What makes a scrapbook better than a photo album?

Interaction and personalization.

You're not just capturing a moment, you're preserving a memory. Here's how this page, titled "Boy Crazy" achieves that:

Supplies:

Paper (for an 8-by-8-inch page) -- 1 sheet of patterned paper (plaid shown here), 1 sheet of coordinating solid paper; 1 sheet textured paper to anchor photograph; scrap of coordinating patterned paper for corner turn-down; 1 sheet cardstock paper (off-white shown here) for tags.

Four eyelets (hole punch and eyelet setter needed as well)

Twine

Sewing machine and colored thread

How to make it:

The background -- Start by cutting the patterned paper (plaid in this case) into an 8-by-8-inch square as the background for the page. Cut the coordinating solid into a square the same size, then glue (color side up) onto the back of the plaid square. Or, to avoid this step, just find double-sided paper with a pattern on one side and coordinating solid color on the other. Cut a 1-by-8-inch strip of coordinating solid (green, in this case), and glue down the right-hand side of page to form background for title. Add some funky stickers in a coordinating color onto the title background.

Turn down top, lefthand corner of page, forming a triable on top of the patterned background paper. Glue a square of scrap patterned paper to the back of the page, so that the scrap of paper peeks out from behind the turned-down corner. Secure corner with eyelet.

The photograph -- Cut a 6.5-by-5-inch square of textured paper. Secure photo on top of this square at a slight angle with a dab of glue. Run the entire piece threw a sewing machine, stitching along the edge of the textured paper and over the photo (which, along with the dab of glue, secures the photo to the paper). Attached that to the bottom half of the page using an eyelet in each corner. This forms a pocket for tags.

The tags -- These tags are made out of off-white card stock, cut into 5-inch-long strips. In this case, there are four tags that spell out: Why I Love Boys. Each tag pulls out to reveal reasons boys are special. The title on each tag and the reasons listed below can be handprinted or simply printed from a computer and then cut out. Twine was added to the top of two tags, but there are plenty of options for decorating them differently. Finally, just tuck the tags (in the appropriate order) into the pocket formed by the photo, and you're done.

Quote-of-the-month

"Spring is the time when youth dreams and old age remembers."

(Author Unknown)

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About Scrapnel

Whether it's scrapbooking or some other form of paper craft -- such as card making -- this is the place for you. Scrapnel, which runs every other week on the Home & Garden page, features ideas for page layouts and cards, product reviews and local scrapbooking news.

Share your ideas and news with features editor Callie Clark Miller at 335-6611, ext. 128, e-mail cmiller@semissourian.com or write to PO Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701.