Pages

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Scrapbooking your little Scout!

I found some great ideas at scoutingmagazine.org. listed below for scrapping your little Scouts Adventures or so he can scrap them but either way it will be fun to look back and see how far he has come!!!!



Scrapbook Your Scouting Memories

By Dian Thomas
Photographs by Vince Heptig

It's America's fastest-growing hobby and a fun-filled way to preserve those years of blue and gold and khaki.


Cub Scouts Daniel and Cameron Thomas of Pack 3840, Salt Lake City, Utah, help dad, Clyde, and mom, Lori, choose photographs about making and racing pinewood derby cars for their scrapbook.
Remember all the fun your son had at his first pinewood derby? How about the time he trekked across Philmont's backcountry with his Boy Scout buddies? Or the day he stood proudly at his Eagle Scout court of honor?
You can treasure those memories forever by creating your own Scouting scrapbook. Making one will help you organize and preserve your son's photos, awards, and other memorabilia. And it's as easy to do as cut and paste.
So get out your photos, scissors, and glue and let your creativity take flight. Years from now, you'll cherish your scrapbook of Scouting memories.

1. Photos come first.

Your scrapbook begins with photos. You may already have a large number to choose from—after all, Americans take approximately 55 million photographs a day. That's a staggering total of more than 20 billion pictures a year, according to the Photo Marketing Association. If your photo collection is thin, you can build it by remembering to take a camera with you to all Scouting events. You don't need an expensive one; many one-time-use models produce fine prints. Take photos of all special occasions: the pack's pinewood derby and blue and gold banquet, a troop's court of honor, or an Order of the Arrow service project.
Don't forget to snap shots of everyday Scout meetings or moments at home when your Scout is working on a merit badge or hobby. Ask another Scout or a leader to take group photos of the entire den, troop, or crew, as well as individual photographs of your son.

An eye-catching arrangement of photographs, headlines, and art reflects all phases of the pinewood derby—from sanding and painting the racer to weigh-in and racing on derby day. ("The Making and Racing of a Pinewood Derby Car" by Karen Glenn)

2. Select a theme.

Tell your child's Scouting story by picking a theme for each page or each two-page spread. Some themes you could choose are:
  • Events: a Cub World visit, Scouting show, court of honor
  • Places: summer camp, high adventure base, national jamboree
  • People: "My Scout Patrol" or "My Cubmaster"
  • Awards: rank advancements and merit badges
  • Activities: hiking, canoeing, swim-ming, rock climbing

3 Pick the best photos.

Do you have 15 photos from a fishing trip or a troop hike? Narrow your choices to the best pictures in the stack. Consider using only one picture of each person in an individual setting, such as one photo of the Cubmaster standing by the pinewood derby track or one of your son holding his race car. If you don't think you have enough photos, remember that a single photo can be the focus of a page. One photo will leave more room to add a written description and artwork.

Scout advancement is a favorite scrapbook theme. Collect photographs from camp, merit badge work, and service projects that tell your son's story on the trail to Eagle. ("The Rank of Eagle" by Brenda Bennet, June 2000 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine)

4. Choose a focal point.

From the two to eight pictures that are the "finalists" in your stack, pick the shot that will attract the most attention. Stacy Julian, author of Core Composition, explains: "For your 'focus photo' select a photo that has one or more of the following qualities: (1) clear focus, (2) good use of light and shadow, (3) an interesting background, (4) a photo that expresses the theme you have chosen for your scrapbook page, or (5) a favorite photo."

5. Select a color scheme.

To create a connection on a two-page spread, you may want to repeat one or two colors from your focus photo on both pages. If you have a green background on the left page, you might want to include a green picture frame, green die-cut, or a green piece of patterned paper on the right. Using the same colors and shapes on both pages helps pull the spread together.

