A couple years ago my boyfriend got me the HP Sprocket Plus photo printer for Christmas. I’m really sentimental, and I love putting together photo albums, so this was such a thoughtful gift!
After I printed my first photo, I knew I wanted to put together a scrapbook of some kind using this printer. I wanted to keep it simple, though. When I was younger my mom was into scrapbooking, and I would put together my own pages. I would do fancy things with cutting out photos, sticking on little stickers or other decals. I really enjoyed that at the time, but what I didn’t realize when I was younger is how expensive scrapbooking can be! Not only that, but I decided that all that extra decorating wasn’t really my style anymore. I just wanted a nice, simple album that focused on the pictures inside of it, not the extra accessories surrounding them.
I decided to do an album that’s dedicated to all my trips I’ve taken so far. I figured I could do an album that was kind of like a snapshot, or “highlight reel” of my trips. By doing this I can reflect on my adventures easily by looking through one album. I don’t have to always pull out multiple albums and flip through hundreds of photos!
I really love the simplicity of my scrapbook album, and it honestly doesn’t take much to put it together! In this post I’m going to list the supplies I use, where to find them, and explain how I format my scrapbook.
Now, you don’t technically need an HP Sprocket printer to create a scrapbook. You can just print your photos from your home printer, or take them somewhere like Costco to be printed. But I find with the Sprocket it just makes it so much easier, and less time consuming. If I take photos somewhere to be printed, I usually have to wait a couple days to pick them up. But with the Sprocket, I can just print photos whenever I’m in the mood to scrapbook. And it prints right from your phone, so you can print photos anywhere! I usually like to put on a tv show or movie while I’m working on it. I love the photo paper as well. It’s got a peel and stick backside to it, so you don’t have to worry about going out and buying glue or messing around with taping your photos into your album. Plus, the Sprocket doesn’t require ink to print photos. You don’t have to worry about going out and investing in more ink for your printer and more photo paper. Overall, I think this photo printer is a worthwhile investment and will save you money in the long run!
I only needed to purchase two other items to start scrapbooking: the scrapbook itself, and some markers for writing descriptions! I purchased both on Amazon. I really like this scrapbook because it’s plain and simple. It has sturdy paper inside, so I can write descriptions without worrying about the markers bleeding through to the other side of the page. This allows me to use both sides of each page, allowing for more room for photos. It’s also small enough that I can slide it into a bookcase or onto a shelf without worrying about it taking up too much room. These markers are great as well, because they show up so vibrantly on the black paper of the photo album. They dry really quickly, so you don’t have to worry about smudging your writing as you work, or having to sit for five minutes waiting for it to dry. They’ve got a precise enough tip as well that your letters won’t come out all fat and difficult to read.
My scrapbook format is really simple. To organize my photos, I like to put a fresh title page for each country or city I’ve been to. On these pages, I just write the name of the country or city, and I don’t add any extra photos. Then, throughout that section, I try to fit as many photos as I can on a page while still allowing for written descriptions where necessary. I like to add a description for notable buildings/locations, to explain a scene, or if I just happen to think of a good caption for a photo!
And that’s it! It’s really simple, doesn’t take up too much time, and is so much fun. I love being able to print off my photos from previous trips and reminisce about how much fun I had.
Do you scrapbook? Let me know what kind of scrapbooking you enjoy doing, or what kind of photos you include in your scrapbooks!
Until next time,
Nadine
nadinesnarratives.art.blog 