Lapbooking for fun and knowledge

One of the 1000 hobbies I like to indulge in is scrapbooking.  It started when my niece was born as a way to preserve history.  But then it grew and I enjoy messing with paper and glue.  I like to make and hand bind my own journals (and have sold a few).  So I am always on the lookout for new ideas.

This year I have been part of the One Little Word project over at bigpictureclasses.com. And while it has been fun, I found it too be too little each month.  I personally think its hard work to find the focus on a particular word for  a year with one or two exercises a month.  So I have been adding more stuff to each month to better keep my focus!

So on to lapbooking.  Lapbooking is a method used mostly by home schoolers for children to focus on a particular area of study.  It boils down to a portfolio of journaling, scrapping, illustrating using muti-media, collage, writing and other techniques to illustrate what they learned about a particular subject.  Then when finished they can always go back and peruse their work.  It helps to re-enforce what was learned.

I think it is the perfect medium for scrapbooking.  Particularly if you are focusing on a specific event, trip, time period or other singular thing you want to incorporate into your scrapping and or life.  A google search on lapbooks will get you hundreds of links but the gist is the same:

• Make a portfolio.  Typically using file folders or poster board or whatever.. Skies the limit
• typical with fold outs, envelopes, pictures, drawings whatever ephemera you would like
• Ability to add small flip book, step books any thing as long as you can access it
• Make, gather or otherwise come by "CONTENT" for your folio based on your focus
• Assemble your content into your portfolio.  When satisfied, move on to the next one.
• Enjoy it.

My idea is to spend a year working on these.  One a Month, with a unifying theme...So...Join me on the adventure over at Lifebooking