Scrapbooking 101

[Britchick]

Scrapbooking 101
So why scrapbook? Well if you’re anything like me you love photos and looking at them after the event gives you great pleasure, remembering the precious memories you’ve made with your nearest and dearest.

To me Scrapbooking is a way of preserving those memories and passing them on to future generations. As important as the photo is the journaling. Ever picked out an older photo and wondered when and where it was taken or who was in it? Well with journaling your problem is solved. It doesn’t need to be long and laborious it can just include:
Who
What
Where
When
Why
It can be in your own handwriting which is obviously more personal or it can be typed and printed out and stuck onto your page. It can be under a flap or on a pull out tab or it can be on full view....the choice is yours.

Starting out
So what do you need to start out?
Photos – pick your best photos to scrap as you’re going to be showing them off. If it’s an old photo you are scrapping you may want to take a copy in case there’s a problem.
Cardstock – to use as your base and stick everything to, Bazzill is a popular make and my personal favourite. It comes in different textures – usually about 70p a sheet. It comes in every shade possible. I’m going to use 12 x12”cardstock in the first project but other popular sizes include A4 and 7 x 7”. I try and make sure that all my cardstock and papers are acid free so that they don’t damage the photos I am using and turn them yellow over time.
Papers- the choice is endless, there are many companies out there selling their beautiful papers. Some are so beautiful that you don’t want to cut them up!
Tools – you could if you wanted spend a small fortune on these. I would recommend a paper trimmer or guillotine; they have rulers on and allow you cut your paper/cardstock easily and neatly to the required size. Make sure if you are getting one that it will cut up to 12” as this is the most popular card/paper size. I have used several different trimmers and my favourite is a fiskars as you can get replacement blades. I have seen them for about £15 on a popular auction site. If you don’t want to commit to this at this time then scissors or a craft knife will do. There are lots and lots of tools out there if you want to spend your money!
Adhesive – this could be glue stick, liquid, pen or my favourite the tape runner. This I find is the neatest way to stick things- I’m not very good with liquid glue......don’t even mention glitter!!!
Pens - you could spend a small fortune on these but the most important thing is that it is permanent ink and you can write with it comfortably.
Ruler- useful generally but a must if you don’t have a paper trimmer to get a straight line.
Embellishments- the fun part!! You can literally use anything- from tickets to programmes to maps and stickers. Glitter, wool and threads, tags, sewing, buttons, zips, ribbons and string. You can also buy lots of embellishments to adorn your pages. Generally these are put on last, you don’t need too many and they’re used really to finish the page off.

So that’s just a basic introduction, I hope you find it easy to understand. I’m going to include a link to some of my scrapbook pages I have made in the past in the thread below, please feel free to ask as many questions as you like and to add to the conversation, I’ve bound to have forgotten something major!