1. Photos: If you have years and years worth of photos. Don’t panic. Start with current photos. Pick a few photos to take with you when you shop for products. You can go back later and do past photos and incorporate them into your scrapping. If you go all the way back to the beginning of your photos and try to scrap forward, it is very overwhelming. Scrap the current ones and then scrap older ones along the way. It is a lot easier to manage.
2. Purchasing product: With your photos in hand, head to your local scrapbook store or online shop. If you have nothing on hand to get you started there are some basics you may want to start with: A trimmer, a good pair of scissors, adhesive a photo safe, archival pen for journaling.
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Now it’s time to shop. For my example, I have two photos I wanted to scrap. I brought them to my store, picked cardstock for my background and some accompanying patterned paper that had matching colors from the photo.
I also bought buttons in coordinating colors, chipboard letters, acrylic paint and a pen to write my journaling. I cut the circles out of the patterned paper and I used chalk ink to distress the edges of the paper.
3. Don’t be afraid to scrap-lift: When beginning to scrapbook it may be hard to decide exactly how you want to do a page without looking for ideas from others. Looking through online galleries or finding a sketch you like is a good way to start. Just be sure if you post your page online to give credit to the original designer of the page in your description. As you search make note of the kind of pages you like best. Incorporate those ideas into your style of scrapping.
4. Magazines, idea books, online: You can get a lot of ideas from magazines, idea books and online. Many of them offer tips, techniques and directions to complete your own version. Other scrappers can also be a very good source for help and a lot of message boards offer challenges and trading groups to keep you inspired and scrapping.
5. Storing your supplies: There are thousands of storage options for your scrapbook supplies. They range from elaborate to thrifty. It is something you need to think about when purchasing your supplies. You may have a room dedicated to your hobby or a corner in your den, so consider that when you purchase your supplies of where you will be storing them.
These are just a few tips to help you get started. Like anything else, it takes practice and the more you do it the easier it will become. Try not to get overwhelmed and focus on a smaller part of scrapping instead of everything as a whole. Breaking it down into smaller sections (doing current photos then incorporating older ones as you scrap) will make it an enjoyable hobby instead of a stressful one.
To find the products mentioned in this article and shown in these layouts, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you.
