Taking Better Pictures

A Good Scrapbook Foundation - How to Take Better Pictures
by Nan Wood

It’s true—you can make a beautiful scrapbook with less than perfect pictures. However, if you learn to make the most of your photography, you will find that you spend less time working on embellishing a page because the pictures will speak for themselves. Digital cameras make it easy to delete blurry or otherwise bad shots, but you may not get the second chance to capture your infant’s precious smile or your pet’s latest antic. Be armed with your camera at all times, and keep a few tried and true rules in your head to take shots that will stun.

This is the most talked about photography technique, and once the mystery is taken away, you will find that it is also one of the simplest ways to separate good shots from breath-taking ones. The initial concept is simple. Imagine you have drawn a tic-tac-toe board in the frame. Therefore, you have two lines running vertically and two lines running horizontally, intersecting at four points. Your initial urge is probably to center an image—and this sometimes proves to be the best option—but the four points of intersection are what professional photographers refer to as “sweet spots.” Our eyes are naturally drawn to these places on a page, so when the main points of a subject matter, such as your cat’s face, fall on one of these spots, the picture looks more appealing and balanced. If you cannot capture this perfectly, you can always crop your photograph when you scrapbook to help your picture adhere to the rule of thirds. Remember that you don’t always have to stick to this rule, but it may help you find your shot.

The rule of thirds is not the only composition trick that photographers use to create beautiful photographs. A lot has to do with subject matter. Every picture has a background and foreground, but if you cut most of that out and fill the frame with your subject matter you will usually have a much better picture. Also, look at the lines in a picture. This is especially helpful with a landscape shot, because by placing the horizon on one of the lines you created with the rule of thirds, you will have a much more effective shot. Diagonal lines should be used to create interest. For example, railway tracks cutting across the frame and leading your eye through the sweet spots will give you a better shot.

Lastly look at color. This is important even in black and white photographs. Make sure that the light and dark colors are balanced. By doing this when you take the picture, you will be able to create better pages that are coordinated to match your photographs, and by following the other tips your will be able to create better pages in general.

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Scraps make Great Gifts

A Gift Made of Scraps
by Nan Wood

Perhaps the most rewarding type of scrapbook you can make is one that you intend to give as a gift. Scrapbooks make special gifts for almost every occasion, because there handmade touches show that you care about the person. When someone receives your scrapbook as a gift, he or she may be inspired to create a scrapbook as well, and in this way you can spread the scrapbooking bug to friends and family members.

There are many different types of scrapbooks you can make for the recipient. One of my favorite types of themes makes a good gift for a graduate or someone moving away—use pictures from throughout the years of the person growing up and end with a recent picture and some blank pages so the album an be continued. Pages made as a continuation make good future gifts as well. This is also a good idea for couples celebrating their wedding or anniversary. Instead of just having a traditional wedding album, include pictures of both people from before they met and then create pages of their life together.

Gathering pictures for these albums might call for you to be a bit sneaky. Talk to friends and family members. Remember, never scrapbook using a person’s original photographs without asking first. Instead, make high-quality color copies at your local photocopy center. If you use the machine correctly, you shouldn’t be able to tell the different between the originals and the copies. By careful to replace the photographs exactly as you found them, not only to prevent the recipient from finding out the surprise, but also as a common courtesy. Even some people who do not do scrapbooking have very precise systems for keeping their photographs in order.

If you don’t have access to photographs or want to give a gift to someone who likes to do the scrapbooking on their own, try making a layout album for the person. This is an empty album of sorts—you do all the page designing and let the person crop and add their own photographs. They can use the album as given or remove the pages in groups or singularly to add to an album they are currently creating. Perhaps your best bet for an avid scrapbooker is not an album, however, but a box full of supplies or a gift certificate to a local craft supply store. You can still personalize this gift by choosing papers to coincide with specific events in a person’s life—for example, buy beach-themed paper for someone who recently bought a beach house, or buy letter stamps that spell out specific names. With a little creativity, you can use your love of the craft to give a perfect gift to anyone.

Nan is an Accountant and Business Author. For more Craft Ideas, Craft Projects, Scrappers Goodies and more visit her online research sites:

Scrapbooking
Crafts

Painting Projects

Painting

For many people, painting is a way to relax and create an image that they find is filled with beauty and passion. You don’t have to be a great artist to be a painter and many people love to paint various designs and objects instead of people or intricate paintings. If you would like to enjoy paining, here are some tips.

Painting is a great hobby for children, teenagers or adults. Many people find painting a natural extension of their creativity, while others struggle to learn the correct way to paint. If you are painting just for fun, you don’t need classes, instruction or a guide, you can easily go to your local arts and craft shop and purchase basic tools that will help you to paint.

Most people start by painting in either water colors or oil based paints. For people that want to create a legitimate painting, but don’t know the first thing about paining, you can purchase a paint by numbers set, which is pretty much filling in spaces with water or oil based paints.

Others can create fantastic modern art or whatever they fill passionate about. There are many beginner painting sets you can start with which includes great items such as paint, brushes, canvas and other basic tools. If you have the urge to be creative, look into painting.

Try combining your painting projects with your craft and scrapbooking efforts. You will enhance your projects and create even more artistic gifts.

