Starting with a scrapbooking kit is an excellent idea because everything you need is contained in one package. All of the decisions have been made for you. This may sound limiting or confining, but it keeps the newbie scrapper from being overwhelmed with choices and keeps them from chasing after the newest cool things when they might not even be ready to use them.

Another advantage to starting with a scrapbooking kit is that it gives you time to let your creativity develop. Most kits will contain fairly rudimentary items and will probably give you good instruction on how to arrange things. Starting out this way will give you a good knowledge of the basics. As your creativity grows, you’ll come up with your own ideas on how to branch out from these basic designs.

A scrapbooking kit is an excellent choice if you think you want to try scrapbooking, but you’re not convinced you’ll stick with it. Buying a kit won’t take very much time or money. So if you try it and decide you don’t like it, or if you stick it in a closet and never try it at all, you won’t be obsessed with how much time and money you’ve wasted.

Scrapbooking kits are usually designed around a certain theme. You’ll find packages that focus on birthdays, weddings, baby’s first this or that, and other traditional family events. Obviously these won’t cover every memorable event that you want to scrapbook, but kits aren’t designed to do that anyway. Scrapbooking kits are like training wheels. They’ll make your first attempts much less painful and you can take them off anytime you’re ready.

Let’s consider album size first. Large albums tend to be either 12″ x 12″ or 8.5″ x 11″. Some of the more popular small albums are 8″ x 8″ and 6″ x 6″. If you’re starting a more general project where you have lots of photographs and a variety of events, then you should probably go with a larger album.

If you try to use a small album, you will be limited on where you can place photographs and will probably end up having to use multiple albums. This means you will spend more, and the finished project will probably seem less organized. The best use for small albums is when you want to scrapbook about a single event, like a specific birthday or anniversary, or a particular vacation.

What about binding styles? There are three basic types of scrapbooking albums: strap-bound, post-bound, and ring-bound. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Strap-bound albums are long-lasting and they lay flat when you open them. But given their construction, they are notoriously difficult to reorder. If you decide you want to put the pages in a different order, you have to take the entire book apart. Using a strap-bound album is great if you have everything completely planned before you begin. They are especially good to use if you intend to have several two-page layouts, because there is no gap between pages when they lay flat.

Post-bound albums occupy the middle ground when it comes to album types. A major positive feature of these albums is that they are easy to expand. All you have to do is buy post extenders. When it comes to rearranging the pages, they do offer a slight advantage over strap-bound albums, but it would still be a good idea to do a little planning ahead of time.

Ring-bound albums provide a great deal of flexibility when it comes to rearranging the pages. Unfortunately, there is also a big gap in the middle when you open the book. That makes this type of album least suitable when you expect to have two-page layouts.

Beginners should probably opt for large, ring-bound albums for their first few projects. Once you get some experience under your belt, then you will probably be able to figure out what your next scrapbooking project needs.

Once you spend some time scrapbooking, you’ll probably develop your own personal preferences for glues and adhesives. Of course, if you’re just starting out, it’s difficult to know what you should personally prefer! The only absolute requirement for scrapbooking adhesive is that you find something photo safe. Then you’ll have to decide how you want to deliver the glue. Three popular choices are glue dots, glue sticks, and glue pens.

First, let’s deal with the issue of photo safe adhesive. What you should be looking for on the glue packaging is either the phrase acid-free or archival safe. Some glues contain different amounts of acid. Acid content is one of the reasons you should not use Elmer’s glue or rubber cement. Over time, if there is any acid contained in the glue, it will begin to damage your photographs and other items you’ve included in your scrapbook album.

In what form should you buy your scrapbook glue? Many scrapbook addicts like to use glue dots. These are, well, little dots of glue. They will probably look and feel like little bubbles of thick gel. When you buy glue dots, they usually come sandwiched between two pieces of paper. People like to use glue dots because they’re fast and safe.

