The Great Outdoors

I love the outdoors… admiring all of God's wonderful creations, the smell of fresh air, and the sun shining on my face are just a few of the many things I enjoy about being outside.

The beginning of spring got me thinking about all the great scrapbook album opportunities there are relating to the outdoors. I have compiled several album ideas involving the outdoors. The following ideas could be compiled into one "Great Outdoors" album, or could even be made into an album for each theme. I hope that you will find the ideas useful in diving into your outdoor pics.

Camping

Camping is about as close to the great outdoors as you can get. Whether you are out fishing, hiking, swimming, or just relaxing near a stream, there are an abundance of photo opportunities that await you. The following are some quick ideas to get you started on your camping scrapbook:

- Make a tent paper piecing to go along with photos of your campsite.

- For those campfire photos, you could make an easy s'mores paper piecing by creating a "stick" from brown cardstock and adhere several white cardstock squares with rounded corners onto it. Chalk the edges of the white squares to give the "marshmallows" a toasted look.

- To compliment your fishing layouts, you can make fishing hooks out of wire or use jute as an "old fashioned" fishing line.

- Do you have any hiking pictures? Use a compass (or a scan of one for less bulk) as an embellishment.

All Wet

As the weather gets warmer, many peoples' thoughts drift to ways to get cooler. Of course, one of the most popular ways to cool off is in the water. With so many ways to cool off in the water – whether it is at a water park, water slide toy, water hose or sprinkler, or swimming – come many photo opportunities. To match up your layouts with your pictures, you could "shabby chic" light blue cardstock. Just ball it up and unwad it to give your cardstock a "rippled" or "wave" look. You may even choose to go a step further and sandpaper it to add more depth. Water can also be simulated with blue vellum.

Child's Play

The young - or even young at heart - enjoy playing outside. Why not document all of the fun in a scrapbook? You could include the pictures from that fun, sunny day spent at the park. As an accent, you could make a swing using small jump rings joined together to create the chains that the swing hung from. You could also use jute string instead of the jump rings to make the swing attachments.

What about those pictures you have of everyone riding their bikes? You could make a "bike tire" and use wire as the spokes of the tire.

Seasons

As we all know, the outdoors are affected by the seasons, whether it be a cold, wintry day, or a hot summer day. Why not make a scrapbook showing how you spend the seasons of the year? You could include pictures of being outside making a snowman, going to the movies on a rainy day, or of the barbeque you had that warm evening to start the summer.

Gardening

Do you plant a garden of some type? A garden scrapbook is a great way to keep track of what you plant in your garden. You could include "before" and "after" pictures, with the "before" pictures being the area that you plant your seeds, and the "after" photos showing your garden fully grown. Be sure to include scanned copies of your seed packages to include in the book.

I hope some of these ideas have started you off in creating your own "Great Outdoors" scrapbook. Now go out and capture those photos and get started on your latest scrapbook!

See lots of outdoor layouts in the Great Outdoors gallery! And upload your own layouts to the jazzclub gallery!

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