Photo Focus: Try it in Black and White

Close up photos (or portraits) are great for scrapping. However, have you tried using a photo in black and white? I have started doing some of my portrait shots in black and white, and it really give a new look to a scrapbook page. Here is an example.

This is Matt, my "tweenager". He will sometimes let me snap a photo -- so I take advantage of it. Here is the photo in color:

While this is a great close-up, I edited it to black and white:


There is much more focus on his face, instead of the background. The sunlight also gives great highlights, without doing any other adjustment.

This black and white technique was done using Windows Photo Gallery. First, make a copy of your photo. With the copy, simply choose "Fix", then "Adjust Color." Slide the Saturation tool all the way to the left, then save. That's it. There are other programs where you can fine tune black and white photos, but if you are a beginner, this is the simplest and quickest way to go.

Scrapbook Process: Showcase Your Child's Artwork

My youngest son, Josh, is in Kindergarten this year, and you know what that means -- lots of artwork comes home! Unfortunately, I really do not have the space to keep everything he will bring home during the year, so I found another solution. I found an inexpensive spiral scrapbook that is 10" x 7". (It already had the opening for a photo.) I used paper and sticker stripes to decorate the cover from the bland brown it was originally:

I started with a cover page inside:

Dedication page:


then took photos of his large artwork and created pages for each month when they were created. Here are a couple months in his book:


page 2 from November:


When I started the project, I precut the photo mats and the paper for each page. I have the next couple months ready, so all I have to do is choose the paper and start adhering.