Another option is to use glue sticks. If you have any familiarity at all with elementary school projects, then you should know what I’m talking about. A glue stick looks like lipstick or Chapstick, but it dispenses glue. This choice for securing your photos and other items is also quick and easy, but you may need to test it out where you live. The adhesive in glue sticks does not work equally well in all climates. It seems to especially have trouble in areas of high humidity.

If you want the convenience of a glue stick, but feel like you need a little more precision, you might want to look for glue pens. They work in the same way as clue sticks, but you can really target exactly where you want the glue.

Well, I tried to spread some information around about glue sticks, glue pens and glue dots. I hope some of it sticks!

Browse through your photos to determine which ones you’ll be using in this particular scrapbooking project. As you do this, you can begin to organize them into groups for each page. Normally, you’ll need to choose from three to five photographs for each page, but it will depend on the size of your scrapbooking album and size of your photos.

Next, for each page in the scrapbook, you should choose a single photo to be your focal point. Every page should have a focal point, an area to which all eyes will be drawn. That spot needs to occupied by the best, most colorful photo you have for that page. To enhance the attractiveness of this central picture, you may choose to have it enlarged. Of course, how much larger you make will depend on the size of your scrapbook page and the number of pictures you have planned for it.

Once you have all of your photographs picked out, you should store them in archival photo boxes. Or at least put them in Ziploc bags–one bag per page–and put them in an airtight container. Yes, it’s true that you’re going be working with them right away, but you never know when you might need to take a break from your project. It will also take time to work through the book, and there’s no point in taking a chance with the photos for the back of the book while you’re working on the first pages.

Don’t forget to take the pictures that didn’t make the cut for this project and return them to their place in your organized storage. Remember, these are good pictures that you may end up using in a different project. The beauty of scrapbooking is that you can always come up with a new perspective on events, a new theme to build your project around. If you keep your photographs organized, they’ll always be ready for the next project.

When you experience an event and record it with a photograph, you probably think you will remember it forever. However, as time passes, memories can become clouded. You may not realize that the picture you took might strongly resemble another picture of something completely unrelated. It soon becomes clear you will need to write something down about your memory while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Let me tell you right now–I didn’t start scrapbooking because I like keeping a diary. I understand it’s important to write things down, but if I have to start writing a diary for everything I did in the scrapbook, forget it. Just the thoughts of that much writing really takes the wind out of my sails. What to do?

Enter scrapbook quotes! Scrapbooking quotes give you a middle of the road solution, providing you with a memory cue but then allowing your own mind to fill in the blanks. So the question now becomes, how do you choose the perfect scrapbooking quote?

I try to be SMaRT about my scrapbooking quotes: Short, Memorable, Relevant, Touching. (OK, so there’s no “a.” If you want to be a purist and remember SMRT, then be my guest.)

Short. Great scrapbooking quotes should be short. A surplus of writing tends to take attention away from the pictures. Remember, the point of a scrapbook is to help you relive the past experience. A photograph combined with a piece of memorabilia plus a short memory cue triggers vivid memories. If you’re simply reading about the event, that’s more like reading about something someone else did.

Memorable. The more memorable a scrapbooking quote is, the more likely it is to stick in your head. Usually the easiest words and phrases to remember are song lyrics. In fact, I bet some song lyrics just popped into your head right now! Phrases from some of your favorite songs are excellent scrapbooking quotes.

Relevant. Scrapbooking quotes should be relevant to the items around it. Adding a quote that is relevant to the location or the event is easy. Instead, try to make your scrap booking quote relevant to what you felt, relevant to what you experienced. Don’t just write location and date.

Touching. scrap booking court should do more than just cue your memory, they should also touch your emotions. Because scrap booking is more than just an intellectual memory exercise, it should also be something that lifts your spirits and just makes you feel good.

And that’s how you can be SMaRT about your scrap booking quotes — short, memorable, relevant, and touching.

In fact, there’s really no reason to consider scrapbooking to be some sort of special craft hobby at all. Scrapbooking is a way to retrieve photographs and mementos out of photo albums and boxes, and display them in a way that will have the true meaning for you.

