Scrapbooking Scoop, ep. 1

This month I’m celebrating two years as a guest contributor at Between the Bookends! Hooray! As you know, this is a lovely blog all about books. When the owner, Paula, invited me to write, she wanted the offerings here to include personalized books and scrapbooks, and because I’m passionate about all of the above, it has been my pleasure to share some ideas and inspiration about extra special books: personalized DIY books and scrapbooks.

Over the last two years, I’ve written about journaling in photo-memory books and scrapbooks, the mental health benefits of scrapbooking, and even how to create your own personalized cookbook (which makes an amazing gift, by the way)!

So far, I have usually written about personalized DIY books in general, including easy (high-quality!) templates, so it feels like it’s time to sprinkle a new series into the mix: Scrapbooking Scoop. Each one will be short and include:

• a scrapbooking tip (for whatever type of scrapbooking, photo books, or memory-keeping you do)
• a video tutorial showing you something fun you can do when you scrapbook digitally
• highlighting a digital art collection I’m loving right now.

Each time, I’ll include links that will give you more information on each thing, so click away!

I’m just here once a month, so it won’t be a regular series, but now and again I’ll give you the Scoop, which I hope will be both fun and inspirational.

Today’s Scrapbooking Tip

I heard some great memory-keeping advice recently: Done is better than perfect.

When we’re preserving photos and memories in pages, it can be easy to get consumed with making sure everything is straight or well-worded or in beautiful lighting.

Life isn’t always straight or well-worded or beautifully-lit. Our photos often just capture life as it is, and our memories are always from our own perspective in our own words.

And that is exactly how it should be. Be real. Be you.

When you look back at your books, you’ll get all the personal (mental and emotional) benefits of memory-keeping. If you can’t even recognize yourself in what you wrote, what’s the point? Be yourself. Write like you talk. Don’t spend extra time on perfection. It’s so hard to reach! Just focus on being real and having a completed project, something to show for your investment of your time and your heart.

Today’s Video Tutorial

I make short video tutorials about fun things you can do with the digital scrapbooking program I met and fell in love with in 2021, Artisan.

This 6-minute video shows you a fun thing you can do on a page: “cutting” a digital “paper” for fun effects! See what you think:

What was your favorite style?

Here’s a page I used the “cutting” feature on–I think it’s so fun:

A Digital Art Collection I’m Loving Today

This is going to be the hardest part of this Scrapbook Scoop series! 😉 I have so much digital art I love, and I’m always finding something new with the gorgeous new kits added all the time to the Digital Art Library.

Today, I’m going to choose a throwback–I bought this digital art kit about a year ago. It’s called Monthly Memories Layered Template Pack No. 05. There’s a series, but this is the May one. (So, happy May!)

Although a lot of the digital art collections I like just contain papers and embellishments so I can create my own pages, this is an editable template, something pre-designed that I can change as needed.

I love these pages for a smattering of photos that aren’t necessarily related (like Christmas or a graduation or a day at the beach would be). Photos here might just be random things throughout the month.

And sometimes, that’s exactly what I need. 🙂 And I think these designs are lovely.

Thanks for stopping by Scrapbook Scoop, ep. 1! I hope you’ll take away some inspiration and ideas, and I hope you’ll share them, too–the image at the top of this post is Pinnable! 🙂 Happy memory-making!