was it a special place where you have been that holds a special memory for you or perhaps it was just a special name that fitted with your special baby.

Did you have the name picked already before your baby was born, or was it one of those names that you waiting for your baby’s birth and then chose a name that suited their personality?

Personally myself I have the name picked, one for a girl and one for a boy, and either way, once baby is born, I know what their name is going to be from the moment they are born.  But lately I have seen a surge in people waiting until the baby is born and then choosing a name, it can take weeks, but the parents feel the name suits the baby better if they get to know the baby first.

There is no right or wrong way, but recording in their scrapbooking baby album how, why and when your baby got its name is a beautiful thing to do.

I just think it’s a wonderful idea.  In years to come when your child grows into an adult and looks back at their scrapbooking baby album one day, they are going to read all the things you have written in there, all the journaling all the little comments and notes you have added and I can guarantee they will be smiling the whole time.

They will love reading about how they got their name, what its meaning is to you and why you picked that name.

Many thanks to Ana C from Flickr for the beautiful scrapbook layout of Laura, thank you.

Hi everyone, so I have a question for you all. What is the one simple thing you just can’t live without in your scrapbooking baby tools collection?  Okay so keep it simple and don’t go saying your Cricut or Sizzix machines, lol.  Think back to the basics and the important stuff you needed early on in your scrapbooking hobby.

Now for me there are actually two things that I still to this day just can’t live without and if anyone runs away with them in my house I get most upset about.  They are both made by Fiskars, any ideas yet?

Yes my scissors and my paper trimmer.  I think I may have actually nearly worn my paper trimmer out but it is still going strong for now and the scissors are still fantastic.  How many mats do you cut, how many photos do you trim or crop, and getting the perfectly square edge each time and having things line up properly.  Nothing makes this more simple and easy than a good paper trimmer.  Now just because mine is Fiskars, does not mean that you need to choose this brand, I brought mine a long, long time ago, and the choices back then, were a little limiting to say the least.

However, would I buy another Fiskars trimmer when this one finally wears out, yes without any hesitation, the replacement blades are quite cheap and so easy to replace.

Now as for my scissors, I was looking for a good pair for a friend of mine just the other day and I would still have to say the best ones I found were indeed Fiskars.  Now you might be starting to think I have some secret deal with them, well no I don’t, but I am not afraid to tell you how it is, and if I didn’t like them, I would be telling you.  I like a product that works for me, the way I want it to work and as smoothly and simply as possible, I have enough complicating things in my life without having the read the manual on a new scrapbooking tool ten times before I can use it.

So what is it I like about the Fiskars scissors?  Well first of all it’s not just any ol’ pair of Fiskars scissors, but the spring loaded ones that I love.  I cannot tell you how tired your hands get from constantly manually opening and closing scissors when you are trimming something fine, like a photo or some lettering.  You may be using those scissors for an hour sometimes, and boy do your hands start to cramp and hurt, and then sometime you snip too far and ruin what you have spent so much time on.

Well this does not happen when you use the little spring loaded scissors.  The spring holds the scissors open, so be careful to have the safety latch engaged when they are not in use, as these scissors are so sharp they could cause a nasty injury.  So by the spring holding the scissors open, the only effort needed is the action of closing or squeezing them, and then they push back open again, so it’s half the effort and as a result I really do feel you get more control over what you are working on.

So personally for me when it come to scrapbooking tools these are the two things I just can’t live without, and are probably the first tools I invested in and I must say I am still very happy with them to this day.  One final tip when it comes to trimming delicate items like photos and letters with your scissors is never move the hand that is holding the scissors.  Do not maneuver the scissors around the edge of the object, but instead turn the object around the scissors.  By this I mean, hold the scissors still and if you are cutting around an “o” turn keep turning the “o” but hold the scissors totally still, try it, you will be amazed how much neater the results will be.

Until next time… happy scrappin

LO: Baby Mini Book on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Hi everyone, time to tackle another one of those common questions I get asked all the time, which is….what should I put on the cover of my Baby Scrapbook?  Well there is no right or wrong answer, like everything that goes into your scrapbooking, you have the choice to do it however you like, there are no set rules.

Some people like to create their own albums and design it all, the actual size of the album, the way it displays, (opens out in folds or turns like normal pages), some people like to pre-make the pages so it’s just a just of adding the photos, they design the cover, the possibilities are endless really.

