Most of us begin taking boat loads of photos with the birth of a baby. Over the years our cameras generally take a back seat to more useful tools like vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers but come out of the closet for special events like the "birth" day where it all started. The result? Tons of birthday photos.The solution is easier than you might think. Select a few dozen of your favorite photos from one birthday and create a mini book dedicated to that one special event. You can create a scrapbook from scratch or simply customize a store bought book for this project.One of the things I like most about scrapbooking my birthday photos is the wealth of brightly colored birthday embellishments that are available. Whether you prefer stickers or die cuts; rubber stamps or ribbon, you can find birthday themed embellishments all year round and in every color imaginable.I selected stickers and die cuts in bright, primary colors then chose paper in matching colored solids and prints. Trimming the paper into graduated sizes, both on the top and the side, exposed all of the colors, creating a checkered pattern along the right edge, with multi colored bands along the top. Fastening candles, balloons and gift die cuts and stickers so they protrude off the page tops establishes the theme of the book without even opening the pages. The exposed embellishments need to be backed with a matching die cut or sticker to prevent them from sticking to the next page. When cutting the black cover of the scrapbook, I trimmed it 3/4-inch shorter than the shortest interior pages, plus cut out a square window, allowing a sneak peek to the inside of the book. I added another cover cut from a clear page protector to sit on top and protect the exposed pages when the book is closed. A handmade scrapbook can be bound in several ways -- ribbon threaded through hole punched pages, a plastic comb binding purchased at a local copy center, or this one is bound with a Roll-a-bind system that features disks that bind the pages that are punched much like a Rolodex card.If you purchase a scrapbook it's easy to mark the top and sides of the pages and trim them to create the same checkered style pattern along the top and right edge of the book.A birthday only happens once a year and is meant to stand out from the other 364 days of the year.Of course you're going to take photos, so why not display them in a book that is as special as the person it celebrates?(Sandi Genovese hosts "Scrapbooking" on the DIY -- Do It Yourself Network. For more information visit www.diynet.com. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
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