Crop Corner

I love the “Worth a Second Look” column in Creating Keepsakes. This time, they focused on how to scrapbook using 4×6 photos and still get an up-to-date scrapbook look.

I tend to print 95% of my photos as 4×6’s and then print enlargements of a (very) few key photos.

I love the then and now layouts featured here.

I think, more than showing how to incorporate 4×6 layouts, it shows how to evolve your style from a blocky beginner’s style into something more sophisticated.

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a village called West End. In the `70s the village was flooded to make way for a hyper space bypass........hang on, sorry, getting mixed up with some other far fetched stories. What really happened will unfold before your very eyes, right here. Welcome to the story about a group of intrepid photographers. The problems started early, when some of the regulars and a few of the newbies were unable to come, but that just meant all the more fun to go round for the rest of us.

This page features just one way that you can get creative with your punches. Using more elaborate punches, turn them upside down, sideways, double-punch the same design slightly offset, or even combine two punches. The key success is to simply play, experiment and have fun! Michele Gerbrandt uses one punch in a variety of ways -- by turning it upside down and all around! In this example, she uses a decorative punch to create the look of barbed wire -- the perfect complement to a page featuring your little cowgirl!

Indexing is a great way to locate photos in a hurry! Envelopes "empower" croppers to organize all materials needed to complete an entire page -- and it's an efficient way to carry limited supplies to the next crop! The key to making quick pages in a short amount of time is organization. Here, Jill Rinner shares organization tips that can make croppin' quicker, easier and more creative. To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.

This Summer Fun album cover takes it fun, festive look from sponge-painted brights ... Sandi Genovese creates handmade books with sponge-painted and rubber stamped covers. Click here for complete instructions for the featured project. Die-cuts/templates provided by Ellison Craft & Design. For more information about Ellison, see Resources.

This page features old recipes handed down from generation ... A box of family recipes was handed down from a mother to daughter, and again to a granddaughter. Wondering how the brittle old cards could be preserved as a family keepsake, Shelli Gardner decided to copy them and add them to a heritage scrapbook page. The recipes -- and the scrapbook pages created -- serve as a reminder of the warmth of family and good food. New Ideas for Crafting Heritage Albums: The Latest Tips and Techniques ... To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.

Creating a heritage album can be one of the most rewarding projects you'll ever do. You are crafting a treasury of family photos that will be pored over, studied, analyzed and cherished by future generations. With a little information and some page ideas, you'll be ready to get started on your own album! Many families have an "official" historian, the person in charge of keeping the family photos safe for future generations, but photos can often get lost in the shuffle of cross-country moves, divorces and other family changes. Gathering these photos and memorabilia in one place is the first step. Remember, color-copies of photos, yes, even for black-and-white photos, work well if relatives are unwilling to part with the originals.

It is an exciting new innovative personal electronic cutter which will allow you to chirp your way into fabulous paper crafting projects. How does the machine work and what size images can it cut? It is portable and easy to tote. cricut will fit beautifully in your crafting space. Weighing a feather light 12 pounds, including the power adapter you can carry it with you anywhere. It will easily cut 11 different sizes ranging from a tiny intricate 1-inch to 5 ½-inch. Titles and borders can be cut as large as an impressive 11 ½ inches long making your image a beautiful fit to your 12-inch x 12-inch paper.

First learn the rules - then decide when to break them.

Rule:
If you have a busy photograph, with a lot of colors - don’t use busy background papers.

A great example of breaking the rule:

Spin by dmogs - Scrapbook Gallery - A Cherry on Top
This is just a wonderful layout!

It’s all too easy to get caught up in idea books and the latest fads with scrapbooking. It was refreshing to see an article about the joy of scrapbooking based on just the joy of sharing pictures. (The article is from the A Cherry on Top website.)

I think back to all of the gift albums I’ve made over the years, and no matter how simply I think I’m starting out, the projects always seem to expand.

It’s nice to be reminded that sometimes it is just about sharing the pictures…