Jemma's Process

How do I scrapbook? Well that depends on what is driving me to make a page and what photos I have available.

The things that I scrapbook generally fit into four categories:

• holidays & days out
• exploits of family members
• changes in our home
• pages for my Book Of Me

If I have a pile of holiday photos to get through then I will usually start with the photos and work out what to do with them. With all the other topics I am more likely to start with a sketch, an on-line challenge or a scrapbook class and find photos to suit. These might be already printed out, or I might go searching through old photos and print something myself, especially if a smaller size print is required.

Whenever I get photos printed (either professionally or at home) I trim away any white borders and store the photos in cellophane envelopes. This means I can group photos together and flick through the available sets without damaging them.

I love working from sketches and regularly visit Pagemaps.com and Creative Scrappers. Having lost Pencil Lines & Twisted Sketches I’ve been searching for more sketch sites and bookmarked Sketches In Thyme which categorises the sketches by number of photos along with the 4x6 Photo Sketch Blog which looks great for big batch holiday print-outs.

So, having chosen photos I look for page ideas by scanning sketch sites or flipping through some print-outs or a couple of my books on sketches.

Alternatively, I’ll find an inspiring sketch and rootle through the photos to find something special to go with it.

Either way the next stop is my pile of patterned papers: choosing and discarding several times before making a final selection. Then it’s time to start cutting, layering and shuffling until I find a pleasing arrangement (often veering away from the sketch completely) before applying the glue. Embellishments, titles and journalling are always at the back of my mind while rearranging my pieces on the page and I will often take photos of various combinations to compare alternatives.

If I have a (Counterfeit) kit to play with the process is much simpler because there is less to worry about: just the photos and the page design! I will normally start by picking photos to work with a selection of the patterned papers and then look for a sketch. I’ll probably adjust the sketch to fit with my photos, title and journalling needs and there will still be a fair amount of shuffling of items around the page before I’m done.

Take a look at this post from when I first found the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog: an example of me taking a kit, adding a sketch and a holiday photo to produce a quick page, plus you can see just how productive using a kit can be - I made NINE pages from it!