?Tiara? asked:


I have HUNDREDS of pictures just lying in a huge chest and I would love to store them in a scrapbook.. well it will take several albums. I’m not sure where to start, do you have any good scrap-booking tips?

5 Responses to “What is the best way to start a scrap-book. ?”

1. Cheerleader_Erika<3 on March 24th, 2009 2:36 am

   Scrapbooking is so much fun!

   Try some of these ideas, for starters:

   1. Family
   2. Dating
   3. Kids
   4. Houses you’ve lived in
   5. Holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.)
   6. Pets
   7. Shopping trips (Mall of America, other neat places you’ve shopped in)
   8. Trips to other states or foreign countries
   9. Birthdays
   10. Your parents

   Hope these help! Have fun!

2. x6sam9x on March 26th, 2009 3:59 am

   go to a craft store, and buy some fun paper for the background. well, first buy the album. and get some stickers and markers. unless you have most of that stuff lying around. i do some scrapboking, its a good way to clean up my mess of pictures! ahahah

3. amanda on March 29th, 2009 12:05 pm

   I agree that organizing the pictures is the best route. Do family books, vacation…
   Scrapbooking websites will also show you easy do it yourself ideas.

4. ND_girl03 on March 30th, 2009 9:46 pm

   Ok. Start by buying some photo storage boxes. Organize them by catergory. Then go to a craft store and find acid free lignen free paper the size of your scrapbook. (12×12, 8×8) Then pick up any stickers that you see and like. You can buy scrapbooking books with layouts or take a class for ideas. You can fit about one picture a page in a 8×8 scrapbook and about 4 on a 12×12 scrapbook. Be sure to always buy acid free and lignen free products. If you don’t over time your pictures and pages will get damaged. Some scrapbooking esentials are:

   Paper
   Scrapbook
   Adhesive double stick photo squares
   stickers
   a straight cutter

   You can buy these at any craft store. I like Archivers, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. Archivers has some of the best classes.

   To start make sure to lay out your photos on the page with a colorful background paper behind it. It looks good to mat a picture by cutting out a rectangle a little bit bigger than the picture. Also remember to JOURNAL! Journaling is writing about the pictures and memories. You would hate to spend all of the time on the books and in years not knowing what the pictures are of. I would suggest attending a free class at an Archivers near you or look at layouts on a website.

   Here is a great site on getting started.

   Good luck! Hope I helped!

5. mommaquilts on March 31st, 2009 8:18 am

   Sorting your photos would be a good way to start. You might like to think about what kinds of pictures you’re working with. I’ve got about 10 scrapbooks finished. I have one scrapbook a year since 2000. There’s another one from a Florida vacation. There’s one that’s all the stuff from 15 years of volunteer work. I have one with just my dh, anniversaries and special events. We have our wedding album. And I have plans for a book with photos and stuff from my kids’ baptisms, etc. Getting all the photos together is the most challenging part.

   Here’s the thing that makes our scrapbooks special–the journaling. On each page I make sure to include this information: who (is in each picture), what (is happening), when (is this happening including the year), where (is this). Sometimes I include what I’m thinking or how the event made me feel.

   Don’t stress about your handwriting! Many people don’t journal at all because they hate their writing. But the people who know you want to see *your* handwriting. That’s what makes it personal.

   Use an archival quality pen. That way it will be permanent and won’t fade. You can find those pens all over–discount stores, craft stores, scrapbooking stores. You can even find them at quilt shops because quilters use them to make quilt labels. You might like to find a stencil to mark straight lines with pencil, write your journaling with a permanent marker/pen and then erase the pencil. I do that lots and it helps my journaling look better. And 95% of the time, I use black ink. The rest of the time I use a silver pen for black pages.

   Finally, I keep my photos the focal point of my pages. I think that fancy papers distract people from the photos. Mostly I use solid colored paper to bring out the good colors in the photos and help them stand out. If I put 3 photos on a page, I might put paper behind one or possibly 2 of them. To make the page come together faster I might just use a color strip down the side of the page. For me, stickers are fun and definitely an afterthought. Another friend of mine loves stickers so much she will take photos to go with her stickers! LOL

   It can be overwhelming to go to a craft store with all the choices they have. There are lots of papers, stickers, letters and tools! A simple paper cutter or even just a packet of precut paper in a variety of solid colors would be easiest.

   There are so many types of books available. If you’re just getting started you might like to get the type of book where you just slip the photos in a sleeve and there’s room for just a little bit of writing to the side. I have used two types and I like both for different reasons. I started with the “strap” type book where you can add pages by putting the wire through a strap. Most of my scrappin’ friends use the type where you can slide your page into a top loading sleeve. The last two books I put together were just sleeves with no room for journaling. They were for my son’s wedding pictures and my first grandchild’s pictures. I’ll put them into something more permanent later. Right now I just wanted something to organize them to be able to share them!

   You might see if any of your friends scrapbook. Part of the fun of “scrappin” is getting together with friends, sharing “Food, Fotos and Fun”. I do that with a neighbor once a month. And she’s not a consultant selling anything–we just both like to scrap.

   Good luck!