Scrapbooking With Kids

On By scrapbookbex

I love getting messy in my craft room. I often emerge covered in glue, glitter, ink and sequins! My son wanted to get in on the act.

So I did what I usually do and set up his little space next to me and got out the bits and pieces I keep aside for him to use.

He has his own stash that I’ve bought from various kids craft ranges and also things that I had in the early days, when I bought everything I saw and inevitably never used.

“No mum, I want to scrapbook with you.”

Now this was a different prospect altogether.

Scrapbooking with me?

I have never collaborated on a project before and although I love him dearly, I was worried the layout would seem messy in my album and not fit in.

We decided we would give it a go. He picked the photographs he wanted to use. Three 6×4″ pics of him drawing rainbows. From this we decided to make the page into a rainbow. We found lots of coloured paper and some stamps.

We got messy:

Really messy!

We made a rainbow by tearing up patterned paper and making a collage. (I didn’t cry about all that paper, honest!)

SAM_3583
Patterned paper collage.

We each stamped a different rainbow and coloured it in.

My stamped rainbow.
My stamped rainbow.
My son's coloured rainbow.
My son’s coloured rainbow.

He wanted to cut all of the background off the photos to make sure the focus was solely on him. (He doesn’t get that from me!)

What about a title? He went for the stack of Thickers.

Oh no! Not the Thickers!

He got several different packets out of the basket…

…And breathe!

He went to the washi tape drawers…

…More breathing!

SAM_3578
Thickers and washi tape.

Here is our finished page that we created together.

The finished layout.
The finished layout.

And do you know what? It’s actually one of my favourites. It may not be the prettiest layout I’ve ever created, but it still has pride of place in my album.

There is colouring out of lines. There is a mish-mash of Thickers. Odd-shaped photos. But I don’t care!

What’s more?

We had so much fun being creative together. It was quality time and he got a lot out of it.

While there might not be washi and Thickers going into his craft basket any time soon, it helped me to realize that scrapbooking is not just about the end product, but the joy of being creative. I also realized that all of those hoardable items are better sat on a page than in a basket too.

Perhaps you might let a little one in your life raid through your Thickers?

Love and crafty cuddles,

Scrapbook Bex.

11 thoughts on “Scrapbooking With Kids”

  2. Shelly@JunkyardStitches

    My daughter used to love to scrapbook with me when she was younger, and those are some of my most cherished moments. The pages we made together represent that time and they are some of the most important pieces in my albums. She’s older now and I can’t talk her into doing anything crafty with me and that makes me sad, but at least I have the memories from the past. I also hope to do more scrapping with her later when she has her own kids!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Iliana

    This is such an inspiring post! Love the collab layout – how sweet and precious! I have 2 boys who quite like getting arty. It is a risk letting young paws loose on the Thickers and washi tapes but you couldn’t buy a layout like this for all the money in the world. Time to give it a go myself, I reckon!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. karencannings1

    Let them near my thickers? NEVER! Thanks for this lovely post, it really reminded me of crafting with my children (a long, long time ago), thank goodness you were there to supervise! The finished article is wonderful and so full of memories, both from the photographs being scrapped and the scrapping process. All the best mums craft (and the really good ones, occasionally give up some if their own stash to their little munchkins)! x

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment