Memories in Glitter

One of my oft-picked up and oft-dropped again projects (I'm partially Gemini; can't help it!) is a lolita scrapbook. I spent most of my time slathering the cover with jewels and ribbons, and used the best of my Angelic Pretty stickers on it. I've made it about three pages in since Christmas, unfortunately. In my meager defense, each page is huge and needs to be prepared before any few photos are added. I'm just not a traditional, magazine-style scrapbooker. I don't keep any brads, grommets, or extra die cuts lying around.

I'm more interested in old-school scrapbooking. The Victorian era, 1920s style, where girls added trimmed out newspaper clippings, the odd photo, and a few pressed pansies in the pages. I already enjoy art journaling, which is full of pretty papers, emotion, and sketched unicorns. But I wanted this to be something special. Not just about lolita, but of the memories I have had with lolita and my darling lolita friends, The Court.

So now, with mounted annoyance and maybe a touch of guilt over the unfinished state of the large, popular-style scrapbook, I have found a small deliverance. It's a violetish rose color, and has a shifting layer of delicate raschel lace on the cover. The paper inside looks a little like flower seeds.

Are you interested in lolita scrapbooking? There really is a lot you can do with it - well, anything you want, really. Maybe you like to do the new style, with tons of gadgets and glue and gizmos and layouts. Or maybe you like to paste in ticket stubs from your lolita outings (I am a terrible keeper of ticket stubs - I'll save movie stubs for years, and I've already had Parisian metro stubs for two!), or perhaps you like to doodle. Whatever strikes your fancy! A few ideas:

• Catalog your daily outfits and inspirations. If you're not posting them on the Internet, you don't need to worry about what's lolita and what isn't, or the fact your hair had a weird kink that day. It's just for you, so feel free to do it as often as you like. If you don't want to do photos, you can also do sketches - sort of like Fifi Lapin.
  
• Or go in the opposite direction and print out your inspirations of other people's clothes and artwork. It's just for your personal use, so I don't think there would be any copyright issues. Either of these ideas could be great supplemented with some of your favorite quotes.
• You could put in photos from your lolita outings and lolita friends. Silly photos, photoshoots, and small souvenirs are an excellent start.
  
• Or, if you have mostly online lolita friends or lolita penpals, add thread transcripts you love or the letters they send you. I think printing out an instant messenger conversation with a beloved online lolita friend would be so sweet glued in the pages, with a few doodles around the sides. And pretty Japanese or Victorian stationery can tell a story between you and your penpal. Some Victorian ladies would keep two copies of the letters they wrote - one to send away, and another to keep so that she would know the context of the others.
• Practice calligraphy or old-fashioned script in your scrapbook.
  
• Make your journal a living wish list by adding anything that catches your fancy while window-shopping online - dream dresses, impossible bags, and hugely expensive boots.
  
• If you enjoy writing, add some short stories or poems to your scrapbook. A few photos interspersed with a couplet or so by your own self is a very sentimental touch.
• Use sheet music on the pages for a pretty touch. You can use it just decoratively, or use the sheet music to your favorite song or maybe classical piano piece. Add your own words in the lyrics, or simply add photos.
• Speaking of pretty touches: ribbons, bows, lace. You know your mission. Go!
• If you're really into the stickers that come with your Japanese magazines, make a glorified sticker book. I keep mine in my LC planning diary :)
• Save your brand paraphernalia like tags, postcards, and extra fabrics and buttons. Sometimes they also send along printed ribbons, which can look lovely as ribbon bookmarks in the spine or looped around a spiral notebook's hinge.
  
• Pressed flowers are one of my favorite things as well. They're especially fun if you pick flowers from an outing, like a picnic with your friends - or if you pick unusual flowers and then add their botanical names and maybe magical properties?!
• Save any valentines you get or secrets that really speak to you. There is something quiet and beautiful about a well-loved secret or valentine sent anonymously; they warm the heart.
• Use old-style photo corners for an antique-y look. Black is traditionally retro, but I like gold for a sense of Victoriana.
  

Got any other ideas on how to use a lolita scrapbook? Let us know! Every book is a work of your own thoughts and beauty, so they will all be different and unique - rather like lolitas themselves.

Labels: crafty loli

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 9:30 AM