If you happened onto my blog because of an Internet search, then you already know there’s a lot of information out there about scrapbooking. It’s an activity that’s fun, rewarding and popular. So lots of people are writing about it and sharing their experiences. For everyone already involved in it, this much information about scrapbooking is exciting. However, if you’re just getting started, all this advice can be pretty overwhelming.

So what are the essentials of scrap booking? What do you really need to start your journey?

The most basic and essential item you will need is the album. There are several styles available and a couple of choices to be made, so I wrote about choosing your scrapbooking album here. Other items include:

Adhesive glue. Basically you want to find adhesive that is acid free. Another good option especially when you’re starting out is to find glue that will allow you to remove and re-stick your photos and memorabilia without damaging the scrapbook paper. By the way, stay away from Elmer’s glue or rubber cement — these both have acid and will damage your photographs.

Paper. There is a huge variety of paper available for scrapbooking. The more you get into scrapbooking, the more ideas you’ll have for using different types of paper. The important rule of thumb when it comes to paper is similar to that of glue. Your paper should be as acid free as possible. If the paper you find has a pH rating, make sure it’s seven or higher. Higher numbers mean less acid. Another good thing to look for is lignin-free paper. This signifies higher-quality paper that’s less likely to turn brown with age.

Writing pens. Scrapbooking involves writing some scrapbooking quotes in your album. This is one of the things that set scrapbooking apart from a basic photo album. Must-haves when it comes to pens — acid free, waterproof and permanent.

A ruler. Although not absolutely essential, a ruler may help you keep things straight and allow you to measure so you’ll know how much can fit on a page.

It is totally possible to get started scrap booking with these few items mentioned above. Like any popular activity, there are even more things you can buy that will make the scrap booking process more creative. But there will be time enough for those extras later on. Don’t let a long shopping list keep you from preserving your memories.

Many people report that one reason they started scrapbooking was that they felt guilty for having boxes and boxes of unorganized photographs. When we are experiencing a birthday, anniversary, vacation or any other personal or family event, it’s difficult to imagine ever forgetting it. We record the day with photos and go home with a sense of fulfillment and joy. But life begins to take over and photos get stored in boxes, and eventually our life is defined by a closet full of odd-sized boxes. Scrapbooking lets us reopen our memories and give them a place of higher honor in the daylight, where everyone can share in them.

But there’s more to scrapbooking than just the need to organize. Many scrappers are all about preserving family memories. It seems that times just get tougher for families. The structure of families is constantly changing. We rarely live with extended family anymore and end up missing the reminiscing of our grandparents. And, today’s families are more mobile, moving to new homes and new cities much more often than ever before. Scrapbooks give us a link to our past. They let us look back in time and see the flow of our lives, and maybe even help us make sense of it all.

Scrapbooks allow us to be creative. By combining photographs, physical objects and text in an album, we can be as creative as we desire. Almost anything goes inside a scrapbook, from ticket stubs to newspaper clippings to hair clippings! These scraps of our lives can then be embellished with ribbons, fabric, artwork and graphics.

There are lots of great reasons to become a scrapbook addict. But this is an addiction that will enrich your life and the lives of those you love.

Other times, I would get distracted and suddenly realize it had been weeks since I had last worked on my scrapbooks. A really big problem that I struggle with is thinking up new ideas while I’m trying to finish my current scrapbook, and we all know how much more exciting it is to start something new compared to finishing something “old.”

Here are some tips I’ve come up with that will help you get your scrapbook done, instead of letting it drag out for way too long.

Keep your designs simple. This is especially important if you’re just starting out with scrapbooking. It’s easy to fall in love with designs that my be more than we can accomplish. If you stay with a simpler design, you will save time on each page and the project will seem to fly by. Simple designs are also a great way to learn the basics. As you become more proficient, it’s easier to branch out and add to your designs.

Set up a schedule. If your scrapbooking project is important and you want to give it some priority, then schedule specific times for working on it. Decide what works best for you. Schedule a little scrapbook time every day, or plan to work on it certain days every week. When you put your scrapbooking onto the calendar before other tasks, then you’ll be surprised how easy it is to accomplish what you want.

