Welcome to the wonderful world of scrapbooking!
There is no other hobby out there that will fulfill you like scrapbooking will. Preserving photos and memories while having fun and being creative is the goal. It is perfectly normal to feel a little overwhelmed at first by all of the supplies and options. Over time you will learn more of the complex techniques as you play with all of the different supplies, and always remember that there is nothing wrong with keeping it simple if it’s the style you prefer. There are no rules in scrapbooking! Hopefully the info you find here, as well as in our store and in our class program will get you off to a good start

List of Supplies:
The following is a list of basic supplies that every beginner should have.
Expect to spend anywhere from $75-150 to get started.

6 Steps to Make a Page:

1. Choose your photos. Be selective, don’t think that you have to scrapbook every photo you take. If you are working in a 12x12 format, usually 6-8 photos can be accommodated on a double page layout.

2. Choose your papers and main embellishments. Look for colors in your photos or the theme of the event you are scrapping. Sometimes if there are no strong colors, just go with a color or look that you like. The embellishments you choose need to work with your paper colors, premade embellishments like Jolee’s are cute and easy, but they still need to match. Generic embellishments like ribbons, buttons, fibers, beads, etc usually look great on any page type.

3. Crop and mat your photos. Trimming the photos helps to refocus the subject and strengthen the design. Crop carefully because background gives a subject some context and can eventually be very nostalgic. Try matting one or more of your photos to make them stand out off the background. Mat at least your focal point photo to make it stand out from the rest.

4. Lay it all out. Play with the design, arrange the photos, create some borders, design a title, and decide where to embellish. Don’t stick anything down until it’s about 95% done.

5. Stick it all down. Once you are happy with the design use your adhesive of choice to mount all of the elements to the background paper. We generally recommend mounting squares or some other type of dry adhesive roller.

6. Journal the memories. This is hardest part for many new and longtime scrappers alike. A scrapbook without journaling is just a pretty photo album. Try to journal what you can’t see in the photos, write about the back story, give advice, praise your kids, tell your family what you love about them. These are the things that will truly make your album priceless.

Classes We Recommend for Beginners:
SDU (Scrapbook Design and You) is a 10 part series of classes from EK Success, a leading scrapbook supply manufacturer. It is aimed for the beginner to intermediate scrapper. These classes will give you a solid foundation to grow from. We have been teaching SDU for over 4 years, and have hundreds of graduates. Learn more at www.scrapbookdesignandyou.com 

TTT (Tons of Terrific Techniques) is the perfect class for beginner to intermediate scrapbookers who are interested in learning some more advanced techniques to enhance their layouts! We will be making a mini album in which you will learn to paper tear, use chalks, eyelets, brads, vellum, stamp, heat emboss, die cut, use QuicKutz and more!

The rest of our classes are generally geared for the intermediate to advanced scrapper. You do not by any means have to be an expert, but you should be able to use a trimmer, mat squarely, and work with a variety of adhesives.