How to start Scrapbooking

I've decided I want to start scrap booking and start putting memories of friends and family and me getting older by the years. I have some photos gathered together but it seems a bit overwhelming. Could you give me some tips for how to get started?

Thank you.

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Yes, gathering your photos is a must but don't get overwhelmed by the number of photos. Start with something you want to do. Choose a photo or event that means something special to you and the other things will gradually fall into place.

You may choose to have albums with themes. For example, 'School Days', 'My Childhood', 'Ancestors', etc. The theme should help you sort your photos. If you have enough information about one person in particular, make a scrapbook entirely about them, from the beginning of their life through all the special events they experienced.

Scrapbooking is so much fun and you get to do it YOUR way, so do what pleases you best.

Taking some how to make a scrapbook classes are a great idea as you get to see other people's work as well as get some help from a tutor. You may find some classes run at your local scrapbook shop. Look fro a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in your area as well, if you live in a country where they operate. Many demonstrators run classes at their homes or will perhaps come to your home to run a class for you.

If you would like some help there are a few pages at PaperCraftCentral.com that may help you get started:

Scrapbooking
Making a Scrapbook
Scrapbooking Tips

Enjoy your new hobby and do come back to post up some of your work for me to see.

Susan

Help

by Veronica

I'm trying to make my fiancee and the father of our child a scrapbook, I've made him posters and all sorts of things throughout our year of being together. What will make this amazing and creative ? I'm in need of help, I'm new to this scrapbooking, I need lots of help!

Veronica

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Hi Veronica

Oh, you have a new baby! Congratulations to you all :)

That is a lovely thing to do, to make a scrapbook of your first year together. Your memories of this year are freshest now, so scrapping about them will help hold them in your memories for the years to come.

That is what is so unique about a scrapbook. Your own memories and special, precious moments make it so. Every scrapbook tells a story. The first thing I would do is think about what special moments helped to shape your year. Jot down some moments that you remember to help tell your story and add these to pages in your album. Find photos that you love about this year. Find memorabilia too, such as something from the place you first went to together. Tell the story of how you met, what you thought of each other, how you admired him and what it was about him that attracted you so.

Tell the story of discovering your pregnancy. Tell how you both reacted to the news and include photos about how you changed and grew, who your doctor was, first pictures of the baby inside you, how the baby changed and deepened your relationship.

Then tell about the birth and include how the baby expanded your joy in each other and in those around you. Say why you chose the baby's name and what it meant to you both. Include any special details about precious moments with your new baby, shared by your both.

You can have a 'how I see the future for us' page to finish the scrapbook, if you like, or just keep adding more as special things happen.

It helps to have a scrapbook kit when you first start out. You can search for one you like at a craft store. It helps to make the album look more coordinated when you use papers that are designed to go together, but this is not a 'rule'. Scrapbooks are personal and you should choose what you like for your own album.

I have pages here to help you that tell about how to make a scrapbook, paper craft tools, adhesives to use and more. A basic class in a craft store might help you get started, and you can start to choose the style you like to use in your albums. There are so many techniques you could use and enjoy in telling your story!

Come back and ask more questions anytime.

Happy scrapping!

Susan

Help

by Veronica

I'm trying to make my fiancee and the father of our child a scrapbook, I've made him posters and all sorts of things throughout our year of being together. What will make this amazing and creative? I'm in need of help, I'm new to this scrapbooking, I need lots of help!

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Hi Veronica

It's always a special thing to make a scrapbook :) If you have not already bought some, you probably need some basic tools and adhesives, for a start.

These days there is a concept for scrapbooks from Stampin' Up! called 'This 'n That". It allows you to use a C5 sized journal/scrapbook to add all sorts of things as they take your fancy - tags, tickets, cards, receipts, pictures, journaling - anything you like! I have a little video to show you my first This 'n That journal that explains some of the ways I use it:



You can see the pages come already prepared with nice background papers,a nd you can add other papers to it if you like.

What I usually do with scrapbooks is decide on a bit of a theme. You already have a celebration theme going for this project, I think. You could perhaps do a celebration journal for your lives together so far, with all the highlights you can think of added in to the journal. It does not have to be in date order, but your notes about what you were thinking/feeling, your gratitude fro lovely things that have happened, your love of your family is what will shine through.

Also see some of the pages on PaperCraftCentral.com about making a scrapbook:

• Scrapbooking
  
• Making a scrapbook
  
• Scrapbooking Tips
  
  
  I hope some of these ideas inspire you :) You can always show me a photo of a page you are working on to ask for ideas abotu how to finish it, etc. Maybe other readers would also help that way :)
  
  Enjoy making your scrapbook!
  
  Susan

Help

by Veronica

I'm trying to make my fiancee and the father of our child a scrapbook, I've made him posters and all sorts of things throughout our year of being together. What will make this amazing and creative? I'm in need of help, I'm new to this scrapbooking, I need lots of help !

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Hi Veronica

How lovely to be thinking of making a scrapbook about your family. The photos themselves will make it unique and special but any stories you write about will make it even more so. I always think of scrapbooking as a way of telling a story, especially when you want to make a whole album about a particular subject or time period.

