Featured Album – Red, White & Blue
In the spirit of the 4th of July, I am featuring a scrapbook album I made for President Obama’s Inauguration. I was so fortunate to have a front seat to history. Great friends provided Richard and me with tickets on the lawn of the U.S. Capital to witness the swearing in of the first African American president. Living in DC, I’ve also had the good fortune of attending President Bill Clinton’s and President George Bush’s inaugural parades.
KISS – Keep It Simple Scrapers!
For My Inauguration Album, I decided to keep the design as simple as possible and went old school, using red and blue cardstock on plain white pages. I kept a consistent theme of stars and stripes throughout the album, using the cardstock to create borders, mat photos, and punch out stars. Watch the video below to flip through the pages and keep scrolling for a few design tips and ideas!
Design Tip
To create the flag border, I cut the red and white wavy strips from card stock using the Creative Memories 12” Decorative Trimmer (no longer available) and punched the stars using a basic star punch. For the President Elect border, I carried over the red and white strip theme and created the wavy title by placing letter stickers, using the wavy cut cardstock as a guide. On the election button page, I cut out cardstock to mimic the design of one of the political buttons using the Jumbo Circle Template with the Creative Memories Custom Cutting System.
Scrapping Historical and Current Events
When scrapping historical and current events, I like to include not only my personal photos, but also newspaper articles, op eds, and cartoons.
Design Tip: Often Newspaper articles are too big to fit on a scrapbook page. When this happens, I scan the article and then print it on a 12×12 piece of white cardstock. Voila! Perfect fit! If your printer doesn’t print on 12 x 12, you can print on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of cardstock. This will leave space for a nice border on the page. You can use Canva to size the photos for a perfect fit.
Including Memorabilia
I love to include memorabilia in my scrapbooks to really personalize my albums. Ideas for memorabilia include invitations, event tickets, programs, tickets for public transportation, post cards, etc. In my Inauguration album, I even included a few political buttons. Since buttons are bulky, you can scan, print and cut the buttons out. These pieces make awesome personalized embellishments.
If I don’t have a lot of personal pictures for an event, I sometimes scan photos from magazines to include. For my Obama album, I included scanned photos from a People Magazine Inauguration Special Addition. Make sure you give photo credit. Don’t forget to note the date and issue/edition of any magazine and newspapers you use!
Make Your Own Red, White & Blue Scrapbook
Creative Memories’ current Sparks of Magic Album Cover and the All American Collection are not only perfect for scrapping Independence Day, but also the perfect backdrop for parades, summer picnics, and BBQs, visits to iconic American sites such as national parks, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and so much more. Or you can go old school and make simple pages with Red, White, and Blue Cardstock — like my Inauguration Album.