Events such as Cub Scout day camp are filled with scrapbooking possibilities. Be sure to take pictures of all the game and craft activities. Ask your son to write a paragraph about his favorite memories and include it along with artwork and patches from camp. ("Cub Scout Day Camp" by Kerri Bradford, June 2000 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine)

6. Place the photos on the page.

Except for covers, most scrapbook layouts are made from two pages placed side by side. Move your photos around the blank pages to consider a variety of designs. Try several placements until it feels like the pages are "balanced." A balanced page includes a fairly equal number of photos and other design elements, such as certificates or written paragraphs or art on each page.
Remember: Angles are interesting—don't be afraid to place a photo diagonally. Overlapping elements also add visual interest. Feel free to overlap the corners of two photos or place a photo diagonally across the corner of an award certificate. Placing a photo flush with the edge of your page can create a dramatic look.
Add emphasis to a photo's subject by cropping or cutting pieces from its edges to create an interesting shape. At the same time, be careful not to crop out something you'll enjoy seeing 10 years from now, such as legible bumper stickers on a car or price signs in a grocery store window.
Be sure your scrapbook contains acid-free and lignin-free materials to preserve your photos. Acid-free paper has been treated to neutralize or remove the acids present in wood pulp papers. Untreated papers can react with chemicals in photos and other mementos and cause them to turn brown or become brittle.
Lignin is the chemical in newsprint that turns old newspapers yellow. In time, it can turn to acid. To find out where to buy acid-free and lignin-free paper, call a large hobby supply or photo supply store near you. If you buy materials at a hobby or photo supply store, ask if they are acid-free and lignin-free.

7. 'Journaling' tells your story.

"Journaling" is scrapbook lingo for adding words that tell a story about your pictures. "Look at your photos and pretend no one knows what you were doing that day," suggests Angie Pymm, a consultant with the company Creative Memories." In just a few sentences, write what happened before, during, and after the moment in the photo."
For example, write where the troop went on its camp-out, which activities the Scouts enjoyed, and which fish they caught. List the place, date, and names of people in the photo. Struggles can be part of the story, too. Tell how hard it was for the boys to bait their hooks or start a fire.
"Don't worry that your words aren't perfect," Pymm adds. "Write the way you talk and the way you feel. When you look at your album 10 years from now, reading your own words will be part of the fun of sharing your scrapbook."

A single page can introduce a scrapbook theme. ("Camp Helaman" by Nancy Church, June 2000 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine)

8. Adding scrapbook extras.

After you choose your focus photo, design your layout, and add journaling, it's time to think about scrapbook extras. But before you decide to add die-cuts, stickers, strips of patterned paper, or stamped images, look at your page and ask yourself if it's finished. If it looks fine without enhancements, it is probably complete. Empty space can be an enhancement in itself.
You might consider enhancing one page out of three, remembering that your photos and journaling are the important part of your scrapbook. If you do go for extras, consider repeating elements that are already a part of your page. Choose a fish sticker to complement that fishing trip page or add a die-cut oar or tent or a binoculars sticker to a camp-out page. Accents can guide your viewer's eyes from one page to the next. Adding a patterned paper frame to a photo or creating a simple border you cut from colored construction paper may be all that you need.

9. Create a "pocket page."

Lisa Bearnson, editor of Creating Keepsakes magazine, explains that a "pocket page" is a scrapbook page with another piece of paper attached. You can create a "pocket" by gluing or taping another piece of paper to the scrap-book page on three sides.
"A pocket page allows you to keep items that you don't want to glue inside the scrapbook. It's perfect for badges, ribbons, sample knots, or other memorabilia," says Bearnson.

10. Unleash your creativity.

Lisa Bearnson says that each Scouting scrapbook can be as individual and unique as each boy who is a Scout. Your scrapbook is your creation, and it reflects your son's interests and experiences. There is no right way to create your book. Experiment with your own designs and ideas."
Look at your photos to help determine which memories are most important to you," she says. "Most of all, a scrapbook is a place to be yourself and have fun."
Dian Thomas is the author of Recipes for Roughing It Easy, a cookbook featuring more than 200 recipes for outdoor grilling and baking. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.



