Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking workshops are one of the regular events held by The Looking Glass as part of the rapidly growing crafting fraternity. They are often held during festivals to promote arts and crafts and everyone is welcome. Don't worry if you are new to the hobby as all the basic supplies needed to get you started are provided.

So what is scrapbooking? The art of scrapbooking is a way of preserving, presenting, or arranging things in the form of an album, book, binder, box, or folio. The workshops themselves came about during Elanthian Fashion Week as a way of creating fashion portfolios to save design ideas around a particular theme or trend. Scrapbooking doesn't have to be focussed just on fashion though. It could be based around any interest, such as a nature and places of interest, or as a way to document an activity, such as adventures on the open seas.

Supplies

The most important scrapbooking supply is the album itself, which can be permanently bound such as in a book and a binder, or a folio that allows for the insertion of pages and other loose items. Even a simple box will do. Typical scrapbook items usually include printed material, text, artwork, and any other pretty bits and pieces that inspire you. In addition to the collection of memorabilia, journaling can also be part of scrapbooking. Journaling is written text that describes or explains the keepsakes in your scrapbook and can take many forms: it can be reflective or reportive or simply a list of words or even quotations and poems. You can simply use your scrapbook as a way of keeping all your notes and creative ideas in one place, or you can choose to follow a theme. It's all a matter of personal choice; there are no right or wrong ways to scrapbook!

Printed Material

Printed materials can come in a variety of forms, not limited to:

• Greetings cards from Arboreal Afterlife
• Letters received through the Mail system
• Location postcards generated from the Papermaker
• Picture Album cards sold at festivals and events
• Poetry, stories and sketches on sheets of paper or torn from a book
• Alchemy recipes torn from a recipe book

Basic Material

Basic materials usually include paper, card, ink, a quill. All of these items are available from a variety of sources.

• Stationery and writing implements can be purchased from Wax Eloquent in Ta'Illistim or from a post office in your town.
• Sheets of parchment, card etc. can also be created using the new Papermaker. Unlocked to its full potential and with the application of dye, this mechanism opens up the opportunity for creativity!
• CHE and MHO prize closets
• Festival shops throughout the year

Once you get going with your scrapbooking hobby, you can start to collect a range of paper in different colors and textures.

Embellishments

The addition of embellishments to your scrapbook are what bring it to life. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your own imagination. Some ideas include:

• Ribbons
• Lace
• Wire
• Yarn
• Fabric samples
• Leaves
• Flowers ~ fresh or dried
• Twigs
• Bark
• Beads

Tools

Once you've decided that scrapbooking is for you, it might be worth investing in some of the "tools of the trade." Some of the tools to look out for include:

• The Flower Power flower press
• "Old school" flower presses
• Tools for weaving such as lathes, awls, scissors, and snips.
• Ribbonator 2000
• Dye-n-ator
• Papermaker

None of these are essential but they can help you with the creative process and personalise your "scraps." The rest is down to your creativity and ingenuity!