Keep things organized. Try to store everything for each scrapbooking project together. Even better, keep everything organized by page. That way, if you are interrupted in your scrapbooking, it won’t take you forever to get started again when you do have time.
Keep things organized, store everything together, organize by page

Work on one project at a time. It is so easy to let the fruit of your creativity distract you from the task at hand. If you have a flash of inspiration for a great new scrapbooking project, don’t drop the one you’re working on now. Instead, just take a second to write down the ideas you have. You can keep a notebook around for this purpose. Then, once you finish your current project, you can grab the notebook and decide which project to tackle next.

And that’s how you finish a scrapbooking project. Stick with simple designs, work on a predetermined schedule, keep all your stuff organized and work on a project until you finish it. By following these simple and easy suggestions, you’ll soon have shelves filled with beautifully displayed memories.

Cropping is best for removing distracting elements. When you have a photograph of a certain event, you want to highlight the people and the places connected with that event. Grab a couple of photos and take a look at the background. Does it contain things that add to the memory, like the venue or the weather? Or do you see things in the background that distract from your message, like a stranger wandering by or a public restroom? Artful cropping of your scrapbooking photos give you the option of removing items that draw attention away from the subject, and leaving in items that enhance the photo.

When cropping photos for your scrapbook, it is best to crop in straight edges. Making shapes out of your photos may be fun and may seem creative, but more often than not it ends up just making your page look cluttered and busy. The perfect tool for cropping photos is a good paper cutter. You can find a wide selection of paper cutters in craft supply superstores and office supply stores. But if you want to get started without spending extra cash, you can always use scissors, a pencil and a ruler. These will work just fine.

Depending on how you arrange your page, you may be able to overlap your photos and eliminate the need to crop at all. Just arrange the photo that needs cropping on the bottom, and then cover the distracting element with another photo. Remember, try this on your work surface without glue. Arrangements that look good in your mind may not work out so well on paper.

By the way, if you are using the ruler and scissors method, you may want to try using some decorative shears. These special scissors will cut in straight lines but are made to add a subtle variation to the edge. You can find all sorts of decorative scissors at a craft supply shop or online.

One final caution: if you still have Polaroids in your photo collection, you cannot crop them. Polaroids contain acid (there were self-developing, remember?) and if you crop them, the acid will leak out along the edge and ruin your other photos. If your scrapbook won’t be complete without the Polaroids, then mount them without cropping using a photo sleeve or photo corners.

Getting your photograph collection in shape for scrapbooking is a three-step process. Find a clear space to work. Next—and this might be difficult—get rid of the bad photos. Then take the good photos and put them in order. Let’s take a look at each of these steps.

Before you even drag out the first box of photographs, clear a good-sized area in which to work. Getting organized is not going to get finished in an afternoon, so you need to find a place that you don’t have to clean up every day until you’re done. For example, if you have some space in a guest bedroom, that would be great. The floor of a busy hallway would not be so great.

The next step is to start going through all of your photos and mercilessly trashing the bad ones. I don’t mean the photos of people you don’t like. The photos I’m talking about are blurred, out of focus, too dark, too bright—in general, bad photos. Will this part be a struggle for you? Really? I mean, why are you keeping them? They are really of no use to anyone, so get rid of them.

Now that you’ve pared things down to the good photos, it’s time to start putting them in order. Chronological order, that is. If you can arrange photos in the order in which events occurred, that will help your scrapbook planning immensely. Start out by putting them into piles by decade if you have to. Then within each of those stacks, gather them up by year, and then in order within each year.

Once you have them organized, go get some archival photo storage boxes, put the photos inside and label each box. A lower cost alternative is to put your pictures in Ziploc bags and then inside a normal box. The plastic bags will protect your photos from air and from any acid content in the boxes you use.

By committing some space to organizing your photos, discarding the pictures no one wants to see, and safely storing the rest, you’ll be well on your way to some truly excellent scrapbooks. And even if you don’t ever get into scrapbooking, your photos will be nicely arranged and stored, accessible to everyone in the family who wants to relive some happy memories.