Today is Backwards Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer. This means that it is a time when I ask for your help and you leave me a comment helping me!
I am looking for ideas for starting a scrapbook. Now, I have never done a scrapbook but have bought all kinds of supplies and have been getting my pictures sorted. I want to make a family scrapbook to share with my kids but am stuck on the starting part. I have ideas, but do not know how to decide to make the pages, where to start in the book or anything. I want to include great grand parents as well as recent.
Do you have ideas how to get started? How to get that first page going? I am normally creative, and think once I get it going I will be fine, it is the starting that has me baffled.
Any ideas would be very appreciated!
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Scrapbook Help Needed
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
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12 comments:
There is a club I belong to called Club Scrap ( I am not a consultant, I just really like it :) ) It's a monthly club, so you get s shipment of papers and stuff every month. The neat thing is they use what they call Advance Layout Scrap Booking. Meaning, you actually put together all the pages then add the pictures later. It was a little unconventional for me at first, but...I have really grown to love it! I have some pics of pages I've done at my blog if you want to take a look! I hope this helped :)
Alicia
There are a lot of sites out there that offer sketches for pages... they're also available in some craft magazines. (I have heard a lot of people talk about the PageMaps site, but I haven't tried it myself.) You might try starting out with a sketch, and seeing what photos you have that would work with it, to give you a "boost" to get started.
My favorite crafty site is Splitcoast Stampers. The site is mostly about rubber stamping, but there is a big section in the members' gallery (free) devoted to scrapbooking. You're sure to get tons of ideas by browsing there.
One tip-- pick a couple of colors for each album and limit yourself to those. I've learned over my years of scrapbooking that this really helps me. It limits the chocies of paper, saving me time, and it also makes the album flow better.
I would recommend finding one of your friends who scrapbooks but is also able to stay caught up with her pages. Then you can ask for advice and possibly work alongside her. Starting is great, but if you're not able to continue because it's too time-consuming or too overwhelming, that can be really frustrating. You might try going to a scrapbooking workshop with a friend. You might look up a Creative Memories consultant in your area and going to a workshop and taking a look at what the other gals are doing. We all freely copy each other! If you keep it as simple as you can, you'll get more done. Good luck!
Scrapbooking is one of my favorite hobbies! The first thing I would say is don't get boggled down by all that is out there--there is a ton of scrapbooking stuff!
For your first album, stay simple and have a focused theme, like your family.
Using sketches to aid in your layouts is extremely helpful, this is probably the one thing that has improved my scrapbooks the most! And in the end it saves you on time.
For sketch ideas, check out online galleries like Creating Keepsakes or Faith Sisters.
Also, know what photos you want to include and organize them. One photo tip: don't feel like you have to use all your photos or try to cram a bunch on one page. Use the ones that mean the most to you and/or display the emotion of the moment.
For an introduction to scrapbooking check this out: http://hubpages.com/hub/An-Introduction-to-Scrapbooking
I suggest you go to www.lisabearnson.com/kotm/ and see this month's Kit of the Month. Her kits are AMAZING to say the least. There is no commitment and a new kit is offered each month. This month's kit has everything you need for 20 layouts including complete instructions(I always have extra stuff leftover for more). This month's kit would be a great Start for you. They pay me nothing to say this stuff, I just genuinely love these kits!
If you are doing a family book, one of the ways I like to start is with a family tree, so you can see the "big picture". Then, start with the oldest generation you want to showcase, and do layouts going forward. You can do maternal then paternal, or stick with Oldest to Youngest. To me the story flows nicely that way!
There are some wonderful scrapbooking sites on line, all of which have 'galleries' of pages done by members. Some good ones are 3scrapateers, Gotta Pixel and Rakscraps. These are for digital scrapping, but I use them for regular 'book in hand' scrapping, myself.
I've been scrapbooking for about 15 years and I can tell you the best way to get something done is "KISS"--as in, "Keep It Simple, Sweetie!" I do some fancy pages for special photos like Christmas. But mostly, I just look for a good and simple layout that emphasises the photo. Where to start with all your photographs? Simple...work backwards! Start scrapping your most recent photographs and work back in time. Always remember the photograph (or photographs) should be the focus of the page, not the embellishments or journalling. And be careful not to get too caught up in all the goodies available out there...you could go broke, LOL!
Good luck!
If you're new I would recommend buying a kit for the first few pages just to play around with the materials...everything is already mix and match. It will teach you how to put things together!
When I started scrapbooking, I did my first album on a vacation trip that we had taken. Because it had a definite beginning and a definite end -- not to mention a set amount of photos -- I think this was ideal. I didn't have to worry about adding pictures later, or never being finished. When I was done, I was DONE.
Amy mentioned page sketches -- I cannot scrap without them! They are a great way to begin, but more than that, they are a time saver. If I didn't have sketches, I would spend way too much time trying to figure out where to put everything on the page.
To start, just get an album, some good double sided adhesive, and an assortment of patterned paper and solid paper. You really don't need much more than that, and looking at the other stuff may be a bit overwhelming.
Happy scrapping!
As an avid scrapbooker (I'm an addict), I always save the very first page for last -- so that it can be a cover page of sorts. Then, I make sure the photos are organized in chronological order and I layout which photos I'll use on each page. Finally, I just go for it. And I use a lot of help from templates and websites to borrow ideas. Creative Memories has little idea books that are adaptable for other types of scrapbooks. And there's a website, http://scrapbooking.com/, that offers tips, too.
I have always heard to start with current pictures. Thats what I did almost 6 years ago. The first page took me 3 hours....I was quite the perfectionist! NO MORE!
Some tips that work for me.
Some pages are done in minutes....just for fun!
If I notice I'm timid to start a page....I use removeable glue. I seldom go back to change a page when it's done....but the option gives me confidence.
Dollar Stores...have good and cheap products. If you have an Archivers....they send out coupons for free cardstock every month.
The local libary has many books to teach and prompt ideas. There is even a "scrapbooking for Dummies" that I found very helpful even a couple of years after I started.
HGTV has a scrapbooking show that is really easy to learn from...it's on really early so I record it.
Now that I have 2 kids and less time. My latest help...is putting the pictures in photo albums that just allow the picture to slide in and out. When I have a little time, I just page through the album, until my heart gives me the desire to do it! I am scrapping 10x as much since I started this. Hope it helps....the reward is the books!! I always use page protectors and my kids get their books out a lot to enjoy the memories. My 4 year old scraps along side of me.... definetely not perfect....but I bet I love them the best in the future!
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