Characterization

I just read an article in the New York Times about digital scrapbooking and was intrigued, yet appalled at the same time.  How can people give up their creative efforts and penchant for glue, stickers, and other items in favor of digitized photos, layouts, embellishments, and audio and video files?

Well to prove that I am uninterested in this endeavor, I will show you the latest scrapbook I finished for my cousin Michael and his wife, Annie, for their first wedding anniversary.  I hope they like it as much as I have enjoyed making it for them over the past year.
Sorry about the yellowish tint; it was either that or a burst of flash on the pages and you wouldn’t be able to see anything of the photos or the arrangements.  This is the front cover; I generally prefer books with a picture window on the front.  If you cant see, the photo I choose is whimsical..with frosting on my cousin’s nose.

In this album, like many of my others, I chose black and white and color photos.  I like both mediums actually.  This album, however, does not contain any digital photos because I did not understand my digital camera at the time of this wedding and all of those photos were promptly deleted because they were too blurry.  LOL Now that I am a digital guru of sorts, my scrapbooks are likely to contain digital photos as well.
Also, this is the first scrapbook where i substituted color pages for the white ones that came in the book when I bought it, though generally, I only buy books with black pages because I prefer them.  However, black pages may not have been appropriate for this album given the wedding theme. 

This is one of my favorite photo pages in the album because Annie and Mike look like they were photographed in the olden days (little framed photo of them at the doorway of the church).  Actually I have to say that Annie is easily photographed.  She looks great in anything she wears really.

The key to making a good scrapbook page is to fill it with details and words and photos, but not too fill it up too much or it will look contrived and cluttered.  Ugh I am distracted by the ruckus in the office hall given they are constructing or deconstructing whatever the case may be.  You get the idea.

This is a nice collage of photos with two color framing one black and white photo of myself and vova (grandmother to you non-portuguese).  This is a simple page, but the photos have been cut with those design scissors to make them more than simple photos, but works of art.  Ok, maybe I’m biased.  LOL

This is the one I am proudest of because I used two elements; first the mirrors and second the buttons inscribed with love, marriage, bride, groom, i do, and other sayings.  Placing the buttons on the mirrors allowed the words and the colors of the buttons to stand out against the bland background color.  I like the three different poses I chose for the cake scene as well.

This page merely shows you my first attempt at incorporating fabric, in this case ribbon, onto one of my pages.  I think it sets the photos apart, which is good because they are really different aspects of the reception.  and yet, the ribbon gives them some connection to one another.  The jury is still out on this photo…I haven’t decided if I like it or not.
Maybe you are getting sick of these photo pages by now I have no idea, but I only have one more to show you after this one.  Again here I incorporated photos, words, and a frame for an extra kick.  I’ll let you assess this one on your own.

This is the last page of the book.  I really like red paper I think…it shows up quite a bit in this book.  Scrapbooking is easy, but back to my original point…would digital versions of a scrapbook be this unique or beautiful?  LOL  OK I really am biased aren’t I?

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