When you have friends or family over to visit, it’s easy enough to pull out your phone or laptop to share photos of recent events or trips. But do you have all of your photos organized into albums with locations tagged? Many of us don’t—and that’s a great reason to start scrapbooking.
Curate your favorite experiences by printing only the good photos, leaving room for identifying information and storytelling. Here are five essentials to get you started.
Start with a blank canvas.
With a plain tan cover and black craft paper pages, you can personalize this scrapbook for any occasion. A metal binding allows your photos to lie flat, and you can add more pages if you use up the 20 sheets of paper it comes with (for 40 pages in total). Celebrate a new baby, compile a travel journal, or make a special present for your best friend—then tie it up with the classy black ribbon enclosure.
No more crinkly plastic pages. Amazon
Secure more than 60 photos in your book of memories by framing them with these photo corners, which stick to your page. Tuck the edges of your photos into the frame, and easily remove images to to swap them out or to review notes you’ve written on the back. You can also use these vintage-style corners to save letters in your scrapbook without damaging them with tape or glue.
Practical and charming. Amazon
Washi tape brings whimsy envelopes, letters, gift boxes, and (of courses) scrapbooks and journals. It’s a decorative tape that is not made for shipping, but rather for flourish. Custom cut pieces from each roll and use them to form lines or shapes that accent your photos and words. This set has a vintage Europe vibe, though there are innumerable other themes, colors, and sizes.
Because your life is golden.
Metallic markers are a great way to get your writing to stand out on black craft paper. This fine-point set in gold, silver, and deep pastels gives you plenty of options to add drawings, poems, quotes, and stories.
Make art from ephemera.
These die-cut paper assortments pull from vintage botanical drawings. Draw or paint on them, or simply leave as is and glue into collages for a nature scrapbook or gardening journal. You may just be inspired to start collecting your own vintage scenes from old postcards or magazines.