Want To Scrap, But Don't Know How?

I originally wrote this as an email for my friend Kristen, but noticed it would make a GREAT blog post for all of my friends who want to learn how to scrap their pictures and memorabilia but don't know where to begin.

Ok, here is what you ABSOLUTELY need.

a paper trimmer. You need one that can accommodate up to 12" - one of the standard size of paper in Scrapbooking. Here is one from my site I have and recommend.

Adhesive. School glue won't cut it. It's wet and wrinkles paper. I love tape runners for paper-to-paper. If you are just doing a few projects, a small one will do (CLICK HERE). If however, you will be doing this and other projects a lot, I would invest in an ATG gun. You can get one for about $20 if you catch a sale at Michael's and use the 50% off coupon they have everywhere. Let me know if you go this route and I'll send you some links on how to load the adhesive.

paper. Since you are new, keep it simple. Pick 3 colors (a light, a medium and a dark) and make sure at east one of them is a solid and at lest one is a fancy paper. This way you can mix and match through the whole album and everything still looks very out together. At Stampin' Up! All of the colors coordinate so it's easy. We even have these kits called "simply scrappin'" that have paper and nice thick stickers that coordinate. I use these kits a lot.

pens. You will need to journal. This is where you let people know what they are seeing and add dates and names and such. Purist like only handwriting. I hate my handwriting, but do see where seeing my handwriting in the future would be nice for my kids (or grand kids). Now I both print stuff on fancy paper (I'll give you tips on how to do this without waste if you want) and add things like the date or a short note (4-5 words) in my hand writing. The pen has to be quality though. Archival (so the ink won't eat through the paper) with a quality tip (so you don't get globs). I offer some great ones on my site, but you can also find some in other places. Sharpie fine tip (.05) is OK, but that ink is so heavy it can bleed through so be careful.

embellishments. This is the fun stuff like brads, flowers, buttons, glitter...the sky's the limit. In the beginning, I would keep it fairly simple by copying what someone else did. It can be intimidating and I say once you see something you like why reinvent the wheel.

album. To start, try 8x8 albums. The larger (12x12) albums are usually too much real estate and can intimidate and the 6x6 is so small you will constantly be trimming pictures. If you do want to try 12x12 though, this video has good tips for you.

Now, if you are a traditionalist, you need all of this stuff, however, some people like to be able to churn out books and to share those books with friends. Stampin' Up! has this software called My Digital Studio that lets you upload your pics into either pre-made or made from scratch albums.I actually used this when I made my adoption profile and did what they call a hybrid book where I printed it out and then added some embellishments to it. Again, since I stayed in the Stampin' Up! family all of the embellishments matched exactly (I'm so anal that way. LOL).

Here is a video with some info in that.

Scrap with friends. Bring some friends together for scrapping. Two or three heads are better than one and there's nothing like scrapping with friends (and a glass of vino) to unwind.

Now go out there and scrap!!!!