This article offers some practical advice on scrapbooking.

Theme

Your scrapbook must have a theme It can be as simple or as complex as you want. The could be a special event such as a birthday, a graduation, a wedding, can include favorite colors, sports, favorite television programs, music, the outdoors, or cultural influences.

The answers to the following three questions are all issues in choosing suitable theme.

What is the overall purpose for your scrapbook?
Who is the scrapbook about?
Who is the scrapbook for?

For example, the scrapbook you are giving your son as he graduates from medical school will probably be very different from the grandparent book you send to your mother. Your son will probably appreciate a scrapbook with photographs, poems, journals, and more masculine embellishments. Perhaps, the theme of the scrapbook could be medicine. You could make embellishments that looked like scalpels and tweezers around various pictures of your nephew during his college days.

Your mother, on the other hand, will love a multitude of baby pictures fancifully embellished with flowers, ribbon, and baby fingerprints. The theme of this book will probably be your baby. Photographs could include baby and grandma with the baby. A nice journal about your baby's day could also add a nice touch.

Title
Remember to create a title for your scrapbook page. Though adding a title might seem to be obvious or unimportant, a title explains the whole basis of your scrapbook. The title immediately tells the viewer what your page is all about. In one word or one short phrase, the title tells the reader the theme and purpose of your scrapbook.

Titles could be as basic as the date of an event, the name of an individual, or a specific event.

Titles can also be more interesting and exciting. They may include quotes, sayings, fillers, or simple phrases. The best places to look for title inspiration are in greeting cards, advertisements, and commercials.

Color

Color coordination and contrast can highlight and accent your scrapbook. A well thought out color scheme can help define the theme of a page, attract attention to specific items, or detract away from mistakes. Poorly chosen color schemes, on the other hand, can cause your scrapbook page to look gaudy or mismatched.

Background colors can either be matched, coordinated, or contrasted with the colors in your photographs, mementos, or embellishments. Matching colors add to the continuity of the color scheme. Coordinated colors add depth to scrapbook pages. Contrasted colors focus the eye. In this way, color can be used to create the effect you wish.

An excellent way to see how colors look together is to collect and compare color wheels from your local paint or hardware store. Paint wheels are usually available free for the taking in nearly any paint department.

Face painting is a fun hobby that you can combine with scrapbooking. For a Halloween party I created a face painting design on each of the guests. Then took photographs. The resulting Halloween scrapbook was certainly one of my most eye catching creations - even a little scary too! Well, there were lots of vampires about!
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bat face painting design
These articles are packed with tips and advice on face painting. Believe me, learning to face paint is not as difficult as you might think. And you’ll never be short of volunteers to practice on.