Scrapbooking: "You can do it too" Part 2. by Penny

I had taken the first step. I had my first scrapbook album, but now what the heck was I to do with it? I decided that I would begin with pre-baby photos.You know, pictures of the nursery that was ready for my baby, maybe a shot or two from my baby shower, my ultrasound picture, that sort of thing. I gathered my items and laid them out before me. First and foremost, I knew that each page of my scrapbook album would have to have a background page. Thankfully, the album that I had purchased came with these pages that matched the album itself. This made choosing the background pages very easy and convenient for me. Next, I remembered seeing a couple of scrapbook albums before where the pictures were matted, meaning that they were "framed" so to speak, with some type of paper, also known as card stock. I knew I liked antique looking, soft fabric- like paper, so I made another trip back to the scrapbook store to find it. Once I found some that I liked, I knew it was time to think about adhesives.What was the best way to adhere my pictures to the album? If I can think of one key thing that has helped me the most in my adventures into scrapbooking, it's to ask questions. The women who typically work at these stores LOVE it when you ask them to share some of their expertise. They've always been more than willing to share some tips with me and suggest certain things. The two main ways I adhere - or glue my things, is either with glue dots or squares of tape that are automatically dispensed from a tape dispenser. Both of these are standard scrapbook supplies and can be found in any scrapbook supply store. Also, when getting started, another essential thing that you will need is a portable paper cutter. In the beginning I didn't use one, and it made scrapbooking much harder and time consuming. I bought mine at my local office supply store. Now I wonder how I ever lived without it!

Alright, so now I had my album, pictures to scrap, adhesives, matting paper, and paper cutter. I was almost ready to begin creating my first layout. A layout is the subject matter that you are scrapping about. In my case, it was awaiting the arrival of my new baby. With each layout it's always a good idea to introduce, or make it apparent to to the person viewing your album, exactly what that particular layout is about. In my first layout I chose letter stickers to show the title " Awaiting your arrival", as if I was actually speaking to my son. After all, these albums I'm creating will ultimately be for him. Lastly, as far as the basic supplies go, you may want to include what are known as "embellishments" in your layouts. These are things that will be used to decorate and really personalize your pages. Being artistically challenged, I rely heavily on embellishments. I love the way they look and how they add so much to my scrapping. In my next post I will walk you through putting together your first scrapbook page.