Love Poems

Love poems are a great addition to many scrapbook layouts.  You may choose from a variety of different styles, layouts, fonts, and lengths.  From sonnets to haikus, love poems bring meaning and sentiment that may be hard to introduce using only scraps of material and paper.

Your first question, where can I find love poems to use in my scrapbooks?  Hmm.  Well, many of the traditional resources for written scrapbooking materials are a good starting point.  Places such as the internet, books, songs, magazines, and cards are all great places to look.

If you have a little more time and are confident in your writing abilities and decide to write your own love poems, great!  A pen, some paper, and a little thought- and you’re in business.  Don’t be intimidated or try to overcomplicate your poems, just write what comes to mind.  These words and thoughts will become invaluable to you as time passes. 

Once you have decided on the love poems that you are going to use, you are probably wondering what will be the best way to present them in your book.  Love poems in general are normally placed in mild, soft textured layouts.  Scrap materials such as silk, satin, lace, and tulle are excellent accessories.  You can present these materials in many ways, all of which look great and will vary upon how much material you have access to. 

Bridal tulle can be used to create a small veil by gathering a small amount of the material with stiches and decorating it with a ribbon.  This veil can be overlaid on the surface of the love poems to add a little mystique to your layout. 

If you are on the hunt for a more complicated layout in which to use your love poems, a nice wedding scrapbook detail is large grains of rice that have been colored using a mist (spray) of food coloring and glued in mosaic-like patterns throughout.  Although this may sound slightly time consuming, if you use glue with a paint brush to create your mosaic’s pattern before adding the rice you will be able to just sprinkle the rice onto the glue and straighten it as you go along.  Should you choose to use this layout, please remember to be sure not to use too much water or over spray when coloring your rice grains.  And also allow additional time for drying (the glue).

Love poems are not only for use in wedding scrapbooks.  Children can write the sweetest keepsake love poems that far exceed the creativity and honesty you would find in an adult’s poetry.  They can be written for friends, spouses, mothers, fathers, anyone!  One of the sweetest examples of a love poem that made good scrapbooking material was written by a six-year old boy for his mother and given to her on Mother’s Day.  Love poems make great additions to any scrapbook. 

Another detail that you may want to consider is whether or not to type or hand script your poem into the page.  If your penmanship is of good quality, it is my opinion that handwritten verse is more authentic then something that was typed out and then printed.  However, if you are displeased with your handwriting ability, then you might choose the latter rather then the former.  If you do decide to type out your poems, you might consider taking the time to select a nice designer script font for your poems rather then a plain type font.

You can find free fonts online by doing a search for free fonts at almost any of the popular search engines.  Script fonts are very popular for love poems although you may find another type of font that you feel will fit into your layout better.  Script fonts tend to be relatively thin-faced fonts so the color used needs to be a darker color.

Finally, parchment or linen papers are terrific choices for handwritten poems or typed ones.  They add antiquity and style and are wonderfully easy to work with.  Other choices for media include regular writing paper, typing paper, stationary, anything handy.  Thin or starched pieces of material will work as well.  Your choice will undoubtably influence the type of writing utensil you will use.  Sharpie makes a fine-tipped permanent marker that is ideal for this type of application.  If you’re good with a brush, a paintbrush would be good.  Again, whatever you are most comfortable with will work best.

Your love poems should reflect your theme as well as your personality in its choice of verse, the way it is written, and the materials used to create the layout.  Although they can be used to add dimension to your scrapbook, try not to use the love poems to take up space.  Remember, your space in your scrapbook is limited and you want to be sure to use it in the most organized manner as possible.  Planning is the key to success!  Happy scrapbooking!