Software and Web Sites

Don't like using scissors and paste? With software such as Hallmark Scrapbook Studio Deluxe (Windows CD-ROM, from Sierra, $40), you can create complete scrapbook pages with photos and journaling with just a click of a mouse.
Choose from a variety of predesigned page layouts and themes or create your own. Import photos from a digital camera or scanner and then crop, shape, and fit them into your layout. Dress up the pages with text and lettering in a host of different fonts. Finally, use a color inkjet printer to output the finish product.
For scrapbooking ideas, the Internet has abundant resources. Here are some sites to get you started:

Boy Scouts Of America Embossed Stickers - Cub Scout Images

Boy Scouts Of America Embossed Stickers - Cub Scout Images

Tiger Cub Grand Adhesions Embellishments

Tiger Cub Grand Adhesions Embellishments

Boy Scouts Of America Two-Sided Paper Pad 12"x12" - Cub Scouts

Boy Scouts Of America Two-Sided Paper Pad 12"x12" - Cub Scouts

School Meeting

Yesterday evening was sign up for BSA at Sean's school, of course we had already signed him up but I wanted to go and see what all they had to say.  We got there and they had each table set up for each grade so we had a seat up front on the first grade table....while we were sitting there one of the leaders came up and gave us forms and mentioned that the Tiger Cubs were needing a leader so I got on the phone to John ( I had told him he didn't have to go).  Now he is doing his paperwork to become a leader yay!  I am excited about this :)  A few minutes later Sean's friend walks in----his best friend :)  He was so excited to have Corey joining as well!  The boys were so excited to hear about getting to shoot bb guns and the archery.  Sean has been studying his Tiger Cub book and has learned the motto, pledge, Pledge of Allegiance and the salute and has actually read the book to me!  I feel this is going to be such a fun time for us....

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Tiger Cub

Well today John took Sean to sign up for Scouts!  I am excited for them----we will see how it goes and I am certainly praying for a certain way!   They bought the Tiger Cub book, Shirt, little bandana, and the little thing that holds the bandana closed ? no idea what it is called, his belt, cap and badges that I will be sewing on his shirt hopefully sometime this weekend!!!! Tonight was football practice so after we got home and ate dinner (yes, late for dinner but he will get sick if he eats close to practice so he eats as soon as he gets home from school and then again after practice) we read the first section which was safety scenarios which all of them are like a parents worst nightmare but to tell ya the truth there were only a few of them that I have really ever discussed with him!  I was very impressed with the scenarios and honestly it was stuff that we should have already discussed.  I read him the scenarios and asked him what he would do in each situation and you could see the wheels turning just by his expressions on his face----I got to one and it stated---you are walking to school in the rain and someone driving by stops and asks if you want a ride to school? What would you do? What would you do if they persist?  He said No and I said well what if they persist?  He laid there for a few seconds and said what does persist mean?  I said they just keep on asking.......they say come one I have some candy and transformers you can play with....He said No leave me alone!  I threw all kinds of his favorite things at him and he kept saying NO!  He paused again and said that is why you do not want me walking to and from school!  Exactly why!  There was one where you are at a park and someone comes up and wants you to help them find their lost puppy.....what do you do?  Well his initial response was well it would be nice to help them....same response if someone asked him to help them carry in their groceries!  I could actually picture him going to help them and that scared me to death! We had a long discussion on what he should do and why it is not safe.  There are some more scenarios and they are very graphic if ya know what I mean but they honestly were things that I should have already discussed with him but trying to protect him just did not talk about but it is not protecting him; it could be hurting him not discussing these things no matter how much we do not want to think about it happening to our kids we do live in the real world and unfortunately bad things can happen!  I am so glad we discussed these topics tonight and he has had a long day but he listened and I could actually tell by his little facial expressions that he was actually thinking things through it wasn't like okay mom lets hurry up I am tired!  He actually said lets read this book every night and he has never wanted to do that with any book----well other then parts of his bible he likes to continuously read.