Month: September 2023

Q. I always seem to cut my pictures too much. I plan how I am going to cut them, but I always get carried away. Do you have any suggestions to help me?

A. You are not alone! Here are a few ideas that might help

• Your paper trimmer is your friend. The most important tool I have in my scrapbook room is my paper trimmer. So important that I actually have 3 I use regularly: The sure-cut deluxe paper trimmer by Fiskars, The Aluminum Rail Trimmer, and a photo trimmer. Most professionally printed pictures come in 4 x 6 size so when you are planning your layout you can decide on the size, then use your paper trimmer to stick to the size you have pre-determined.  Most photos I scrapbook are either 4 x 6, 4 x 4 or sometimes 2 x 2 but if you stick to just the measurement you decide on before choosing your photos, that may help you to not cut too small.
• Use a template. At one time they made templates that had openings of various sizes so you could plan where you wanted to cut. I don’t know if those are still around, but it is something you could try if you want to look around for them.

Unless the background carries significance – for example, the background has a historical value, like cars or homes that will be interesting to look at in 50 years or that vacation in the Grand Canyon, you can usually cut away some of the background in a photo and not hurt anything. But again, I hesitate unless it is a blank wall because I love looking at my grandmother’s photos with old cars. I even found one of my 82-year-old mother at age 4 sitting on a 1940 Packard! You might even catch someone smoking who quit 30 years ago 🙂

A word of warning about cropping photos:  If you are working with a “one of a kind” photo that has no negative, consider making a copy of the photo before using adhesive on the back or cropping the photo. Cutting a photo is permanent… have a copy or better yet, scan it to your computer BEFORE you make any changes you may regret later!

If you have a question you would like to see answered, please e-mail me at [email protected]

Creatively,

Carol

Q.   As a child, my grandparents traveled regularly and brought back money for us kids from all sorts of countries. I would love to include them with their travel photos in the scrapbook but am not sure how. Any suggestions?

A.   As a kid, we used Elmer’s to glue things into our scrapbooks or to anything else we wanted to keep. Now we know Elmer’s ruins a scrapbook page because it dries bulky, pages rip and things are easily lost.  There are some products that are specifically advertised for this type of thing but I have another idea. Make a shaker box to put those momentoes in. If they are flat, like a feather you find on your walk, you can put it in a clear envelope and mount it with a frame covering the edges. With coins, I would use something like a slide mount, the negative part of a chipboard square, or actually make a shaker box with acetate and foam squares to give it the depth, and keep things where they belong.  I will try to do a video about this in the coming weeks and actually show you how to do it.

If you have any questions you would like answered, please send an e-mail to [email protected] and I will be sure to answer it!