Paper Bag Scrapbook

Scrapbooks became popular with the advent of print technology, where people started documenting printed materials of personal interest. Soon after that, a range of affordable paper was available in the market, and it became easy for people to pen down their thoughts, letters, poems, recipes, quotes, photographs and other useful information, which they could compile for future reference. Thus, as time passed, scrapbooking became popular, leading to the rise of many different kinds of scrapbooks. Let's take a brief look at the history of scrapbooking, before we move on to make scrapbooks.

History of Scrapbooks
Scrapbooking became a rage in the United States in 1980, so much so, that many authors started publishing how-to books for scrapbooking. These books had lot of scrapbooking ideas, such as how to make a scrapbook, how to maintain it, how to design it, etc. Scrapbooks became like social networking books, where family members, relatives, and groups of friends used to write in each others scrapbooks about their hobbies, passions, dislikes, etc. Some people used to have their personal scrapbooks, which had travelogues, personal experiences, or photographs. It was more like a personal diary which they never shared with others.

Slowly, various types of scrapbooks emerged, as people came up with different ideas for scrapbooking pages and experimented with designs and embellishments. Some designed with stickers, stamps, and color pens, while others designed with ribbons, laces, and sequins. Now, digital scrapbooks are setting a trend with increasing number of people having online scrapbooks. With the help of scanners, desktop publishing, and the Internet you can get a variety of scrapbook ideas and layouts. But nothing can beat the handmade scrapbooks that surely look fantastic and moreover, are easy to make as well.

How to Make the Scrapbook
As the name suggests, these are made from paper bags, which are common in our daily life. Most of us carry our lunch to school or office in a paper bag and we generally throw this bag after lunch. But now start collecting these bags, as you can make a variety of scrapbooks out of them. And you'll be surprised to see how easy it is to create wealth from waste. Follow the simple steps and make the scrapbook but before that, get equipped with all your scrapbooking supplies such as scissors, glue, color pens and embellishments.

• Take 4 or more paper bags. They can be simple brown paper bags or bags made out of newspapers, or any other type. You can use paper bags with different colors as well.
• Now, alter the ends of the paper bags with rubber cement, glue or a cello tape. If you want to give a different effect to the scrapbook, then retain the open ends, they can be used as pockets to slip in photos or other things which you want to hide.
• Once you alter the ends, fold all the bags in half and place them one over the other, which will make the spine of the scrapbook, where you can bind it together. You can bind the scrapbook with a stapler or punch the holes in the spine and bind it with fancy ribbons or unused thin wristbands. You can also try sewing the spine with colorful thread.
• Start decorating once the bound book is ready. You can decorate the scrapbook with colorful buttons, paper pieces of different shapes, paper crafts, drawings, train or bus tickets, etc. Anything which enhances the look of your scrapbook can be used as embellishment, as the options are infinite.

Decorating the Scrapbook
The design and decoration will depend on the theme or topic of the scrapbook, for example, if you wish to make a heritage scrapbook or a travelogue scrapbook, you can include lots of photos with short descriptions and design it with ethnic illustrations or old coins; that will make it look historical. You can also choose the option of arts and crafts or a collage for decorating the scrapbook. You can also use 3D materials such as, match boxes, old keys, small toys, etc., in an innovative manner to design the scrapbook cover. For example, you can paint the match box or cover it with colorful paper and paste different photos on each side of the box and then paste the box on the cover. There are lot of other ideas you can try to make your scrapbook distinguished.

In the whole process of making a scrapbook, I am sure you will have lots of fun, but you also need to remember a few tips to increase the shelf life of your paper bag scrapbook. Paper bags are not very sturdy, so your scrapbook might get dismantled if used roughly. It will be wise to use duplicate copies of the photographs and other important materials, as paper bags are not acid free, and tend to damage photographs. But do not worry, you can always make another scrapbook after few years with a different design and add some spice to your cherished memories. This way you can preserve the memorabilia all your life, each time through a new scrapbook.