If you want to help your child preserve his or her memories from school, there is probably no better way than with a school scrapbook album. You can save their mementos, photos and examples of their school work in a beautiful and personal album. Consider these hints and tips on how to create some stunning school scrapbooking pages.
Be Selective With What You Preserve
There is no limit to what you can keep in a scrapbook, but don't make the mistake of thinking that you should keep everything either. Every report card, every good test, all of these things can be exhaustive. So when assembling your school scrapbooking pages, be selective and choose the items that have the most importance to you and your child.
You may want remember your child's large pieces of art work or science projects. One way to do this on school scrapbooking pages is to take a photo of your child with the project. You also can scan large art projects into your computer. Then use a software program to size the picture and print out a copy for your school album.
School Scrapbooking Pages Start With the Focal Point
The focal point of any school scrapbooking page can be a photo or anything else that you consider a memento or keepsake. For example, the sheet music from your child's recital or the program from the play they were in can also be good focal points. Of course it's a good idea to add photos from these events as well, but sometimes photos can be used as accents or embellishments rather than only as the focal point.
Give the School Album a Unifying Theme
One good idea for school scrapbooking pages is to incorporate a theme or common element on each page. This ties all of the pages together. It may be the school colors or the school mascot. For example, if the school colors were navy blue and white, you can use these as the major colors for each of your school scrapbooking pages. Or maybe you can use the school mascot or animal that the teams were named after as one type of embellishment on each page. For example, if the school team was the Lions, then you could have a lion of one type or another on each page.
Interview Your Child Each Year
Your child's feelings and memories are an important part of a school album. You aren't likely to get much information from your child about his or her memories of first grade unless you ask specific questions. Create a questionnaire for your child to note his best friend, favorite subject, best memory of first grade, favorite lunch, most memorable field trip or any other questions you want to put into the scrapbook album. Be sure to ask these questions every year while the memories are fresh in your child's mind.
Get the Kids Involved
Your kids may not be as enthused as you are about their school scrapbooking pages, but it is a good idea to at least make them feel as if their feedback is welcome. Have them pick and choose what items are important to them and that they want included. They may not spend their weekends with you actually putting together those school scrapbooking pages, but at least you know they have made themselves a part of it in some way.
Pre Made Scrapbooking Pages
Your handwriting may not be as neat as a printed journaling block from a computer. Yet, your families will find it so much more meaningful and personal than anything typed.
Why don't we use our own handwriting on our scrapbooking pages more often? We all have different reasons. You might be concerned with how messy your handwriting is or that others may not be able to read it. Remember those recipes written by a grandparent or handwritten letters from a loved one? Those are more meaningful to you now because they are personal and unique. Your family will feel the same way about your handwriting in your scrapbooks.
Are you worried that you will make a permanent mistake with your journaling? Handwriting errors aren't difficult to correct. Try using a paper journaling block first. You can use a second one if you mess up the first. If you've already attached it to the page, just glue another one over it. Use other page elements to cover your errors. Stickers are a simple way to cover a handwriting mistake.
The right pen makes a big difference when it comes to handwriting success. Look carefully at the paper you are using, and choose the best pen for that type of surface. Many pens will smear or run on certain types of papers. Choose a pen with the appropriate width as well. Trying to write in a small space with a wide tip will be a definite handwriting challenge.
Practice, practice, practice. Write out the journaling first on a scrap piece of paper. Read it over slowly out loud. This will help you spot errors in spelling and grammar. For longer narrative writing, you may want to have someone else proofread it for you before you place it on your page. Be sure to test the pen on a small piece of the paper you want to use. Writing a draft will let you know how much room you need to write on as well.
Do you write on a slant or uphill? Many of us find it difficult to write straight on a blank paper. Try using lined journaling blocks. These are available in your local scrapbooking stores or you can make them yourself with lined stamps or with a ruler and pen. Try using the natural lines on your patterned papers. Write with the stripes on your paper as your guide. Frames can be accented by printing along the edges. You can even writes along the boundaries of your page borders.
Handwriting is uniquely personal. It's also a form of validation, like our signature. A page layout with handwritten journaling adds character to a scrapbook album. It's a glimpse into who you are. Your family will treasure your scrapbook pages even more, because it tells them about your personality and even reflects your mood. A computer font can't add the depth and emotion to your words that your handwriting can.