The Storybook Scrapbook
by Lesley

It's a tradition to give a photo album for many occasions – weddings, graduations, anniversaries, baby showers. Some people even get those fancy silver engraved ones, which make a lovely gift. But actually PUTTING TOGETHER the photo album for that person, instead of just wrapping up a blank one, is so much more personal. Whether you do it as a surprise, or offer up the notion to your friend (so that you can get all the pictures from the occasion) such a gesture is always appreciated. For those of you with some artistic flair, you can find any type of scrapbook accessory your heart can imagine at your local craft store.

Some of my scrapbook gifts have gone even further and become a storybook, literally. The first one I did was for a friend who is a comic book geek, and who is famous for throwing everything away except his precious comic books. I was determined to give him a present that would be homemade, would mean a lot to him, and that he would take with him to the grave. What came out of this was a photo album made to look like a comic, featuring my friend as the hero, complete with a plot full of villains and a teaser for issue two (which I haven't gotten around to, but you never know). Needless to say the gift left him speechless.

A year or so later I ended up with a series of photos that just begged to become a storybook. One of my wacky (or should I say wacko) theatre friends who had recently shaved his head decided at a party one night to let several girls decorate his baldness with frosting. He then asked me to take pictures while various people licked the frosting off his head. Yes, there was alcohol involved. And the pictures were hilarious. But rather than just give him the pictures, I was compelled to create for him a short little book about the tale of Cakehead, a strange man with a head of cake. The story followed Cakehead's creation by three sexy witches and his (mis)adventures in the world. As you can imagine the gift blew him away, and was enjoyed by everyone who had bee n at the party.

The best thing about the Storybook Scrapbook, other than the joy it brings to its recipient, is the fun of actually putting it together. Here are some tips for when you decide to make one of your own:

Supplies

All you really need to make a Scrapbook Storybook is your imagination. Well, the pictures and a photo-safe scrapbook (they come in various shapes and sizes) are also important, along with either photo safe glue or those double sided tape squares (also photo-safe).

Other things you can use include:

• background paper
• stickers (those shaped like bubble captions are great for writing dialogue)
• photo/paper cutter
• scissors (both regular and the fancy-edge kind)
• photo corners
• stencils (for cutting pictures and background paper into different shapes)
• scrapbook pens
• other mementoes you might want to include (programs, cards, etc.).

When deciding upon the size of your scrapbook take into account how many pictures you'll be using and what kind of story you are telling. For the comic book story I tried to find a scrapbook that was about the same size as a comic book. For the Cakehead story I used a very small one, because I only had about 15 or so pictures to put in it. Once you've decided always count up the pages and map out your ideas before you begin to glue things down. Larger scrapbooks have pages that can be taken out, and you can buy extra pages as well. This is great if you are making a traditional scrapbook, have a lot of pictures, and want to leave the option for the person to add more on their own.

Style and Content

While mapping out your pages also consider the style you are creating. For the comic book obviously I tried to make cells for each page. I cut down pictures to fit the cells – sometimes using stencils and sometimes just cutting around the image I wanted. When using the photo stencils be sure to buy a photo-safe stencil pencil, it's sort of like a grease pencil and can be wiped off without hurting the photo. Cakehead's design was much simpler – I stuck to one picture and one sentence or so of the story per page (just like a picturebook for kids).

Being that I'm a sticker fiend I use plenty of stickers on any scrapbook I make, but you can accessorize as much or as little as you see fit. I had no trouble finding stickers shaped like little cakes and even baking tools – spatulas, mixers and spoons. I tried not to take away from the images themselves, of course, since it was a photo album (not a sticker album). This goes for the background paper, as well – you want the design to compliment the pictures and not over-shadow them. Always make sure you set everything out on the page to see if it works before you make it permanent.

Do Your Homework

This may seem like a “duh” point, but make sure you double check spelling, especially with people's names. If you're unsure you can always leave something blank and let the scrapbook recipient fill it out later. Or if you are telling a story, made up names are much more fun anyway.

Also, if you're not so good at lettering you can find most any color, size and style text stickers for large captions. For the comic book I hand wrote all the dialogue (very carefully, mind you) and made sure to write in the bubbles BEFORE I stuck them to the page, in case I made any mistakes or got sloppy. For Cakehead I typed up the story on my computer and printed out the words, then cut the blocks of text out with the fancy edged scissors.

Always keep in mind who the scrapbook story is for – inside jokes are great provided that person was in on the joke. Cakehead's story was not intended for children, because the man who it was for (although childish) has a very sick sense of humor. It certainly wasn't a book I'd be making for my mother, but it was perfect for Cakehead.

Give it Away, Now

Giving the gift at the right moment can be just as important as the gift itself, along with how you present it. You don't have to be a master wrapper to make it look good – you might even want to give it in a plain brown bag, since the fancy part will be what's inside. Do make sure when you give it to them that the person will have time to look at it and read it, so they can appreciate it fully. Of course, it will be something they'll want to look at again and again for years to come, which is exactly what you want.