Scrapbooking together: crops and crafty afternoons

Most of the time you scrapbook on your own, at the kitchen table or up in an attic room. But anyone who has ever spent an afternoon sticking things down with a few others knows how different that feels. Everyone works on their own book, and yet you're together. That's called a crop, or simply a scrapbooking afternoon.

What is a crop

A crop is a get-together where scrapbookers work side by side on their own projects. The word comes from cropping, which is what scrapbookers call trimming photos, and a crop is the occasion where you do that with others. People also talk about a scrap day, a crop afternoon or a crop night.

There are roughly three kinds:

• The open crop. You rent a spot at a table, for example in a craft shop or community centre, and work on whatever you bring along. There's often coffee, and you can usually use the shop's tools.
• The crop with a workshop. Someone teaches, and with their help you make a page, a mini album or a canvas, usually from a kit that's ready and waiting for you.
• The crop weekend or retreat. One or more days in a row, sometimes with an overnight stay, with time for your own work and workshops in between. People sometimes keep going until late into the night.

Clubs and groups often run regular crops, for example once a month. Places are usually limited, so if you want to go, sign up in good time. For many weekends you can say who you'd like to sit next to when you book.

What to bring

The biggest mistake at a first crop is bringing everything. You lug along bags full of paper and hardly get round to sticking anything down. Decide beforehand what you want to make that day and pack only what you need for it.

A handy list:

• Your photos, already printed and sorted by page or project.
• The paper and embellishments (decorations such as stickers, buttons and die cuts) you want to use with those photos.
• Basic tools: scissors, a craft knife or small paper trimmer, glue or tape, a pencil, a ruler and a pen for your journaling.
• A cutting mat, so you don't damage the table.
• A plastic bag or small box for scraps and rubbish.
• Something for yourself: a cardigan, a bottle of water, and food if it isn't included.

For a workshop you're often given a list of what to bring yourself. Check it carefully: sometimes you need a photo in a particular size, or an ink pad or a heat tool for embossing. And feel free to ask a shop in advance whether they can set something aside for you.

Got a pile of half-finished projects? A crop is a lovely chance to finish one. Lots of scrapbookers deliberately bring an old mini album that has been waiting for months.

Hosting your own scrapbooking afternoon

You don't have to wait for an official crop. An afternoon with a few friends at your own dining table is a crop too. A few things make it a lot easier.

Allow plenty of time. If you set aside two hours the first time, you'll find the time is gone before everyone has properly settled in. Think more in terms of half a day, or at least two and a half hours. Setting up, coffee and tidying away take time too.

Make sure there's enough table space. Each person soon needs a spot half a metre wide or more. A separate table to one side for shared tools works well: the trimmer, the punches, a die-cutting machine if you have one. That way not everyone has to bring everything.

Agree beforehand what everyone will bring:

• Ask everyone to bring a few photos of the same moment, say one to five. Then you're ready for one page and won't get lost in your whole photo collection.
• Anyone without photos can still join in. Make a page with empty photo frames and stick the photos in later at home.
• If you want to keep it simple, pick a small, affordable project that can be finished in one morning or afternoon, such as cards, tags or a mini album.

Put a bin on every table, or at least within easy reach. Scraps pile up faster than you'd think. And ask everyone to bring something to eat to share. It saves the host work and makes the afternoon cosy.

If there are beginners, make sure someone is there who can answer questions. A few example pages on the table or a simple sketch helps too. A sketch is a simple drawing showing where the photo, title and journaling go on the page.

Working together on one album

Sometimes you don't want to each work on your own book, but on one album together. For an anniversary, a leaving do or as a present for someone's birthday. It's an old tradition: as early as the sixteenth century, students asked friends and teachers to write or draw something in a friendship book, the album amicorum. The autograph album is a later form of it.

With a shared album, it helps to agree a few things before anyone starts sticking:

• Choose one size and a few colours, so the album stays a whole.
• Give everyone their own page or spread (two pages side by side). That way everyone has freedom and nothing clashes.
• Let one person put the album together at the end and make the cover.

If you want to make a lot in a short time, work like a little production line. One person cuts, another die-cuts, a third assembles everything. That way a small group can make dozens of cards or bookmarks in a few hours. It also brings plenty of laughter.

Swapping is another way of scrapbooking together. You exchange a few photos with another scrapbooker: you make a page with her photos and she makes one with yours. It's a way to see your own pictures with fresh eyes.

Scrapbooking together online

If you live far from a club or can't get out of the house, you can do it online too. There are forums and groups that hold online crops: an agreed day or weekend when everyone works at home on themed challenges. Afterwards you share your pages in the same thread, so others can look at them and say something about them.

A few formats to try:

• A video call with a few scrapbooking friends, where everyone works at their own table with the camera on.
• A challenge based on a set sketch, a title or a colour palette, with a deadline.
• A digital album that several people add photos and pages to, for example from a family trip.

After an in-person crop, you can carry on online. Some clubs hand out a challenge and keep accepting pages for a few weeks afterwards. That keeps the momentum going until next time.

Why working together is motivating

At home on your own, it's easy to keep putting a page off. At a crop you have a date and a block of time, and that works like a small deadline. You came especially for it, so you really do get started.

You also learn a lot. Someone next to you shows you how to make a title, someone else has a tool you've never used. You see how others combine colours or crop photos. Those little tricks are rarely something you learn from a book.

And perhaps most importantly: for one afternoon you're not busy with your phone or the housework. Everyone is absorbed in their own pages, and yet you share the afternoon. That's why many scrapbookers go back to the same crop year after year.

Got a few new pages afterwards? Scan them straight away. With Scrappd you put them on your shelf and show them to your scrapbooking friends.