Five Tips for Scrapbooking without Photos

Occasionally you will miss the shot – maybe you didn’t have your camera, your batteries were dead, or the lighting made it impossible to get a good picture. Or perhaps, you want to record heritage events in your scrapbook and you simply do not have photos from that time period. These are all reasons why you might find yourself scrapbooking without photos. These five tips will help you pull together a scrapbook page layout without any pictures. After you read the tips be sure to visit the Scrapbook Pages without Photos Gallery to see the sample layout in greater detail and find more ideas.

Tip 1: Focus on Journaling – When you don’t have photos on a scrapbook page layout, the words definitely become the star of the page. This is a time when you have to tell the story completely through your journaling, so take the time to really tell about the events, the feelings of the people who were there, and why it was important to you. For help with your journaling, read 3 Ways to Improve Your Journaling.

Tip 2: Use Memorabilia – Not every scrapbook page has room for all the little bits of memorabilia that you may pick up at an event. For a scrapbook page without photos, however, memorabilia can play a very important role. Do you have ticket stubs, maps, or newspaper clippings? Now is the time to use them on your layout. If the items are too large or you aren’t sure about how safe they are for storing in a scrapbook, you could take a photo of the items or color copy them.

Tip 3: Add Quotes or Facts – Enhance the journaling on your layout with quotes or a little research. Are you doing a scrapbook page layout about a concert, play, or musical? Do a search for quotes or lyrics. Is your heritage layout about your grandfather’s military service? Look for historical information about the time period. Print out these snippets of text and use them to accent your scrapbook page layout. Find the perfect quote for your layout in the Poems and Quotes section of About.com Scrapbooking.

Tip 4: Create a CD/DVD Pocket – Many events (especially school concerts, shows, and recitals) offer you a chance to purchase a DVD of the show. Sometimes that video will be the only “photos” that you have. Include the DVD on your scrapbook page in a pocket made from cardstock so that it is safely stored with your memories but also readily available to be removed and popped into a DVD player for viewing. Read my step by step instuctions for creating a CD pocket for your scrapbook page.

Tip 5: Custom Embellishments – Once your have decided on the memorabilia and journaling that will be the stars of your scrapbook page without photos, it’s time to add some embellishments. Selecting page decorations that enhance the theme of the layout, will help you complete the story that is being told on the layout. You can find embellishments in your local craft store or you can create customized chipboard or paper pieced embellishments using free patterns found here on About.com Scrapbooking. The pattern for the rose on the sample page above is also free.

Using all five tips, I created a scrapbook page about my daughter’s recent high school musical production. You can see the layout in greater detail in the Scrapbook Pages without Photos Gallery.