Fancy taking on a family project? One where the children, parents, and any family members can join in the fun, chip in with creative ideas, and quite possibly bring some extra creative flair to the project?
Photos and some scrapbooking materials are all you are going to need to get going. They are cheap and easy to get either sourced locally or from an online craft store.
The materials needed for a DIY photobook
- Printed photos
- Craft scissors
- Craft glue – acid-free liquid glue is safest to use with photographic paper
- Ribbon or twine to tie the pages together
- A hole punch
- Paint (optional)
- Pen or pencils to write personalised messages and notes
- Quality coloured card stock (or white card if you plan to colour them in with, as an example, watercolour paints)
Putting your Project Together
Even before you get to play with the supplies, the whole family can spend time enjoying flicking through your family photo albums, and digital photos to find the prints to include in the book.
For digital prints, you can either print them using your home printer with photo paper stock or order prints online to use with your project. If you are local to Bedford photo prints can be ordered to collect at either of our locations.
A good idea is to use themes for the book, keeping in mind that as it is a DIY project, dividers can be used to separate themes, such as holiday photos, and special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries or retirement parties. Just wedge a piece of card in to split the themes and decorate it with either handwriting or create a digital image to use as a personalised divider.
Assemble your photos and start piecing it together
Putting your photos together into a DIY photobook is a bit like assembling a jigsaw, only much more fun because you can make any piece fit anywhere in your book. Want to insert some dry pressed flowers? Glue those to card and add it anywhere you feel it fits, like as the card divider before your book leads into the Easter egg hunt section. The end of your photobook could have Halloween themed dividers and Christmas themed dividers. Let your imagination run wild!
Putting your photos into a book only requires them to be glued to quality card stock. The thicker the paper, the better. When glueing them, it’s easier to work with a liquid glue and acid-free is always recommended for everything coming into contact with photographs.
The edges of your photos can be further enhanced with other craft supplies such as washi tape, and there are plenty of other decorative elements such as beads, craft feathers, plastic shapes, or you could cut pieces of card, paint them, or even create letter art out of different colours of card and stick those around your photos to label them.
The finishing touch…
Finishing a DIY photobook is the binding stage and it can be done with a couple of holes punched in the edges of each page, then bound together with ribbon or twine to hold your pages together.
If you have photos stored away, a photobook is the perfect opportunity to get them out of storage, spend time with the family enjoying them, and get creative with them while having fun as a family in the process.