4 Things You Can Use Your Scrapbook For

Feather Charm

11 minutes ago

5 min read

Hello Everyone!

If you’ve ever been to a wedding, or a major event that records the lives of the host, then you’ve probably been asked to sign a guestbook, or more likely a scrapbook. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing addition to the occasion, because it records those special moments on the day, but for those of us who aren’t really creative, it can be daunting to think about what to put in a scrapbook, especially when we’re given a blank one, and no other stationery or resources that could help start that scrapbook off. Well, here are 5 ideas you can use, if you’re trying to start a scrapbook for yourselves.

1. Record Your Travels

One of the most common ways to use a scrapbook is to make it a travel album. Save those bus tickets and those brochures you picked up, along the way, and stick them into the scrapbook. Print out those selfies and those experimental landscape photos and decorate the pages with themes that represent the place or places you’ve been to. Add captions and diary moments that remind you of what you felt, on the day you took those photos and what you did, who you were with, and where you were.

Of course, there’s only so much you do on vacation, it’s not going to fill up your scrapbook, and it can be difficult to plan and book a vacation that takes up the rest of it, so why don’t you use it for all your day trips as well? I guarantee you, you’ll find something to pick up, if you go out on a day trip to another city, town or village. You’re also going to take pictures of the place you’re in. So, save them in your scrapbook. It’s better than keeping them in your phone’s storage, or in the cloud, where eventually, you’ll have to delete them. By creating a scrapbook full of decorative pages and personal comments on what you did during your trip, you’ll create a memory that can be seen by future generations (especially if they’re the nosy kind, or if you’re happy to show off your memories).

2. Moodboards And Inspiration

We all have those big, ambitious ideas for what we want our house to look like, or what our ideal wardrobe will be. In fact, some of us even have ideas of what our weddings will look like and even some birthday parties and special occasions. Of course, we could use the likes of social media, to be our inspiration, after all, you can save, bookmark and download videos that you can refer to, when you start planning for those events. However, nothing beats a personalised scrapbook. It’s how and why websites like Pinterest started!

Scrapbooks are the original methods by which people plan how an event looks, and if you whip it out, at your dress fitting, or your planner’s meeting, they’ll be able to understand your vision, just by looking at the decorated pages and the inspiration photos you’ve stuck onto those pages. You won’t need to explain anything, because they’ll just get it. I mean, they’re creatives too, so when they see scrapbooks and decorated journals, you know they’re going to be able to understand your creative vision.

3. A Tribute To Your Friendship

This is one of the most common uses of a scrapbook, or at least it was, when I was a teenager. A scrapbook was a place to store memories and reminders of just how important your friends are. Of course, over time, your friendships might drift, and you’ll no longer hang out with them as much as you used to, so make a scrapbook of all the things you and your friends did together. Print out those awkward photos together and save some small piece of memorabilia you managed to collect, during the time you used to hang out, like a restaurant napkin, or a ticket stub to a movie, and write down all the things you did and felt, when you and your friends used to hang out.

Later in life, you can give that full scrapbook to your friend, as a keepsake, or you can keep it for yourself. I mean, you did put all that hard work into it, why not admire what you’ve made. Whatever you decide to do with the scrapbook, you at least have a part of you that still remembers the friendships you had over the years, even if those friends drift away from you. It’s a good reminder of all the fun things you did together, and even if that relationship soured, at least the scrapbook reminds you that they once were your friend.

4. Life Events

This is another more common use of a scrapbook. Use it to record life events, like births, first times, special occasions, and yes, even deaths. Scrapbooks are basically physical photo albums. After all, you’re sticking photos in them, but instead of just having those photos stuck there, with no context, the pages they’re on will be decorated and annotated, so you remember where those photos were taken, who they were taken of, and what was going on, when it was taken. In fact, you could even add the date to those pages to further help you remember why those photos were important enough to go into the scrapbook.

I’m sure you’ve probably bought or received a scrapbook at some point in your life and wondered what in the world you’d use it for. It’ll either be sitting on your shelf gathering dust, donated to a charity shop, or thrown in the bin. If you’ve managed to keep it on your bookshelf, then take it off and start using it, to record the major events in your life, or if not in your life, in someone else’s. For example, if you’re a new mother, you can record all your baby’s firsts in that scrapbook. Why not create pop-up pictures and pop out features into the book, so that when your baby is old enough to see the scrapbook, they’ll be fascinated by all its tactile aspects! I know I would be, if I were given a scrapbook with all those features.

Get Scrapbooking Now!

There are so many things you can do with a scrapbook, but whether you make one and maintain it, is up to you. What goes in there must be meaningful enough for you to make it, otherwise it will end up just sitting on your bookshelf or in your storage, collecting dust. So, be mindful when you start your scrapbook and have a purpose. You don’t want to look at those pages and think “I’ll start again, because I don’t like the way it looks”. You’ll be wasting paper and resources that way. Instead, decorate the pages with a theme in mind that resonates with the pictures you’ve added, and let your creativity shine through. The rest will come.

Well, that’s it from me today, I’m going to start a new scrapbook for myself. What is it for? That’s personal, although, one day, I might tell you. For now, please don’t forget to like, subscribe, comment, share and follow me, here on Feather’s Charm, on my YouTube channel, on my other social media channels (Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok), and on Patreon. Your support really does help me make more content like this, for you guys.