However, if you are like me and really don’t have too much time to make things from scratch, it may be a lot easier and far more practical to just buy your album and save your creativity for your layouts inside the album.  I have made a few from scratch, but now days I just really don’t have the time.

When it comes to baby scrapbook albums, there are some beautiful albums readily available to compliment both baby girls and baby boys.  You can choose one that is more traditional and plain, or go for some of the newer and more interactive album that’s allow you to capture an impression of your baby’s hand or foot print.

I think these albums are really quite special, as there is something special about picking up that precious baby scrapbook years later and seeing that plaster imprint of your baby’s hand or foot.  It really gives you that sense of size, how tiny they were, photos are wonderful, but things like ink foot prints or plaster foot prints really remind and show you just how sweet and tiny they were.

But again there are just so many to choose from, so don’t go feeling overwhelmed, you can choose to go for a simple plain covered album, it is however only the album, the magic is inside, or you can choose to go with a specific baby themed album so that the album stands out and is never mistaken as one of your other scrapbooking albums, that is the joy of scrapbooking, the choice is yours.

Happy scrappin and talk to you soon.

When it comes to your baby scrapbook, you want to include lots of memorable things, and I like to add things that show a real size comparison too.  And well lets think about it, when you think of babies, you think of cute, cuddly, soft and sweet things.  So apart from your gorgeous baby, what else is soft, cute and cuddly?  Teddy bears!

Most babies end up with lots of teddy bears and other soft cuddly toys that can’t hurt them and creating a layout with some of these toys in it, can turn out to be a wonderful thing.  So I am using this example of a layout I did with my little girl, and no we don’t own the teddy bear, he was huge, but boy he was so soft and cute, I couldn’t resist quickly sitting my girl there and taking some quick snaps of her with that huge teddy towering over her.

Now this scrapbooking baby layout is not completed yet, (still looks very plain, it needs a title, embellishments, and some journaling) but I wanted to show you what is possible, she was mesmerized by the huge teddy and she was laughing and smiling so what scrapbooking parent could resist?  This was actually taken at one of our baby nursery stores, and the teddy was part of a display, but I’m sure lots of kids had played with him because he was just so cute.

So I got some snaps of the teddy and her, plus some just of her giggling and smiling about the whole situation, and then with two of the images I ever so carefully cut all of the background out with my Fiskars scissors.  Now you can not tell from the photo of the layout, but i have actually lifted the two bottom images off the page in a 3D fashion and I will include the instructions as to how I did that should you want to give it a try.

One particular bit of advice, that really goes for all scrapbooking, is you really do need a good quality pair of fine precision scissors for these tasks.  I brought mine many years ago and I can not live without them, they make things so much easier and you will see the difference if you do tend to crop images by hand as I have done in a lot of my layouts.  In fact the next post I might dedicate to the benefits of having a great pair of scissors just for scrapbooking, it really is that important.

So here are the steps I took to create the 3D Scrapbooking Baby Technique:
I traced the shape of the two cropped photos onto the background cardstock with pencil
Next using my sharp fine scissors I cut this shape out leaving two holes the same shape as my cropped photos
Next I used two pieces of the blue cardstock and glued them to the back of the background cardstock covering the holes
Next I turned the cardstock right way up again, and chalked the edges of the cream background cardstock with a light brownish chalk to create a shadow effect
Next using foam squares I stuck the photos onto of the blue cardstock.

So when you see the layout in person the two bottom images are in fact off the page and the blue behind them and the chalked edges around them all gives it quite a 3D look and brings those two photos to life.  This again is just a simple layout you can also create in your scrapbooking baby album, I have another one quite similar of her playing with toys in her cot, and again the results are really quite wonderful.

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Many thanks to all my wonderful readers and until next time, Happy Scrapping!

A few people have been asking me for some ideas for either scrapbooking baby layout ideas or for ideas on specific photos to take of their baby’s to capture specific memories. For me these ideas flow freely but I am also aware that sometimes we all get some form of mental block and end up at a loss for what to do. So I thought I would put this post together to give you all an idea that you may not have thought of.

One of my favorite layouts for newborn babies would have to be their hands and feet. They are just so tiny and sweet, so little, so perfect! But here you go, a big tip is don’t just click away taking photos of hands and feet, you need to plan the photo a little bit. For example, have you ever taken a photo something that was amazing large or small and later looked at the photo and found that the photo really didn’t do it any justice? Perhaps a really big butterfly and later in the photo it just looks like any other normal sized butterfly. Well that is what I mean, it takes a little bit of planning.

