It’s that time of year again, time for cold, wet stuff to fall from the sky. While we adults might not appreciate it much, snow is something wonderful for children, particularly if it is their first time seeing it. I’m sure you’ve captured more than a few shots of your little one experiencing the magical properties of snow for the very first time . . . now it’s time to put those into the perfect first snow scrapbooking layout.

Getting the Right Photos

Often, photos that have snow in the background will turn out too dark. This is because the reflected light off the white causes the camera to lower its settings and you’ll end up with faces that are nearly silhouettes against the bright background. This can be avoided by minimizing just how much snow you show, zooming in on the baby’s face, and by manually setting your white balance.

If you are going through older photos, you can often lighten them up in the computer. Play with the brightness and contrast settings to make the faces light enough without diminishing quality.

Scrapbooking That First Snow

Scrapbooking That First Snow

Please note that since I live in a tropical country, my kids have no first snow photos, so I’ve used these cute ones from flickr user mgessford.

Choosing Colors

Since snow is white, it tends to blend into the background and can be difficult to highlight. You don’t want to use too many light colored papers in your first snow layout, since these will tend to look washed out with the whiteness in the photos.

One way to go is to choose colors that go with your baby’s clothing. Most snow suits, hats and scarves are quite bright and this can be a fun way to add color to a scrapbook layout. Holiday colors for photos that are taken near Christmas are also quite appropriate, since a good shot of your little one’s first taste of snow looks great against a dark green or burgundy backdrop.

If you aren’t sure what to look for, go with blue. The shadows in white (such as snow) are blue in tone, so this makes cool shades work very well for a snowy scrapbook page.

Embellishing a Snow Page

Obviously, when you think of a first snow scrapbooking layout, snowflakes come to mind! You’ll find plenty of embellishments that work with snow, though. Look for ribbons in wintery colors, buttons and stickers that feature hats and scarves. Even paper cutouts in the shape of mittens and boots work well. Use your imagination and don’t let yourself be held back by the standard snowflakes.

That being said, sparkly or 3D snowflake embellishments can really enhance a photo. You may want to use them particularly when you have a closeup of your baby and there isn’t really any actual snow in the photo.

Other options include swirls and glitter, all of which enhance the idea of snow. You may want to buy a special winter kit, like ones I’ve used here from Scrap Matters.

Creating the perfect first snow layout with scrapbooking is a way to preserve those fleeting moments. All too soon, your little one will be heading off to the ski slopes with his friends and those precious awe-stricken expressions will be long gone. But, if you’ve scrapbooked them, you’ll have the memories forever.

Similar Posts: