The Scrapbooking for Beginners Basics

The world of scrapbooking is a large and complex world indeed. For those tourists who are looking around and trying to decide whether to become citizens of this world, a few basics will make a roadmap to illustrate how scrapbooking for beginners is not as big and scary an adventure as it first seems. The first thing to know is that scrapbooking is not a one-size-fits-all type of journey. You are not required to acquire all of the scrapbooking doohickeys (not a technical term) that others have. The reason that scrapbooking for beginners is a separate world is that you really get to create your own world.

Go Slowly

Before you begin, try to picture where it is you want to go. For most, scrapbooking is a way to archive the history of a family or of your own life. The special decorative elements make it more fun and creative than just sticking photos into albums. But that doesn't mean that you can't do both.

Don't be afraid that committing to scrapbooking will mean that every photo that comes your way will have to embellished, journalized and flaunted in book after book after book. You are allowed to limit your scrapbooking to just the events, people and themes that are special to you. The other photos can be put into albums or boxes or drawers if you like. If you decide to use a few of them in the future, they'll still be there.

There are a few things that scrapbooking for beginners advice has to include. The materials made especially for scrapbooking are acid-free to keep your photos safe. Until you have the experience to understand what materials from the other aisles at the craft store are safe, you might want to begin with the official papers, pens and doohickeys. The first step in scrapbooking for beginners is to decide on the theme for your first album. It could just be the official scrapbook for the current school photos of all the children in your family or scout troop or neighborhood.

Or it could be the highlights of your last vacation. Pick an album. Getting a real scrapbooking album will mean having page protectors and a standard size page - a good scrapbooking for beginners start. Choose the pictures that tell the story and put the others away. Then just lay out your pages, embellish to taste and be sure to add some journaling to identify the people, place and dates. That's it. As you develop your scrapbooking chops, add to your bag of tricks and techniques. But there will be no more scrapbooking for beginners for you. You won't be a beginner anymore.