In case you were wondering, I’m still fully onboard the scrapbooking train. In fact, I’m more onboard than ever. Obsessed, you might say. Scrapbooking is that magical thing that reconciles not one but two sets of conflicting paradigms in my life. Item one: creative self-expression feeds my soul, but the drive for external validation that is built into many creative pursuits feels soul-crushing. Item two: having a meditation practice contributes to my mental wellbeing, but my neurodivergent brain can’t handle most typical meditation practices. Scrapbooking is a creative but inherently personal pursuit; the objects I create cannot be monetized and, therefore, their value is entirely independent of external validation. Scrapbooking is also (to me) a very meditative activity, in the sense that it effortlessly puts my brain in a state of flow, which is my version of a “clear mind”.  

I’ve been sharing what I call my “daily pages” (full-page collages I make in my scrapbooking journal) on Instagram because (a) I find vicarious enjoyment in looking at other people’s scrapbooks and want to share that thrill with others; and (b) as a devoted hobbyist, I want to (passively) spread the scrapbooking bug, lol. Basically, similar reasons to why I share my thrift finds.

I guess it’s been working too, because I’ve had a few people reach out to me, curious to learn more about my methods for creating my daily pages. Since I am not sufficiently skilled in Reel-making to create video tutorials or even progress videos, here I am writing this post instead. With photos. And my best attempt at breaking down the process, step by step.

Step one: blank page

My current scrapbook journal is a 9 x 12 inch, spiral-bound drawing notebook (purchased at Dollarama). I think it originally had 80 pages, but I can tell you, that’s too many. By the time you collage both sides, 40+ pages become extremely chunky. Even with a spiral binding, there’s not enough room to keep the pages from getting bent, etc. I’m not sure what the sweet spot would be; I am only here to tell you that you don’t want a book with too many pages (or, like me, be ready to rip some out).

My preferred style of collaging is full-page coverage, so the goal is to find scraps that cover the entire surface of the page. I like to think of it as a blank puzzle that I assemble as I go along.

Step two: choose the focal piece(s)

In every collage I make there is a focal piece — sometimes 2, but rarely more than 3. This is usually an image of a person, animal, or unusual/interesting object. Basically, focal pieces create the first landing place for the eye. They also set the tone/vibe for the rest of the collage. Everything else gets built around them. To put it in clothing terms, these are your “statement pieces”.

Focal pieces tend to be the largest individual scraps on the page, though this is not always the case; if I’m using smaller focal pieces, I tend to use 2 or 3 to create a composite arrangement. Most of the time, I end up using one large and one (max two) smaller focal pieces. The key is that the pieces have to be big enough for the details to be visible and catch the eye at a first glance.

Once I got serious about scrapbooking, one of the first things I did was to sort and organize my scraps. I keep focal pieces in 2 folders, one for large pieces and one for small pieces. This makes it easier to peruse my available options and choose whatever strikes my fancy on a particular day.

To help illustrate, let’s build a page together. Here are the focal pieces I chose:

Step three: arrange your players

Once I’ve got my focal pieces, it’s time to decide where they go on the page. For this, I use their shape as a guide and eyeball a position that feels “right”. Personally, if the image is partially cut off, I will often try to line up the straight edge to one of the edges of the page. But there’s room to play around; I have a bunch of techniques I use to “hide” missing parts of an image, if need be, which gives me leeway to put the image pretty much anywhere I like.

In this case, I decided I wanted to put my focal pieces roughly here:

This now creates a bunch of space that needs to be filled in, and defines the general parameters of the other puzzle pieces. I think of this blank space(s) as the “stage” for my players (aka the focal pieces). Time to design it!

Step four: set the stage

Background or set pieces can come in a variety of flavours, but mine tend to fall into four general categories: landscape and other figurative images, abstract patterns, solid colours, and printed materials (book pages or musical scores). To make my life easier, I also sort these.

First, by size. I have larger pieces organized in one accordion folder, and smaller scraps in a different one. Second, by directionality/positioning. I separate scraps into a number of categories, like: top (of page), bottom, right hand edge (full page), left hand edge, bottom right corner, top right corner, bottom left corner, top right corner, non-directional, etc. What this allows me to do is quickly find and review available materials based on what “puzzle shape” I’ve got to fill on the page around my focal pieces. Choices are made based on vibes – what feels like it “goes” with the focal pieces and the vibe of the page. If I need to, I re-cut and re-shape existing scraps to fit.

I start by filling the biggest “holes” and go from there. I “dry fit” each piece as I add it, without gluing anything down at this stage. Part of this process includes deciding how to layer pieces. To continue the theatre analogy, some pieces are foreground, some are background. Focal pieces are often in the foreground (aka top layer) but not always.

Here’s the set pieces I chose:

And here is how everything fit:

Step five: gluing time

This is pretty self-explanatory but a small tip. Once you’ve assembled the complete collage in the previous step, un-assembled it in reverse order in preparation for gluing – and keep that order straight. That is to say, you want to make sure that you are gluing your bottom layer first, and then gluing pieces in sequential order so you end up with the correct layers. I have been burnt on this in the past. I rush and don’t pay attention to the order that pieces are meant to be layered in, and end up gluing layer 3 before layer 2 that’s meant to go under it. Ugh, it’s the worst!

Step six: frosting time

Frosting is what I call adding the final finishing touches; for me, this is usually stickers and lettering/block text (that is meant to be read, not part of the setting). I almost always add stickers – because I love stickers, lol! – but I don’t always add text. Sometimes, I add stars in contrasting colours (made using paper punches) because it’s a motif I enjoy, as an extra pop on the page.

To keep with the cooking metaphor, this whole step is basically “season to taste”. [Sorry, I’ve mixed my metaphors! Hopefully, you get the idea.]

Here’s the final collage, all frosted:

If this all sounds complicated … trust me, it’s not! It takes much longer to explain than it does to actually do. The whole point is not to overthink it. And, keep in mind, this is only my preferred process. If you’re wanting to give scrapbooking a try and don’t know how to start, feel free to use it. But once you’re comfortable, I would encourage you to explore different approaches and see what feels right to you. There are no wrong ways of scrapbooking! That’s the beauty of it.