Crafts Began

Crafts – What are Arts and Crafts and when did the movement begin?
By Nan Wood

Arts and crafts as a subject, covers the whole range of hobbies that are related to things we make with our hands and the skills we have learned. Two categories or crafts are handicrafts and traditional crafts. Handicrafts refer to the crafts we make with our hands. Traditional crafts are those practiced for centuries.

The Arts and Craft movement began in the late 19th century. Many of the original craftsmen worked under the guild system. Young people were apprenticed to master-craftsmen and spent years learning their skill for very low wages. When their training was over, they could work in the trade themselves to earn their living. During the Industrial Revolution many of these trades were eliminated by modern technology. Since machines were created that produced the goods and services less expensively, the need for the artisan was reduced.

Crafting requires knowledge and skill. These are skills that can be learned by most people. Even those who are not adept at this can practice the skills until they become habit. There are schools, art centers, evening classes and workshops that teach the beginner, as well as, the accomplished crafter, how to create works of art.

Crafts can be created from a variety of materials such as ceramic, paper, glass, textile, wood, metal and more. Scrapbookers combine the materials to create cards, albums, photo galleries and a variety of beautiful objects. Almost anything you can think of can be created by a crafter and become an ‘Art Object’.

Nan is an Accountant, Real Estate Agent, and Business Writer. She has an online site for information and resources on Scrapbooking and a resource for Crafts

Finding Easy Craft Ideas and Craft Projects

Finding Easy Craft Ideas and Projects
Nan Wood

If you are into crafts, ideas may or may not come easy to you. There are many times when we want to create something crafty but just lack the inspiration or the know-how. If you find your self with a mental block on creating crafts, here are some tips on being creative and gaining craft full inspiration.

One of the best things to do when feeling a mental block is to take a walk through a craft supply shop. You will see literally hundreds or thousands of craft ideas instantly. Many people love the feeling of walking through a craft store because it fills them up with ideas and inspiration to create. Many shops have plenty of samples that are shown and show you the ways to produce these creations.

Another great tip on finding great craft ideas is to look at books or guides on crafts. There are many web sites that sell books on thousands of craft ideas. Not only do they give you ideas, they also show you step by step how to make them and what supplies are necessary. Many books also give you some tips on making a home based business by selling your crafty creations.

Brainstorm with your friends. You will be amazed at the ideas that can come out of a brainstorming session. I’ve found this works no matter what the subject or field of expertise of the participants is.

The resources online are tremendous. You can find sources for projects and ideas that are totally free. This takes a little searching but it is possible. You may need to research in a search engine and check out various words, including free linked to your subject to find what you really are looking for. You can also visit http://thecraftinfosite.com . The site has pages for craft ideas and craft projects, as well as free patterns and more. My Scrapbooking Site is
Scrapbooking and the focus of this site is scrapbooking ideas, projects and patterns.

Arts and Crafts

What are Arts and Crafts and when was the term coined?
By Nan Wood

What falls into the category of arts and crafts in today’s society? Generally we think of anything we make with our hands as a hobby and arts and crafts. The term Arts and Craft Movement was coined in the late 19th century.

Craftsmen created their projects and strove for excellence in their work. These activities were called ‘crafts’ since many of them were professions under the guild system that was in place at the time. Children were apprenticed to master craftsmen to learn their skills. This apprenticeship lasted a number of years and the apprentice was paid a very low wage. When the training was finished, they were capable of setting themselves up in the trade to earn their living.

Many crafts require skill but everyone can learn a craft by just practicing. Today, schools, community centers, and colleges offer classes to help you learn these trades. You can take a seminar, day class, or course. Some Craft stores offer classes on an on-going basis.

The term craft refers to the product of artistic production to create objects of beauty such as ceramics, glass, textile, metal and wood. Today crafters are combining crafts to make a new version such as using wood and textiles with paper, pictures and more while they are scrapbooking. They create cards make of cardstock and paper. They decorate cards to use for friends and family.

I have been the recipient of many of the Scrapbooking Cards created by my daughter, Colleen, and her friends. They use a variety of objects including buttons, bows, card stock, and photographs. I look forward to receiving many more in the future.

Nan is an Accountant, Real Estate Professional, and Business Writer. She has an information site online for Crafts giving online resources for projects, ideas, books and more.

For online research visit Crafts

Cards make gifts also

Add a Note to Your Gift


If you are planning on giving a gift to your loved one, family member or good friend, make sure to add a personalized note. Personalized notes really make any gift extra special. Anyone can buy a gift for someone else, however showing your genuine feelings by writing them down is sometimes better than the gift itself. If you are planning on giving a gift in the near future, here are some tips on creating personalized notes.

It’s not that difficult to write a quick, personalized note. It doesn’t have to be longer than a page to express your sincere feelings. Many people shy away from writing a note because they think it has to be very sappy or long. This is not the case. Of course it is nice to say something sweet and positive, but you can also add in humor.

For people that would like to add a small note, but just can’t write a good letter, a great option is to go to your local card store and pick out a card that says everything you wanted to write. You can easily add a sentence or two at the bottom and your signature to make it truly personalized. Remember, when it comes to adding a note to your gift, it is the sincere thought that counts.

For the crafters in this world, making cards is a piece of cake. You can design your own. Personalized cards are actually considered a gift today. Scrapbooking and crafting has gained tremendously in popularity.