Scrapbooking. One day, a cylindrical tube on the side of a wall in a futuristic house rumbles – then it opens and out steps a young girl, around 12.

She’s just materialised from thin air. The girl walks to the old lady sitting by a silver sofa – one that hums slightly as it intelligently adjusts the contours of its form to accommodate the woman.

“Dear! What a wonderful surprise!”

“Hi Gran! I just teleported in to ask about your great grandmother. You told me you had some books? I don’t know why you couldn’t just text them to me.”

“You can’t text these books, dear!”

Then the girl’s grandmother goes to a wall and says, “open”, and it does partially. She reaches inside and pulls out a box.

“Here. All my great grandmother’s things. Her life, her loves, her adventures, her story… it’s all here.”

That box… is your box. You made it, two centuries ago. And this gift for a generation far flung in the future is lasting tribute to your existence here on earth.

Scrapbooking is about more than just keeping your memories.

Scrapbooking is a glimpse into a person’s particular experience of the world. Their personality, their loves, their hates, their sense of humour. Scrapbooking is an opportunity for creative expression. And it is a labour of love. It is a creation that shows your individuality and it is an art and craft that is deeply satisfying.

It’s about keeping them for future generations.

As seen in our intro, it also isn’t just about you. It becomes a piece of you, a glimpse at your soul that will continue long after you’re gone. A scrapbook is a time capsule of events, thoughts, experiences, and, well, your life.

There’s never a better time to get going than the present. There’s always something going on in your life. Perhaps you’ve just had a wedding, or you had a girls’ weekend, or you just want to capture your day-to-day existence and give insight into your psyche as you go about being human.

So, what do you need to get started?

Well:

1. Card stock. This is your most essential element, because it is the metaphorical canvas you will be using to house your scrapbooking items.

• Patterned scrap paper. Decorative and in any style you like.

• You’ll want craft knives, a cutting board, and a pair of scissors (which beats paper, but loses to rocks).

• Decorative elements, which are also known as scrapbooking embellishments. The below are just examples, but can range from anything, up to and including stickers and felt patchworks.

• Adhesives like glues and special scrapbooking tapes.

• Photos (Instax cameras are great for this sort of thing).

• Bindings and albums. That’s for the cards to go into and is what makes the scrapbook whole. You can decorate the cover just as you’ve decorated the cards that reside in it. Alternatively, you can use a box with binders, etc. You have the freedom to choose how the final creation will be presented… how it will be kept.

Where to get them.

And you can get most of these items from us! (We don’t typically stock cameras or film, but for everything else…).

You can build your card (or book) around a theme. So, for instance, if you’re scrapbooking your wedding day, you could purchase certain items to go into the decorations of a page. Such as red ribbons, felt cut-outs of swans along little waves of paper water, or even a praying mantis with eye lashes if you have a particularly wicked sense of humour!  

Things you can do…

It can be a travelogue, where it is made up of mementos of your travel. Such as train and plane ticket stubs, theatre tickets, a few Instax pictures of places you’ve been to, and stickers from novelty shops at tourist attractions. There’s always a shop, always.

Embellishments are what add to the charm of scrapbooking.

You can even make your own using the basic items we’ve suggested you started with. Designing your own floral decorations, for instance, as seen below:

Then you add the elements together, on top of the cutting board, onto the card you’re building up.

You could end up with something spectacular. We have found some fantastic scrapbooking styles that could inspire you.

Inspirational scrapbooking styles:

By Amy Tangerine

Amy Tangerine provide insight into her current thinking and showcases her personality at the same time with this delightful piece.

By Studio Calico

Studio Calico is one of our favourite scrapbooking sites. They’ve got awesome stuff. This particular card is a sweet, effective, and visceral way of showing a family’s journey experience.

By Kelly Purkey

Here’s a way to tell your story with the minimal amount of words. Scrapbooking like this is easy for beginners and those who prefer to simplify things. Though the use of a card and printed words applied on it make a big difference to the usual photo album – marking it as a more effective way to your story. Additionally, the date stamp on the card is an available item in our stationery section at our PNAs.

By American Craft Studios

Here is a card that has a picture as its central focal point and then builds around it to tell the story. It is a great example of decorative embellishments in the scrapbooking process.

Ready, set, go!

Well, there you go! You now know everything to start scrapbooking! Enjoy turning your life into art through a wonderfully fulfilling craft. Who knows? One day, two hundred years from now, your great-great-great-granddaughter may be reading your scrapbook to learn about your life. She’ll be grateful to you for leaving her behind something so beautiful.