With all of the cool stuff out there to make great scrapbooking pages, which products do you choose to create your very first scrapbook page? When you’re a newbie to the scrapbooking world, how can you walk into a scrapbook store and not suffer from what I call “Product Overload?” I can spot a newbie a mile away. They are always the ones you see walking aimlessly around the store looking like their heads are going to explode! And how do I know this, you ask? I was one of those people. Only it was not nearly as bad back then as it is now. So much stuff these days! I thought I would write this article for all the newbies out there so that I can save you from your head exploding. If you’re going to have your head explode, I would much rather it be due to all the great ideas you have for your scrapbook pages.

To begin, you are going to want to try to organize your photos. If you’re like most people, your pictures are probably thrown into boxes somewhere in the back of your closet. Or, due to the digital world, they are in a folder somewhere on your computer waiting to be printed. Either way, getting your photos organized is the first step in scrapbooking. In my opinion, the best way to do that is to sort them by year. Go through them again and decide on a theme for your first scrapbook page/album. Once that task is completed, with your photos in hand, you are ready for your trip to the scrapbook store.

O.K. Lets talk about Acid and Lignin Free papers. Acid Free relates to the PH balance in the paper. Papers and products that you use in your albums should also contain alkaline which will stop the acid from your pictures transferring to your papers. Lignin is a natural material present in plants and should be removed when making paper to ensure the papers are safe for your pictures. Nowadays, almost all of your scrapbooking products are Acid Free and Lignin Free, but it’s always best to double check. If you’re going to spend a lot of time with your pages, you want to be sure that your pictures are safe and will be around for generations to come.

The next step is to pick an album to store all your beautiful pages in. Albums come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I prefer to use a 12”x12” album that is refillable. That way, I can add lots of embellishments to my pages and I’m not limited to the number of pages I can put in my album. I think that picking an album is a personal choice. So, browse through your scrapbook store, look at all the different ones they have, and pick one that will suit your needs the best.

Next up…papers! With all of the wonderful companies out there that produce hundreds of different papers, you could spend all day long just looking at papers. I happen to LOVE papers. I always say that I could use 10 papers a day from my stash from now until the day I die and I would still have enough left over for two more generations of my family to be able to use! I may not be the best person to ask about papers because my advice would be “Buy it All!” But, because I don’t want to be responsible for the rising divorce rate, let me give you a few guidelines. Take your pictures with you to the store. It makes it so much easier to match the colors. I recommend that you mat your pictures with a color card stock instead of a pattern paper. Pattern paper can overwhelm your pictures if you don’t choose the right ones. With your card stock colors picked, now you can play with the pattern papers. Choose your pattern papers to match the theme you have picked out for your scrapbook page/album. Now, you are ready to move onto the embellishments. This would be a really good time for me to reiterate the fact that I mentioned above about picking your theme before you walk into the store. This is still the best way I know of to avoid “Product Overload!” Most scrapbook stores have their products arranged by themes, making it so much easier to choose the papers and embellishments you really want.

You have your pictures, your papers and embellishments. So, how do you stick it all together? Adhesives! There is a huge array of adhesives on the market today. Which ones are best? Again, if you ask 5 different people, you’re likely to get 5 different answers. But here are my favorites. Zip Dry Paper Glue™ by Beacon Adhesives® is my all time favorite. It dries clear and doesn’t wrinkle your papers. My next choice would be the E-Z Runner™ Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®. It’s quick and easy to use. And, last but not least, I love Terrifically Tacky Tape™ by Provo Craft®. This red liner tape will stick to any and everything, so make sure your papers etc. are exactly where you want them before applying this tape!

Now that you have everything you need to get started, let me show you a few examples of pages that I put together. They are both easy to create, with little embellishments. Just the things you need for creating your first scrapbook page.

“Angel the Cheerleader”

Angel the Cheerleader

I began creating this page with two pictures of my niece, Angel, in her cheerleading outfit. I purchased two frames to match the colors in my pictures and then added the two cheerleader die-cuts. Next, I took strips of tissue paper, tied some wire around the middle and fluffed them out to make pom poms. I printed out some information about her on some card stock and added little red hearts with a gel pen. Lastly, I placed the title of the page on the top and I was done! It’s a simple page but something she can frame and save to help her remember her days as a cheerleader.

“Cousins Now & Forever”

Cousins Now & Forever

This scrapbook page was created by beginning with a picture I took of my daughter, Richelle, and my other niece, Jaclyn, for Jacci’s surprise 16th birthday party. As you can see, it has a few more embellishments, but it is still a very fun and easy page to create for beginners.

I started with some purple and green papers and embellishments (I chose the purple because it is Jacci’s favorite color). I began with an 8 ½”x11” piece of lavender card stock and layered it with purple and green card stock. Next, I glued a green ribbon down the front. I adhered the lavender and white trim around the whole page with Zip Dry Paper Glue™. I framed the picture and added the butterfly die-cuts to match. I also added a few shaped brads to give the die-cuts a little dimension. I made a tag out of white card stock, layered it with purple card stock and added a bow. Lastly, I added the title to the top of the page.

Now that I have given you the basics, you are ready to create your own beautiful scrapbook pages. The main thing to remember is that even though there are tons of products to choose from, start off easy. Scrapbooking is all about cherishing those special moments with your family and having a great time doing it.

Thanks for joining me. Until next time…

Scrap & Stamp Happy!

Lisa Rojas
Stampin’ Queen Creations

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Layout Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.