I would organise photos into a sort of timeline, to tell the story the way you want to tell it. You don't have to make things chronological (according to the time they happened). You can make it by events or by whatever you loved about the year.

Then I would look at what type of album I wanted to use. When you have the photos sorted, you kind of know how many pages you will need and may have an idea about the size of album you need.

I would also look for some colours you like and base my paper choices on a few of those colours. This is not necessary if you want to have each page totally different but if you want a coordinated look, sometimes choosing a pack of designer series paper that coordinated well and adding in some plain cardstock to complement the pack will create a beautiful effect throughout the album.

Collect some embellishments you like - buttons, ribbons, brads, die cuts, flowers etc. Also gather any memorabilia you want to scrap like ticket stubs, menus for places you ate out, gift cards he gave you etc. You can use these on your pages and tell the story behind each one.

You can also choose some basic sketches to make your pages look great. Try googling for some page sketches or page maps and see if you find some designs you like, then use variations of those designs throughout your album (turn the sketch on its side or even upside down, mirror image it etc).

The pages on papercraftcentral.com about scrapbooking are useful as well. Go to this Scrapbooking page to find out ways to think about planning your scrapbook. If you want to know how to make a scrapbook, this page will show you different ideas. More scrapbooking tips are also available. Try the Cardmaking pages for ideas about techniques you can also use on scrapbooks.

If anyone else reading this has some ideas to help Veronica out, please do make some comments!

I hope this helps you and would love to see some of your pages when you have made your album.

Enjoy making it! :)

Susan

What paper to print 12x12 backgrounds

by Jacky Dahlhaus
(Perth)

Hi Susan,
I would like to start my own commercial printing of scrapbook background pages. However, I have problems finding out what sort of paper I should have them printed on. The backgrounds will be mainly made up of photographs, so very colourful or in sepia. I know the paper should be acid free, lignin free and buffered, but there is such a vast array of choices of paper that I don't know where to begin! Most printers here in Perth have no idea about scrapbooking. And what sort of size should I be looking at? I had some printed for myself at Snap Printing and for one 12"x12" they had to use one A3 size paper and that cost me $2 per print. I hope you can give me a cheaper option.
Very many thanks in advance,
Jacky Dahlhaus

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Hi Jacky

First of all, congratulations on your initiative and creativity in starting your own commercial printing of scrapbook background pages! I wish you every success :)

I am not a commercial manufacturer of any products myself so am not sure how best to advise you. I would think that scrapbook paper manufacturers can charge the prices they do for their pages because they have purchased their 'raw' paper in bulk at a cheaper rate. It will always cost more to produce smaller quantities of papers.

I would suggest you do bring out a 12" x 12" range of scrapbook paper backgrounds as that is the most common size of the pages in most full-sized traditional albums.

Perhaps if you are looking at a commercial venture you could contact a paper manufacturer in your area and discuss your needs with them? A paper manufacturer would be aware of the archival paper standards that exist here in Australia and could advise you on the cost of purchasing or printing decent quantities of scrapbooking paper. Then they could also give you a discount that would allow you to add on your own mark-up and receive a profit for your work.

Another idea may be to contact a scrapbook paper company directly and ask them if they are looking for paper designers. They may be willing to pay for your ideas :)

If you just want to produce unique papers in small quantities, you may find people are willing to pay more for a unique and/or customised background paper from you and you can add on your profit to the Snap Printing costs.

Perhaps readers here at PaperCraftCentral will have more ideas. How about it, everyone? Can you help Jacky out with some ideas or advice?

Susan

PS: If anyone wants to check on what acid free, lignin free and buffered means, this page tells about archival materials like that.

Or if you want to see some designer series paper and plain or textured cardstock, look up products/catalogues on SusanSalutations.

Have a crafty day!

Paper Bag Scrapbook

by Kelcy
(Tasmania)

Hi (:
Just wondering what size your paper bags were :)
(for the paper bag scrapbook)

Thanks :) x <3
P.s Love your stuff!

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Hi Kelcy

Thank you for your question and also for your lovely feedback about PaperCraftCentral :)

I will need to take a guess about the size of the bags as the video you asked me about was made by another paper crafter, and it is so convenient that there is a mat measured in inches under her work! I plan to have my own videos available soon - am still on a learning curve with filming and mixing though.

I think the little bags in the video are 8" x 5" (20.5cm x 13cm) lunch bags.

Recently I made another paper bag album using ordinary sized lunch bags (26cm x 21cm or 10 1/4" x 8 1/4") and I cut them in four to make my own little bags for my pages. I must photograph that and show it to you soon. I am still decorating it and would like to show it when it is completed :) You've reminded me to get busy on that.

Has anyone else used different sized bags for their albums and could share their project with us?

I hope that helps and that you have a great day of paper crafting ahead of you.

Susan


PS: If you would like to see the paper bag album Kelcy is referring to, there is a video showing how to make it on PaperCraftCentral.

Maybe you would enjoy making my accordion envelope album too. The instructions are included on the page and I put a picture of it at the top of this page.

Happy crafting.