One of several projects I like to accomplish in the beginning of each new year, is to scrapbook some pictures of the past year for my photo albums and then to select one or two photos to put in a scrapbook frame. The scrapbook picture frame is then of course put on the wall for all to see in my apartment.
You can purchase all kinds of scrapbook frames either online or in a craft store. The one I have now is from Michael’s Crafts Store and it just cost me a few bucks. It’s black metal and glass and there’s nothing special about it. I bought this particular one because I wanted the page to stand out, not the frame so much, and I wanted something cheap at the time.
Every year in January, I swap the page in my frame for a newer page. I also have a scrapbook album in which I insert each of the old pages. I call it my “Event” scrapbook album.
In 2012, I didn’t have a lot of special events photographed, and the few pictures I did have (in my opinion) didn’t pass the bar on what I would call a “scrapbook moment worthy of my wall”.
I went digging in my photo box for an older special moment (since I couldn’t find one for 2012), and I found one from 2010. It was just a simple dinner date with two people who mean the world to me. They are, what I call, the ideal grandparents (but they are not blood related). Betty and Maurice, as pictured below, are what I call the ideal grandma and grandpa as I was growing up, going to church, having dinners with these special people, having fun get togethers with other families, and so on.
Betty always made my Christmas’s special. She would give my brother and I stockings full of goodies and boy! Did I love stockings! She was always showering us with gifts and things that kids just love. She spoiled us rotten as a grandparent would do!
Unfortunately, when I was 18 years old, Betty and Maurice had to move back to England, as they are originally from England. They do have family here in the United States where I live and so they come back to visit every few years. In 2010 I got to meet up with them for lunch at Souplantation restaurant. The picture you see below is taken at their hotel. They are in their 80′s, and so as each day passes by, I think of them always and write every few months to say hello and to tell them how much I love them.
The scrapbook paper that is used for this page is made with a textured paper that sparkles. Absolutely gorgeous. It’s hard to see the shimmer, but it’s there. The second photo (see below) you can see the shimmer better. I took another patterned piece of paper that has the flowers on the border on it already and just used scissors to cut the edges off so you can just see the flowers on the edges, and then I glued it onto the textured paper. From there, I just glued the photo of Betty and Maurice onto the patterned paper (in the middle) and then with my acid free pens I hand wrote the words and date. I used acid free adhesive too.
It really didn’t take much time at all and that’s the way I like it. I also don’t remember where I got that great textured paper but I have a feeling I got it at a Scrapbook Expo where you can find OUT OF THIS WORLD hand made papers and other goodies.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that this inspires you to be more creative in your own living space with pictures of loved ones. These always lift me up when I feel a bit down and out. It helps me to remember the good times and that there will always be more of those good times too! Changing the pictures out every year reminds me of the always changing times, and referring back to the pages in my album reminds me of past special events that have shaped me as the person I am!
CLICK ON THE PICTURES to enlarge them– to see the texture of the beautiful paper! This is a special paper that is strong and sturdy, acid and lignan free for photos!
Betty and Maurice Scrapbook Page Framed and Put on My Wall-I love the Texture!
See the shimmer on the textured paper! Beautiful!
