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Beginner Scrapbooking Advice and Help
Deciding to make your first scrapbook is a huge step! Once you do decide to start scrapbooking, it can be frustrating if you don’t know how to go about it. There are a few steps that you need to take before you start.
Scrapbook Organization Tips
It’s very important that you organize everything before you begin scrapbooking! Pick a drawer or a box, and divide it into different sections. Make each section a different theme. Don’t try to organize them by years in chronological order.
For example, one section might be only Christmas photos, and the next section might be family reunions, and so on. This scrapbooking tip will save you a lot of time and patience when you create your first scrapbook, and scrapbooks after that.
Themed scrapbooks are more fun to make, and easier to look at, as opposed to one that goes in exact order of your entire life.
What Kind of Scrapbook Should I Use?
There are many scrapbooks on the market today. You can use any you want, but standard scrapbook sizes are 12 x 12 inch and 8 ½ x 11 inch books. Finding scrapbook paper in those sizes is easier.
Before you start scrapbooking, pick a color that will match the theme. Another useful scrapbooking tip is to choose colored paper based on the theme of your scrapbook. It should all match.
What is Scrapbook Journaling?
Journaling is very important when you learn to scrapbook. It’s one of the tips for scrapbooking that will make your memories complete. Your pictures only tell half of the story. You need narration to completely understand what they mean. After many years, the meaning may be lost. Remember to include the who, what, where, and when, but also include your own person thoughts and feelings.
Make your scrapbook journaling interesting! There are many ways to do this. Use a quote or a poem that describes how the photo or memory makes you feel. Certain fonts or writing styles can also add a certain “mood” to the scrapbook page. Remember to be creative!
To Crop, or Not to Crop?
Cropping pictures is just cutting off any excess part that’s not important. When you start scrapbooking, you might be compelled to crop a lot, and then later wish you hadn’t cropped so much, or cut all of your photos into funny little shapes. A word of advice to scrapbook beginners, crop sparingly!
Scrapbook Ideas for Beginners
A good technique to use is matting. You can enhance the visual effect of a photo by having a narrow edge of colored paper around your photo. You can use different shapes, sizes, and textures for doing this. This is a good place to use those decorative scissors! When you start scrapbooking, you’ll use this a lot.
Another important scrapbooking tip for beginners is to ALWAYS use acid-free products. The acid in certain materials will eventually cause your paper to deteriorate, and cause deterioration of your photos as well. You don’t want to flip through your first scrapbook later, only to find that the pages crack when you turn them. It’s better to choose products that will last from the beginning, rather than products that destroy your precious memories.
For an experienced look, use stencils to draw any shapes or letters. For all you scrapbook beginners, this is important because you don’t want to have squiggly letters, or accidentally make a mistake in pen, and ruin that page. Of course, if you are confident enough in your skills, you can write out your own titles freehand, but be warned that it may not always look pretty. I do not suggest doing it freehand when you begin scrapbooking you first scrapbook.
Remember to check out the Scrapbook Supplies / Tools section for more information on the tools to use.