Love Nature? Make a Nature’s Scrapbook.

By guest contributor Leong Khay Mun

I love the great outdoors. Living in Singapore’s concrete jungle, I try to get my two boys out and about to explore nature as often as possible. Lucky for me, both boys love running around and getting their hands dirty exploring the environment.

My elder boy loves doing art and craft too, so I thought of getting him to help me with an “I Love Nature” scrapbook. Not only would it be a great way for him to interact with nature, but also to occupy his curious mind and keep him busy.

This scrapbook is easy to put together for children aged five to ten, and definitely a good way for parents to teach their kids about nature and our environment.

What’s more, the Canon Creative Park website has plenty of resources (under its Scrapbook section) for creating lovely materials that you would need to put a scrapbook together.

So if you’re ready, then let’s get started!

WHAT YOU NEED

STEPS

1. Collecting materials in the park

The concept for this nature scrapbook is to incorporate materials that come from nature. So instead of using coloured or pattern paper for your background (available from Canon Creative Park’s website), take a picture of the blue sky with fluffy clouds and a gorgeous green patch of grass in the park/garden.

Next, find a tree with a bark pattern that you want to make a rubbing of. (The rougher and more textured the bark, the more interesting the print will be.) Take a piece of white paper and place it on top of the bark. Gently rub your crayon over the paper till the bark pattern appears.

My boys love collecting objects they find in the park, so they had great time with this next part of the project: collecting leaves. Try to find green leaves that have fallen off the branch. If not, dry leaves will do as well though it will be harder to attach them to your background later.

2. Pick and print

Next, go to the Canon Creative Park’s website and pick your favorite borders set, letter kit, and pattern paper.

Click on the item of your choice, click “Download” (in A4 format), and save the PDF document on to your computer.

Print the following items in A4 size on your Canon PIXMA printer:
- Photograph of the sky (one piece, borderless)
- Photograph of the grass (two pieces, borderless)
- Borders and letter kit

Print the following in 4 x 6”:
- Pattern paper (one piece, borderless)
- Photograph of your child in the park (one piece, with or without border, optional)

For 3D stickers, take your pick from the 3D Sticker section of the website.

3. Setting the stage

My favorite part of the scrapbook is actually the ‘tree’, so I am going to start with that page.

First, create the backdrop for your tree. Cut the photograph of the grass such that it fills up slightly less than one-third of the photograph of the sky.

Put three strips of double-sided tape across the back of the photograph of the grass.

Pick an edge to create a grass silhouette. To make the edge of your photograph look like blades of grass, you can use shred scissors or scrapbooking scissors. I opted for a DIY approach. (Draw the grass silhouette at the back of your photograph to guide your child along.)

Peel away the backing of the double-sided tape, and stick the photograph of the grass on to the bottom of the other photograph.

4. Making the tree

To complete the picture, the next step is to create a tree from your bark rubbing and the leaves you collected. Take the bark rubbing that you have made earlier, and get your child to cut out the ‘tree trunk’. Cut some ‘branches’ if you wish. Use double-sided tape to stick the tree trunk on to the backdrop.

You can include a ‘real branch’ by sticking a twig on to the picture using art glue.

Next, add the leaves. Get creative and just place them around the top of your trunk. Stick them to the photograph using art glue.

5. Making the photo page

To create the setting for your reversed (photo) page, cut the borders from the border set you downloaded from Creative Park.

Then make your 3D flowers; follow the simple instructions provided in the PDF that you have downloaded.

Next, draw a heart and place some self-adhesive jewels on them. Take the pattern paper that you have printed and draw a heart shape that is larger than the first heart that you have created. Place the jeweled heart on top of the bigger heart, and stick them together with double-sided tape.

Don’t forget to cut out the letters that you printed earlier to form your message.

Then place your child’s photograph, the borders, 3D flowers, and letters on the photograph of the grass.

Finally, just play around with the layout until you’re satisfied with your masterpiece. Then secure everything with double-sided tape or glue.

There you go! Your very own nature-inspired “I love nature” scrapbook spread.