Crop Corner

The first day of school is just around the corner (thank goodness!) and that means that it will soon be time to scrapbook those "back to school" photos. This collection of resources will inspire you to create beautiful school scrapbook pages filled with memories that are certain to outlast your child's school career. Whether you are looking for photo tips, paper piecing ideas, or where to buy the newest school days scrapbooking idea book, this list is a great place to start! Because the first day of school can create anxiety for both students and parents, Ron Nichols, author of Picture-Taking for Moms and Dads, (Amherst Media) shares some tips for creating cherished keepsakes on film without creating unnecessary stress.

Your purchase from Amazon.Com supports our online community! page kits for organized scrapbooking I admit it, I am a VERY productive scrapper. I get pages done. And cute ones too. I journal, I embellish, I add handmade doodads as well as store-bought. I honestly can say that after 13 years of scrapping, I make great scrapbooks. And I do them fast. Need a two-page layout design in 45 minutes or an album in a week? No problem. I get asked all the time HOW I do it? I will share with you my straightforward and simple process. If you can master this, you can get a LOT more done in your limited scrapbooking time. I can get up to 160 kits packed in a weekend and later get up to a hundred pages assembled in a week. And I do it consistently, incorporating the cutest and newest materials and accents. But you dont want to hear me brag. You want to know HOW to do this for yourself.

They grow up so fast! Preserve the tenderness of your family's youngest members with these scrapbook page designs.

It's a party favor - to go! What a simple and original way to mark an informal occasion with creativity!

Wouldn't it be cool to show off photographs of your infants at similar stages of developmentall neatly arranged side-by-side in an album? Leigh Penner's done it. You saw a few pages in our "My Favorite Album" column in May/June '06. Here's the rest of her too-cool album. By mixing and matching stamp images and ink formulations, you can achieve just about any look you liketry it digitally. Spring and summer, with their wealth of festive celebrations, are especially important times for marking milestones.

It's not what your family does together that's important, it's the special time you spend together and the memories you create with each other-memories that you'll want to preserve long past the terrible two's, the teen traumas and all the other joys you'll experience as your family grows up. This sleek, simple layout pays tribute to that all-important family time, and ensures that you'll always remember the details of life as you know it in your own family. LeNae chose a sweet pink paper from Paper Pizazz's® Busy Scrapper's Solution Girls: Baby & Toddler Papers for the background of this layout, then added a large piece of pink textured paper across the middle to break up the allover pattern. She enlarged a photo to 5"x7" to create a striking focal point on the page, then created a short journaling block to tell the story behind the photo, accenting it with alphabet tiles and artwork from the paper collection. Finally, LeNae embellished the layout with coordinating pink buttons, mini brads, ribbon and silk flowers from the Retro Embellish-abilities(TM) kit.

Want to put your scrapbooking tools, papers, embellishments and newfound skills to work on another fun paper craft? I started scrapbooking first, then quickly became a card maker too. Why? Well, it's a natural way to for me to use my scrapbooking supplies on something other than making albums. Card making is a great way to be creative with a smaller, less time-consuming project. While a scrapbook can take weeks or months to finish, you can make a handmade card in as little as ten minutes. Maybe you just used a quarter of that great 12"x12" sheet of patterned paper on your scrapbook page. Save your paper scraps in a "scrap drawer" so you can use them on a card. Or maybe you bought a really cool sheet of paper that you just don't have photos for. You can get at least two cards--possibly three--from that sheet of paper!

Marvy markers, Zig® Writers and Pentel Gel Rollers work the best for journaling on vellum. Freehand journal on vellum, or take advantage of vellums transparency and trace your journaling right on top! You can also try some special effects; for example, color with chalk, markers or colored pencils on the reverse side of a sheet of vellum. Chalks and colored pencils will give a soft, muted look, while markers can produce a stained-glass effect. And remember: Have patience with ink! Let the journaled piece dry for a few minutes before working with it.

Beth Proudfoot's May/June 2006 feature explores the ways in which we feel a connection to others, and how those connections offer perfect reasons for making scrapbook pages. Here are two more layouts, documenting a love for a shared passion, that we think you'll find interesting. Candice comes from a family of explorers. Her grandparents made it their goal "to see the world," traveling everywhere from Taipei to Jerusalem. Candices mother carried on the tradition. When Candice was nine, her parents packed the family in the Volkswagen bus, grandparents included, and drove from Arizona to Nova Scotia, visiting 32 states along the way! To celebrate this family obsession, Candice made a simple layout showcasing individual photos of herself, her mother and her grandmother, in varying locations abroad.

Working in an empty new document, create the shape you want to use for your stamp. Add words with the Text tool; use the Brush and Pencil tools to sketch freehand shapes; copy and paste sections of other images into your design. If you're turning a photo into a stamp, try changing the photo to black and white using the Enhance>Adjust Color>Remove Color function. The apply the Filter>Artistic Cutout tool, adjusting the settings to achieve the level of detail you want. Finally, copy and paste the adjusted photo into the tile where you're creating your brush. Be sure not to save any changes to the original photo!