Putting collections in a scrapbook

I try not to collect things. They clutter up the house and then when I die, my kids will be stuck trying to decide what to do with all the stuff I held onto. I do, however, enjoy collecting unique shells when I go the the beach. I'll use them to decorate picture frames or put them in jars to display in the house. There was a big bag of shells left over in my craft room, so I decided to use them for my more important collection -- my scrapbook albums.  This converts my seashell collection to a more compact digital format that will fit neatly on my shelves.

You could do the same thing with coins, pens, or anything that is small enough. Any kind of background can be used, though I like the clean look of white. Just keep in mind the dimensions of your page and how you want the page to look. You may want to include space for words, like I did here.

For this photo, I put the shells on a piece of white poster paper and hand-held the camera directly above the shells. I used a hot shoe-mounted flash and bounced it off a reflector at a 90 degree angle to the floor. If you don't have flash equipment, you could also take it outside on an overcast day to get adequate lighting.

Making a page out of trinkets could be considered “upcycling” – making something with greater value out of something of lesser value. I'll probably end of throwing many of the shells away, but at least I got to use them for a project.