What is the best way to get started in Scrapbooking?

I just started scrapbooking. My mom put together a kit for me and that was a good start...then I went out and bought more papers, embellishments, ribbons and stickers. I can't say which would be best for you because I don't know what kind of scrapbook you want. If you want one that looks like the ones in the kits then a kit would be a good start, but if the only kits you can find arn't quite what you want then that would be a waste. Craft stores like Michaels will have more kit options than Wal-Mart.

I've been scrapbooking for a few years now. A few of the very basic supplies you might want to buy are: a pair of sharp scissors, some sort of adhesive (I prefer photo squares, because they are the least messy), a healing matt, some fiskars paper shaping scissors, and a scrapbook album. There are many sizes of scrapbook albums, depending on what you want your album about. If the album is going to be about your adventures, like trips to the zoos, road trips, etc all in one book, I would opt for a 12 x 12 album, not only is there more room on the pages, but most of the nice design scrapbook papers these days sold in craft stores, Micheals, and other scrapbook catered stores carry mostly 12 x 12 papers. These scrapbooks are also great if it's 'babys first year' or a year in your childs life. If you want to make a smaller themed album, I sometimes go with the 4 x 8 albums - these albums might be about the most recent christmas, or your trip to say niagra falls, or your new puppy. They don't have quite as muchr oom, and you could put one picture per page and dress the page up nicely to match the pictures. Then you have the choice of weather you want page protectors or not. I reccomend the album with no page protectors, but with the option to buy page protectors. Why? Because if you have a lot of bulky stuff, like brochures and lumpy souvenirs that you want to glue into your book, having a page protector ont he page makes it 10x more difficult to access that brochure easily in the future. If you're pages are mostly flat, with just stickers, embellishments and plain photos, then page protectors are not a problem. If you have a theme picked out, you could also go and buy stickers, embellishments and some papers that go with that theme. I went out and bought tons of stuff all at once, and half the stuff I never even used!! I like to buy my albums at Walmart, because of the pricing. And my papers and embellishments at Micheals because of the wide selection. just make sure that everything you put in your album says 'acid-free' otherwise it might not last too many years before disintergrating. i hope this helped a little bit.

I like the top loading scrapbooks. The ones with the page that is adhered to the book (like Creative Memories) I find lots of times that I have a blank side of a page. I've made over 15 scrapbooks (45 pages or more) in 7 years. The kids love to look at them. :) You can find some great deals at the Dollar Store. Acid free is the way to go. Also, most weeks Michaels will have a 40% of coupon as does Joann Fabric. I don't know where you live, but those two stores are in the same shopping center near me. One of the things I learned early on is that scrapbooking people love to have their ideas admired so much that they are copied. There are tons of websites you can go to and look at their photo gallery and decide if you like a certain layout - copy it! It doesn't have to be a fresh idea every time. Some of my cutest ideas have come from the talented minds of others. You might want to start with a "theme" scrapbook. I made an ABC scrapbook for my daughter and each page was a different letter of the alphabet. There you will quickly have your first album done. What a great accomplishment! I also make 12x12 albums for my family but we have a great aunt who looks forward to a 7x7 album each year . It is easy to get a second copy of a cute photo that I'm using for my big albums, and then downsizing the layout for her. Just yesterday she was saying she brought her latest album to the senior center for the people to look at. The thing I'm trying to get around to is this, it is the thought that goes into your album making not the cutest sticker, fanciest embellishment or tons of ribbons that make them special. Enjoy your new hobby. I bet you will love it.

You do have to be careful what adhesive you use, too, not just paper and stickers. I have albums that are about five years old that now have faded spots where the glue is ... and it was supposedly acid free glue! It is so frustrating when something beautiful you made starts to get ruined just by time. The more careful you are selecting what kind of papers, stickers, and adhesives you use, the more likely it will last for years and years. That's what we all want, to create an heirloom, right? So we want to protect the work as best as we can. For that reason, I'd avoid dollar stores for adhesives. I'd also opt for page protectors, because years of fingerprints on the pages will ruin it over time, too.

Rather than springing for the album and all the pages to fill it; I went to our local thrift store and for 20 cents picked up an old hard cover book. (It doesn't matter the subject but mine happened to be a picture tour of Australia which is kind of neat because I've been able to work some of the pictures in with my scrapbook.) Anyways, I went to the dollar store and for about $15 I picked up a package of multicolor papers, a glue stick, a ton of stickers and some scissors with a funky cut design. I brought it all home and was able to start on my scrapbook for under $20. It's been great. That was last summer and it's about 1/2 full now. I just keep adding to it.. sometimes with picture or sometimes I just write in it. It's going to be a family heirloom by the time it's finished.

The best way to start is with an idea! You need to know what your scrapbook is going to be about. I hope you know already. Then what I did, was I bought a scrapbook first. 12 by 12 worked best for me. That's the biggest one and all the papers mostly fit 12 by 12 scrapbooks, plus you can put more on a page. So with my idea and my scrapbook I was lucky enough to find a class that helped me with the first introductory page of my scrapbook. the class provided all the papers and glue and also helped me to decide what I wanted and needed to buy for the second and third pages. If you don't have a class, then you need to get a scrapbook magasine for ideas. Just think one page at a time. You will need a paper cutter, to cut straight lines, an adhesive (double sided tape, or a glue stick) and your pictures. Then you need to choose your colours and buy the paper. After that, you may get more ideas for extras to put on the page, ie-flowers, buttons, ribbons, sayings etc. We have Michaels craft store where I live and I just walk around in there and get tons of ideas. Good luck!

Personally I would not buy the kits. They are made up of cheap papers and really they will most like not match your style or your photos. There are beautiful cheap albums at walmart. I love those. And pattern papers, normally I choose them to go with the colors in my photos. It's always a good idea to bring your photos with you to the scrapbooking store...it'll be cheaper in the long run than having pp that don't match anything and never using it. Good luck...scrapbooking is so much fun. Once you stop...you'll never stop!