So when you take a photo of your baby’s hands or feet, make sure you also capture another object in the photo that gives a true impression of the size of your bay’s dainty sweet little feet or hands. You can use anything at all, you might choose to use your own hand or foot as a comparison or even a ruler to show the exact size. I do have a personal favorite when taking these kinds of photos and that is to use your wedding ring. Or if you do not have a wedding ring, any other ring you commonly wear.

I think it makes such a sweet photo, your wedding ring or rings hanging on baby’s big toe or around their thumb, it gives a true picture of how tiny their little feet or hands are, and it symbolizes your love by using your wedding ring. And then when you actually use this photo in your scrapbooking baby album, keep the layout clean and simple, don’t use too many photos, in fact I like to only use the one photo on the page and make that photo the center of attention. You could do a double page layout and have the feet on one side and the hands on the other side. Trust me on this one, it makes for the most adorable layout.

Give it a try and keep watching out for more ideas and tips in the coming weeks, happy scrapping.

Thanks to Amy from Flickr for the wonderful photo, simply stunning.

Hi everyone and welcome back. So today I am going to give you some of my own pros and cons between the two different types of albums I told you about the other day, Strap Hinge Albums and the Top Loading Post Bound Albums.

So which one should you use? Well that mainly comes down to your own personal preference. Personally I use the later, the post bound ones, but I do have one strap hinge album that I do quite like.

The thing I like about the post bound albums is that the pages are always protected, so I am not worried when people look through them, especially kids who can often have sticky fingers. But then again, being top loading, the pages can have a tendency to ride up or slip out of the top at times too, especially if the album is carried up the wrong way. However, this can easily be solved by using a piece of photo safe tape on the top of the pocket to prevent the pages moving upwards, so not a big drama there.

Strap Hinge albums usually do not come with the page protectors, so it would probably be something you would look into buying at the same time. There is nothing worse than seeing your precious memories destroyed or damaged, whether that be by fingerprints, or physical damage caused from the opposite page. Sometimes the embellishments you use to decorate one page can in fact damage the photos on the other page when the album is closed, so as far as I’m concerned, page protectors are a must have.

Another big thing I like about the post bound albums is the ease of use especially when it comes to re-arranging the order of your layouts. Now you may not think you would want to re-arrange the order of your layouts, but I have been caught out by this many times. I complete an album or get half way through and realise the layout I am working on should be back in the album further. Well with post bound albums that is no problem, just slide the layouts out, and move them forward a pocket or two to fit the missing layout back in, therefore keeping the album in order. I create every layout on its own background or cardstock, so every layout can be moved without any problems.

With strap hinge pages, you use the front of the page for one layout and the back of the page for another layout. For example, I nearly always do a double page spread for each layout, so the first layout might be baby sleeping peacefully, then when you turn the page, the next layout might be baby playing in the cot. So that means the first page of baby playing in the cot, will be in fact designed and glued to the back of the second page of the baby sleeping layout, so as far as I know, there is no easy way to re-arrange the order of a strap hinge album. So if you do intend to use a strap hinge album, make sure you get the order right before you start.

Another thing too, is that should a page happen to be accidently torn out of a strap hinge album, then it is quite difficult to fix it up whereas with the post bound ones, you just put in a new pocket and slide the layout back into it. Just something else to consider.

One particular aspect of the strap hinge albums that appeals to me is, sometimes they look neater, as in the pages cannot flop around or shift around as each page itself is strapped in, whereas the post bound pages do tend to move around in their pockets a bit. Another thing I really like about the strap hinge albums is the ability to make great looking pop-up pages, (but then you can’t use page protectors on that layout). I have seen some really great pop up pages in strap hinge albums, but they must be handled gently and with respect, as all albums should be handled but often aren’t.

So basically I think they are the main ones to consider, and of course there is nothing wrong with using both styles. I have a lovely 6 x 4 inch strap hinge album that I used to make my daughter an ABC book, and I think it’s great. One other thing to consider, depending on where you buy your albums, is that I usually find the strap hinge ones work out to be a little more expensive by the time you allow for the protectors. Ok so I think I have outlined the biggest pros and cons with these two types of albums, feel free to add more in the comments section, all contributions are greatly appreciated. Next time will we be discussing getting started in our albums with the first layouts for our scrapbooking baby albums.